Lethbridge, Alberta, return trip

It was another relatively boring day traveling the same roads we had seen before.  This area is much more populated than we have traveled in Canada.  Edmonton, Calgary, and Lethbridge are big cities.  Calgary may compare to Charlotte.  Danny happened to be driving when we got to Calgary.  I thought he was going to have a panic attack before we got around Calgary on the bypass.  He also drove into Lethbridge.

Most of the area we traveled today is agricultural.  We saw huge fields of barley then in a distance would be a grove of trees.  In that grove of trees would be the house and buildings associated with the farm.  Some of them had really fancy entrance gates at the driveway.  Around the Calgary area, there are a lot of horse farms.  Calgary is a big rodeo destination and according to a sign I saw, the home of the first indoor rodeo.

In the middle of some of the fields, with barley or wheat growing all around it, are oil pumps where some lucky farmer struck oil.

There are a lot of long trains around here.  We have seen cars stacked with two layers of shipping containers.  We saw car after car of coal.  

Tonight will be our last night in Canada.  Not long after we leave Lethbridge, Alberta, we will cross the border and head for Glacier National Park.  It will be good to be in the USA where the money does not look like monopoly money and where distance is measured in miles.

Just because I thought the clouds were pretty today.  Just as we finished getting everything into the hotel, it started thundering and lightening and the bottom fell out.  It poured buckets for about an hour.  Maybe that took some of the construction dust off the car.

One of many oil pumps we saw today.

Where the trees are will be the house and other farm buildings.

When I see trains, I think of Lanie and Shawn.  Lanie used to love trains.  We once drove from Madison to Ridgeway so she could watch the train as we were near the tracks.  Now Shawn is the one who loves trains.  We saw some really long trains.

Edmonton, return trip

Driving the same route is not much fun.  After tomorrow, everything will be new.  I didn’t take but five or six pictures today.  We are back in farming country.  There are huge fields of wheat or barley that have been cut and baled.  These fields are gold.  Nearby fields are lush green.  The contrast in colors is very pretty.  There are pastures with herds of cows and some horses.  The road between Dawson Creek and Edmonton is mostly a four-lane divided highway but it is rough.  If you drive the speed limit of 110 kph (68 mph), your head may hit the ceiling when you hit a dip or bump in the road.

Fields of gold and fields of green

 

We are off the Alaska Highway now.  We saw a sign in the museum in Dawson Creek that perfectly describes the highway.  It dips and curves.  We were told that the engineers in 1942 went around obstacles rather than through them so the road is curvy.  If they had to dynamite a mountain, they took off only enough to make room for the road.  It’s a long road but I wouldn’t take anything for having seen it and driven it.

Dawson Creek, return trip

There is not a lot to say today except we drove from Ft. Nelson to Dawson Creek.  It was an easy drive with very little construction.  Dawson Creek is where the Alaska Highway began so when we leave here in the morning, we will bid the Highway goodbye.  I drove on the strip of old highway and across that beautiful bridge again today. 

We saw two black bear and a moose with big antlers – all dead on the side of the road.  That was it for wildlife.  Well, except for ravens.  I have never seen so many ravens and every time, I think, “Quoth the raven, `Nevermore'.”

Ordering dinner was a comedy.  There is a KFC across the street from the hotel so we decided to walk across the street and eat rather than drive somewhere.  Usually we will not eat where we could eat at home but we decided to break the rule.  Turns out, this was nothing like eating KFC at home.  There were three women at work and they obviously were not from either Canada or the US.  They could barely speak English and certainly didn’t understand Southern. They had original chicken, mac & cheese, mashed potatoes, and slaw.  I ordered 1 piece, white meat, mashed potatoes, and slaw. 

Waitress:  “What kind of meat?” 

Me: “White meat, breast.”

W:  “You want two piece chicken?”

M:  “No, 1 piece, white.”

W:  “What else?”

M:  “Mashed potatoes and slaw.”

W:  “And to drink?”

M:  “Ice water.”

W:  Looking at Danny.  “What you have?”

Danny:  “Dark meat chicken.”

W:  “You want leg or tigh.”  (H intentionally left out)

D:  “Thigh.”

W:  “One piece or two?”

D:  “One”

W:  “You want leg or tigh.” 

D:  “Thigh.”

W:  “What else?”

M:  “Mashed potatoes and slaw.”

W:  “To drink?”

D:  “Soft drink” (They had self serve drinks.)

W:  “To drink?”

Me:  “Soda”

W:  To me “You want soda?”

Me:  “No.  He wants soda, I want ice and water.”

Me:  “I don’t suppose you have biscuits?”  Stupid, idiotic, thoughtless question!

W:  “No, we just have these.”  Pointing at the dessert menu.

At that point, I lost it and started laughing out loud and shaking my head.  I know it was rude but I could not help it.

Me:  “No, I meant bread.  Never mind.  That’s all.”

W:  “That will be $16.94.”

The Colonel would be rolling in his grave if he knew what was being sold under his name.  The thigh was tiny and it was maybe half a breast.  The cups of slaw and potatoes were about half what is served in a small cup in Eden.  The chicken and potatoes tasted pretty much like we have at home.  The slaw was nothing like we have at home.  It was vinegar based instead of mayo.  I usually like KFC slaw; this was not KFC slaw.  Anyway, who would have thought ordering a meal at KFC would turn out to be the highlight of the day?

We had a sandwich at lunch on the bread we got yesterday at Jack's place.  I made one sandwich with the ham and a tomato I had bought and cut it in half.  The plate is a 10-inch plate.  Danny ate about 1/3 of his peanut butter cookie and I ate about half of the carrot cake.

 

Ft. Nelson, return trip

This was a wonderfully sunny day to cross the Rockies.  I would hate to come across those mountains if it was rainy and foggy.  Our choice of music for today was John Denver.  Every time I listen to him, it reminds me anew how very talented he was.  Since our XM radio had no signal from about this point going up, it is a very good thing we had several MP3 players with us.  The XM signal has returned so maybe we will have those choices from here home.

In 1942, a homesick soldier put up a remembrance of where he was from.  After all these years, people are still adding old license plates or street signs or some reminder of where they are from creating a Signpost Forest.  We didn’t take anything to put up but it was interesting looking at what was there.

The views coming across the Rockies are amazing, except for one.  There were three big road construction area where we had to sit and wait for a pilot truck to lead us through.  The dust was so heavy, the car in front of you could not be seen.  Three different times we had to wait around 20 minutes for the pilot truck.

We stopped at Jack’s place again to get unmade ham and cheese sandwiches.  He remembered us so did not look at us so strangely when I asked for each ingredient to be wrapped separately.  There were wonderful looking cookies and cakes there too.  Danny got a peanut butter cookie as big as his hand and I got a piece of carrot cake.  We haven’t eaten them yet but I’m sure they will be good.  I’ll try to remember to take a picture of that cookie before he starts eating it.

Today was a good wildlife day.  We saw a big herd of bison including some calves.  Again we saw one lone guy walking down the road alone.  I don’t know if it is the same one we saw as we went up.  Later we saw three mountain goats.  There were two adults and one little one.  The little one was very skittish and would run for the hills at the slightest sound but the older ones stayed on the road.

We’re in Ft. Nelson now which is the point Dad worked to.  We will be in Dawson Creek again tomorrow afternoon. 

Watson Lake Signpost Forest.  There are thousands of plate or street signs.

Multiple bison, including calves.  I don't know how the calves will have time to build the fat resources they are going to need when it gets cold.

This guy was walking down our side of the road.  I happened to be driving so went a bit in front of him and pulled over.  I asked Danny to lean out the window and get a picture of him.  He opened the door and got out of the car.  The picture isn't centered very well but Danny was in a hurry to get back in the car.

Muncho Lake with the sun sparkling on top.  Muncho means "big lake" in the Kaska language.  At 7.5 miles it is one of the biggest lakes in the Canadian Rockies.

I've commented before that the people up here don't believe in guard rails.  You can see how close the road runs to the lake with no guard rail.

Lots of transportation here and in Alaska is by small private plane.  This plane, with a little gravel landing strip was just before getting to Jack's place.

There was a sign on the highway saying, "Low flying plane."  Running alongside the road was another small landing strip.  This plane had just landed creating a lot of dust on the landing strip.

This is the baby mountain goat coming back down to the road to join his parents.

I've gotten really good at taking pictures of the rear ends of the animals.  You can't get them to turn around.

So much dust, you can't see the vehicle in front of you.  See below.

I love the play of light on the mountains.

We are back where the land is flat enough to have fields of some kind of grain.

Watson Lake, YT return trip

8-16  Watson Lake return

We again had breakfast in the beautiful dining room at The Raven in Haines Junction.  It had rained during the night and the mountains had a lot of cloud cover.  It was cloudy most of the morning.  The sun would try to peek through and managed to occasionally.  Right after we stopped for lunch it began to rain fairly hard.  It rained for a couple of hours but by the time we got to Watson Lake, it had stopped raining and had gotten warm.  We even turned the AC on in the car; most of the morning we had on heat.

It was a long, tiring drive.  We saw the same mountains, lakes, streams, and road we saw going into Alaska.  They did look different with the heavy clouds.  

Wonderful breakfast served on crystal plates and glasses.

The sun tried so hard to peek through.  It did finally make it.

The long and winding road.  These people don't believe in guard rails.  If there is a guard rail, there is a massive drop.

Haines Junction, YK, return trip

When we left the cabin this morning to walk through the woods to the house for breakfast, it was a beautiful morning and stayed that way all day.  For breakfast we had blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, pork and reindeer sausage, and rhubarb coffee cake.  There was also fresh fruit containing bananas, grapes, peaches, apples, and oranges.  Again everything was delicious. 

We are back in Canada now and have driven over the worst section of road, construction wise.  It is just unbelievably awful.  And I am TIRED of the outhouse “rest areas but there is still a long way to go with them.”  I hope NC never decides to use this kind of "rest area."  That is my very least favorite thing about this trip.  Thank goodness I brought lots of wipes and Purell.  We have a new appreciation for toilets that flush and running water and soap.

Reentering Canada was quick and easy.  The officer asked where we had been and where we were going.  He asked if there were NC tags on the car.  Had we bought anything in Alaska and did we have any firearms with us?   “Drive safely and have a nice trip.”

The mountains are so beautiful.  It seems I keep taking pictures of the same thing.  At a convenience store stop just before we reentered Canada, there were three ravens sitting on the railing.  They didn’t move as we approached.  We found out they are tame.  The woman in the store said she feeds them from her hands.  There are ravens everywhere.  We haven’t seen any buzzards along the road but have seen many, many ravens.

We again drove around Lake Kluane.  That is a huge lake and probably the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen.  The water is a beautiful blue-green.  Today, the wind was blowing so hard there were whitecaps on the lake.  It was cold standing on the edge of the lake but absolutely gorgeous.  Kluane is Tlingit for “Whitefish Country.”  The lake is full of whitefish, chum salmon, and trout.  Kluane Lake is only around 20 miles from Haines Junction so you would think the restaurants (all two of them) would serve fresh whitefish but they don’t. 

The mountains around the hotel are shrouded in clouds this afternoon but are still beautiful.  We should have a beautiful view at breakfast tomorrow morning.

This raven and two others were tame and would eat from the store employees hand.  There are a lot of ravens here.

Lake Kluane.  There was steam rising off the lake.  It was very windy and cool.

The St. Elias mountains behind the motel.  Today they were cloud covered and looked different from the first time we stayed here.

August 13, Tok, AK, return home

We are back on the Alaska Highway in Tok, AK.  We left Anchorage in a fairly hard rain.  It has rained almost all day and has been cold.   It stopped raining just before we got to the cabin so we didn’t have to move in in the rain.  It looks like the decision not to go to Seward was the correct one.  We’ve heard that there are flash flood warnings there so there must have been hard rain.  It has also been cold and windy there.

The only really interesting sight we saw between Anchorage and Tok was the Matanuska Glacier.  This glacier is approximately 26 miles long and 4 miles wide.  It is a valley glacier.  This is a body of solid ice that flows like a river under its own weight.  It started around 10,000 (that’s ten thousand) years ago.  It hasn’t changed significantly in the last twenty years.  This information came from www.matanuska-glacier.com.

We’re staying at the same place we stayed before but in a different cabin.  When I called for a reservation, the owner said there was only one cabin available.  We took it.  This is the cutest place.  It is two stories with a double and twin bed upstairs and a queen in the downstairs bedroom.  There is a kitchen/dining/living area.  The couch in the living room will pull out to a queen size bed.  I’m sitting in a very comfortable chair.  It’s the Trapper’s Lodge so it is decorated as one would expect.  It is also the most reasonably priced place we have stayed.  They are not charging any more for this cabin that what we paid for the other one which was very reasonable.

The worst roads of the entire trip are next.  But it will result is us being at The Raven Lodge where we had the most beautiful view as we ate breakfast.

Matanuska Glacier