Two words: Dalton. Highway. Awesome drive! I met my buddy in Anchorage (who drove from Asheville, actually) and drove up. Be sure to stop at the brewery in Fairbanks and Coldfoot. Lots of gravel and washboard roads, although they're constantly working on it. Get a copy of The Milepost. Bring an SLR with a good tele lens, you'll see lots of wildlife.
You can't quite drive all the way to the ocean. The furthest a civilian can drive is up to the BP gate in Deadhorse (a.k.a. Prudoe Bay). We asked and they kinda laughed at us. They have a tour, if you really want to see it.
