Monday, April 28, 2008

Day 2 & 3: OH Canada

Damn we've met some characters in Canada! I don't even know where to start. Today's highlight was stopping at Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park in BC. We had lunch and then took a dip in the natural hot springs. We were both surprised at exactly how warm the water was. My guess is at least 105 degrees (Fahrenheit). At one point I exactly thought that my skin was burning off. We eventually got use to the heat and really enjoyed ourselves. It was totally really relaxing.


We also saw a fair amount of wildlife today on the ALCAN, including: mountain goats, buffalo, and caribou.


However, the best part of the day is when we finally got to Watson Lake in the Yukon in record time (317 miles in less than 5 hours). We decided to eat at the only restaurant open: Bee Jays Cafe, which also does auto repair. I felt like we were off to a bad start when we realized that they didn't serve any alcohol in the restaurant. I thought that only a beer would compliment my meal so I asked if I could bring one in from the car. They frowned on this idea. After dinner we asked one of the locals where we could go in town to get a beer. He suggested the Velvedeere, but warned us that if we were drinking at the Velvedeere we "better be staying downtown." When asked to clarify, he explained that it is really dangerous to drink and drive and if were planning on drinking at the Velvedeere we probably shouldn't stay at the Air Force Inn, which is where we had reservations. The funny thing about this is that this town is less than two miles long. Meaning that the distance from our hotel room and "downtown" was less than half a mile. I'm so glad he clarified what part of town was downtown because we would of had no idea.


One last thing...as mentioned before, we're staying at the Airforce Inn. This is where the US Air Force stayed during WWII. Two things are interesting about this, first, the hotel is in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, CANADA. Second, it's owned by a man from Germany and a woman from Austria. I thought it was interesting.



Saturday, April 26, 2008

Day 1: Super Troopers


Off to a ROCKY start......... Everything was going perfect for our 8am departure this morning. By 9am we somehow managed to get all of our stuff in the car and then realized that the car was locked, and the keys were in the ignition. No big deal, K.Wilkes has AAA and let us use her membership to call a locksmith (Thanks again Kathi!) By 10am we were on the road, only two hours behind schedule! Traffic sucked in Seattle, but we made it through customs fine. We were smooth sailing.
We had lunch right outside of Hope, BC and then as soon as we got back on the highway we got pulled over. They were just pulling over random people, I guess for some type of training (sounds like bullshit to me too), anyways..despite the fact that Tamara was speeding they let us go.
Several hours later I'm driving and we get pulled over again, this is the HIGHlight of our trip so far (beside the scenery of course). This time the cop asked for my ID and registration, and then asked me to step out of the car, and then no joke, interrogated me on how much pot I was trafficking and where I was hiding it. Since Tamara and I didn't have any, I offered to let him search the car. He didn't really want to do that, but was adamant that we smelled like pot and certainly had to have some on us, "So you mean to tell me that you don't have one joint on you, not even one bag. It's no big deal we can take care of this without any problem." I think they were pretty disappointed when they realized we really didn't have any pot. Tamara and I are convinced they just wanted to get stoned and profiled us because she has Oregon plates. Despite the fact that I was going close to 30km over the speed limit they let us go.

We were trying to get to Prince George today but finally stopped about 70 miles early in Quesnel, BC. Look at a map, that is a really far f-ing drive (556 miles) for one day. We're exhausted but still very pleased with our first day.
Mom - sorry I forgot to call before I left the states. I will call you Wednesday when I make to AK.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Monday, April 14, 2008