Road Trip Through America’s LAST FRONTIER (12 Days)

Where do I begin? Alaska is not just another U.S. state. It's a world of its own. Traveling here had been on our bucket list for as long as I can remember, and we finally got to spend two weeks exploring the last frontier. What makes this region so special goes beyond the summer's midnight sun. This place is not ruled by roads or cities. It is pure nature in all of its humbling beauty, for as far as the eye can see. Alaska is so vast that it feels like stepping into a giant playground made out of glaciers, rivers, and mountains, where enormous animals roam the landscape. This is a journey across one of the most magnificent places on Earth. We traveled in an RV from Cruise America, which was super convenient, and gave us a home on the road. It took us from Anchorage over to Valdez, up to Denali National Park, and all the way down to the beautiful Kenai Peninsula. It was incredible to experience this level of self-guided exploration mixed with a sense of freedom only Alaska can make you feel. You know when you start with the best of the best, and then everything else pales in comparison? We may have just done that to our trip. We're going in a helicopter! It is hard to convey this in a video, but exploring the Kinnick Glacier via helicopter was unbelievable, and one of our highlights in life, period. So this is why the glacier is blue, this ice right here. It's very clear, extremely dense ice. What is that? Ah! I just got it from over there. What did Luke find? You guys eating it again? Our pilot told us over our headphones that this next stop was a popular spot for bears, so before we touched down, we needed to do a quick fly-by to make sure there weren't any around. Luckily, or should I say sadly, there weren't any. And last but not least, landing on the enormous Kinnick Glacier itself, at one of its many pools of bright blue ice melt. I mean, seriously, how is this even real? That was amazing. What a way to start our trip. Waking up in Alaska ain't half bad. Next stop, the small coastal town of Valdez. ♪ It's 2 a.m. and I can't fall asleep ♪ One of our favorite parts about Alaska was the driving. Imagine endless roads with barely any other cars to share them with, and views that change as fast as the weather. Is that a glacier? It's totally a glacier. If I find a bear really close to us, then we'll have to super fast. Faster! ♪ Can't fall asleep, I'm just not tired ♪ Do you see a bear yet? ♪ Raindrops falling, it's cold outside ♪ ♪ And I kinda feel like calling, but it's too late ♪ I think it's a walrus. Are we gonna find sea lions? Do you hear them? Holy, sea lions are like right there. Hey Liv, you have to be really careful and you have to stay really close to us. These are all wild animals and you can't just wander off, okay? Okay. All right, check it out. This one has the rock I was talking about, so it needs to anchor to a rock that has a crevice. Usually they have a couple of little bubbles that keep them somewhat upright. What does it smell like? Coral. Who's ready for bears? Should we go find bears? Oh, here's a bear. Oh, a boaty bear. Bear in a camper. The spot from the previous evening is apparently just as popular with grizzly bears as it is with stellar sea lions, but sadly not today. So no bears, huh? What are we gonna do? You know what always helps me is to just walk it off or, in Boaty's case, to jump it off. Ball, papa. Boaty, what is that? Big ball, papa. Big puddle, right. That's a glacier lake. Before hitting the road again, it's always a good idea to get the jiggles out. Find a flat stone and then you throw it and then it starts spinning. Got it. I got it. Then you go. Yeah, you got the spins. You almost did it. Papa. What? Now watch daddy working. Where are we going to next? I don't know. Like we haven't got anything planned. We pretty much done for the whole trip. All right, cool. We'll start driving. It was truly astonishing that we could just show up to a campground in the middle of the night and the camp host and everyone else would still be up. It seemed like no one slept for those couple of months of endless summer. Ourselves included. ♪ Killing for a thrill ♪ I want that one to be on my spot. So we're just going to have to go over there, open the door, and then really loud, okay? Okay. ♪ And the fall is coming ♪ ♪ And you should hear me now ♪ ♪ Open your sounds ♪ I was just sitting by the campfire editing a bunch of footage, and then I noticed it's 12.05 past midnight. It still feels like it's daytime, but I guess it's time to go to bed. We're just making a left on the last bit of the old road. Tara, what are we doing here? It's all good. We'll be fine. So far, the road seems totally fine. In our defense, the last camp host had told us that this is by far the most scenic way of getting to Denali National Park. Ah, it's starting to get worse. He was not wrong. It's like the prettiest thing I've ever seen. I keep saying that. Oh, my gosh. I was flying the drone sideways, tracking the RV, and then there was a tree. I've been flying drones for like 10-plus years, and I've had a couple of crashes that happens. But some of these trees are so big that they just got me out of nowhere, and all there is is just a giant swamp between me and these trees. So I'm gonna try and head down there and find it and not get attacked by a bear. Yeah, I crashed the drone. That's where the drone is, somewhere, yeah. So in preparation of this Alaska trip, I've been watching a lot of Alone, that show. These guys surviving in the wild. This does feel like a scene right out of that. There's literally moose poop all over the place. It's everywhere. Wow, look at that. I'm being eaten out here. I'm literally in the swamp. There you are. Yes. Oh, no. I cannot believe you found it. Got it. Woo! It's here. We can fix it out there. Yeah, we need to fix it. Denali National Park is the epitome of Alaska's wilderness. As we enter the park, we were already greeted by lynx crossing the road. ♪ You should hear me now ♪ ♪ An all-familiar sound ♪ One last game of tag to get the jiggles out, and time for bed before a big day of exploration. ♪ And I was high enough to see it from above ♪ Out for bears. Wolves, just move slowly away, and don't tell them anything. Wolves, you're supposed to say, bad wolf. And then bears, we're supposed to just walk away, and just be calm. Actually, for bears, you're supposed to make loud noises. So, pretty much the opposite of what she just said. I can't believe I'm saying this, but please do not take our, and especially not Liv's, advice on how to handle wildlife encounters. Are you guys still going to join us on this hike? Last light on top of the mountain. Liv, we've made it to the sun. I found Mama all the way down there. Hi, Mama. You look like you've been on a seven-year journey through the Himalayas with your walk. There's a reindeer. What is it? Reindeer. Ride the reindeer. Ride the reindeer? Yeah. Ride the reindeer. I don't think we can ride the reindeer. Let's ride the reindeer. Guess what? We found the river. It's amazing that kids are this constant reminder to appreciate even the smallest things. You know, the stuff we don't see anymore as adults. I wonder if there's gold in this water. Should we try and find gold? What's gold? The gold color? I think I'm going to cross the river. No. You guys want to come? Go into that island over there. That's where I want to go. Right there, it's so pretty. Hold my hand. Hold on, young lady. Does that mean I can hold Lodi, too? That's so cool. Go, you little guy. Winning at parenting. To top things off, early the next morning, just as we were leaving the park, we ran into three moose on our way to the river. Three moose and their three calves. This next leg of our trip was going to be one of our longest, all the way back down through Anchorage and onto the Kenai Peninsula. So, we just drove all the way out to Hope, Alaska, to try and find Pac. He's a very iconic gold panner, and he's going to teach us how to gold pan. Lodi, are you going to be panning for gold with the dirt? Too easy. Let's go pan for gold. What do we do now? You see these ripples? They're my gold ripples. You could tell that Pac and his wife had done this a time or two, and we're great teachers. Now, let's turn the ripples and put your hands here and shake, shake, shake. You're making the gold go down to the bottom. Pick out the big rocks. Pac, who is also known as Gold Rush Pac, has been mining since he was 10 years old and came to Alaska seeking his fortune nearly two decades ago. I found gold! Again. That is a lot of gold for a little muffin. However cheesy this might sound, regardless of gold or not, looking at life here, I think he may have actually found it. Our next stop is called Homa. It has this long piece of land extending into the ocean called the Homa Spit, on which it has a bunch of marinas, making it a great jumping board to the nearby wilderness. We're going on a boat taxi all the way across the water here to Kachemak Bay State Park where we're going to go on a little hike. We've got to get the water taxi, Liv! Are you ready? Are you ready to find a glacier lake? I think your hiking stick might be a little too short. Tara already turned around with the kids. We might miss our boat if we don't hurry up. I'm just going to try and get there. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. There it is. That was incredibly beautiful. Now it's time to race back. It took me an hour and a half to get down here. I have about 55 minutes to make it back. Let's get this show on the road. I don't want to miss a boat. That place looks familiar. There we are, right there. The airplane is very cute. Is that what you said? Yeah. I like this airplane, really cute. You want to get on the airplane? Yeah. Alright, let's do it. Stand up here, big dog. It was time to step it up in our attempt to find some beers. This seaplane was taking us to the other side of the Cook Inlet, deep into the Alaskan wilderness, to a massive glacier lake where black and brown beers not just frequent the area, no, this is their world. What is this? Is this like turf? It's like bog. Is there a good word for it that you know? Peat moss. What seemed like the most trivial thing to these guys absolutely blew my mind, that we could be walking on these floating islands made of peat moss in the middle of a freezing glacier lake. Our guide just told us that he has been seeing a mama and her two babies and then another mama and her three tiny little babies. So we're hoping that they'll come and show themselves to us today. Bode, we found a bear. Right up there. Looks like the engine is... Look, good thing you learned how to paddle there. Nice paddling. You hear that? It's waving back. Bode, we're going gold panning. Are you ready? Yeah. Do you have your pan ready? Yeah. Okay, let's go. Time to put the new skills to the test with a bull from our camper. Are you finding any gold? No. We're on a boat tour in Resurrection Bay right outside of Seward and we're looking at the coastline which is crazy cool and rugged and we're looking for orcas and humpbacks and we'll see what we can find. Okay, maybe no orcas and only a couple of humpbacks in the distance but Resurrection Bay was every postcard you've ever seen of Alaska. I truly hope that our videos serve as a reminder to ourselves as well as others that there's an incredible world out there waiting to be explored. But also that travel doesn't always have to be something in a faraway land. That it is a mindset of realizing that when you put yourself into an unfamiliar or challenging situation the only possible outcome is growth. Thanks for coming along and catch you in the next one.