Canadia trip

Whew, this has been quite a trip! We are in Watson Lake right now in the Yukon. This is what the days have been up to this point:


Days 1-2: We spent a few days in Fairbanks buying all the supplies we needed, including the car; we got a 2001 Lincoln Navigator, and thankfully it has held up to this point...although it was hit in the bumper the FIRST DAY we had it! We were in Petco spending money on the dog and came out and the interior lights wouldn't turn off. Had to pull the relay on the lights to save my battery; Christina noticed the huge crack in the bumper a little later that certainly wasn't there before..

Packing the Navigator was like a huge annoying game of jam pack jam, and I spent to about 3 am trying to work it out and I was sure it all wouldn't fit; of course, Christina had a lot better ideas in the morning, and we eventually got all our supplies squeezed in, along with the dog and the three kids, but we had to mail a couple boxes of random things back home to get it out of the car...



Day 3: Actual driving! Up and down through the mountains between Fairbanks and Denali; pretty drive, but not much happened. The campground was nice enough, even though we had to spend about 30 minutes trying to figure out setting up the tent for the first time. Didn't see any wildlife until we were leaving the parking lot and I realized that I hadn't even bothered to check and see if the lights were working (nice, Joe) so I jump out to see and, holy geez, there was a huge cow moose 30 yards from me! We took pictures like crazy as it just mosied around the parking lot for about ten minutes before it left.



Day 4: Now came the long, long drive to southeast Alaska; it was getting late when we got into Anchorage (saw a cow and a calf on the side of the road!), so we decided to press on to Whittier to a nice 70-site campground there. The "whale watching" road between Anchorage and Seward was pretty intense, a tall mountain on one side and deep water on the other side; couldn't really see any whales as we drove, though, and too late to stop and watch from a viewing point. Finally got to our campsite (late!) and it was a total bust; the ground was soaked from the spray off the bay and there was animal crap (we thought it was bear, of course, but it turns out to be just moose) all over the trails; the worst part was the sites were TINY (we have a 10'x16' tent) and no way could we set it up. Ok, back to Anchorage...first campsite was full up, finally got a "nice" one right next to the freeway, but it was well after 10pm, so we had the bright idea of sleeping in the car...freezing!!! Our own personal icebox, besides being UBER uncomfortable...



Day 5: woke up at 6 am and went to Fred Meyer to supply up for the border and Wells Fargo to stock up on money then hit the road! The "road" between Anchorage and Tok was INTENSE through some mountains; sheer drops of about 200 feet, no guard rails over much of the road, RVs pissed that I was doing 45-50 and flying by me (go for out, guys, I'm in no hurry...); I passed a cloud at one point (no guard rail) and crested another hill with no way of being able to see which way the road turned after the hill; but the scenery was amazing! We stopped at one lookout right past the glacier we drove by and had lunch on a picnic table staring at the snow-covered mountains. Pretty awesome. Made it to Sourdough RV campground and had much-needed showers and washed clothes (much-needed as well). Went out to eat and misread the menu and accidentally "stole" 3 kids salad bars (oops, thought it came with the food), but we have, after all, been out of "civilization" for 10 months (still adjusting).



Day 6-7: Crossed the canadian border! No real problems, although I found it odd that the customs office was 27 km beyond the border (US customs right at the border); the road SUCKED! Potholes, bumps, gravel, I was averaging 45 mph; we made so bad time, that, again, we were in a situation where setting up a tent would have been almost pointless, but then we were in no mood to sleep in the car...me being me, I said we just press on through the night since it stayed light all the time (sun almost set from 12am-3pm); we ended up driving for about 18 hours and only getting about 700 miles; made it to Watson Lake and got a pet-friendly hotel and crashed, which is were we are right now! Just relaxing at the hotel and recouping from the long drive, letting the soreness in my ass go away (seriously); tomorrow, we're taking a SHORT drive (180 miles) to Liard Hot Springs to set up camp!



Oh, did I mention that the road (beside sucking) has the most amazing scenery EVER??? Every turn is like a postcard, it has made the drive so worth it. And we have seen 6 moose, a bunch of elk, caribou, a fox, and, oh yes, 4 black bear (Christina saw 5); the first two were pretty big, the one Christina saw was bigger, and the last two looked like two orphan cubs wandering on the road. Our camera has been snapping like crazy...



Canada is way expensive, too! Gas by the liter is about 40% more than USA, and none of the merchants are doing an exchange rate (don't know what it is), so I'm using $1 US for $1 Canada, which SUCKS! Trying not to use the credit card, but probably going that way when I run out of Canadian money...I will say that the restaurants and hotels look like crap on the outside and turn out pretty ok on the inside; we hit a seafood/steak restaurant that was attached to a motel that turned out pretty awesome; I'm really getting into eating fish and chips, crabs, and shrimp up here, not sure if I can keep it up with the "old" fish in Tennessee...



To summarize, we are stressed, tired, and enjoying the adventure the road brings, and both of us are very anxious to get back to Tennessee! Ok, we will check back in when we can!