September 16th

B - reporting

After a night in a v comfy bed, punctuated only by me frequently getting up to see if the Northern Lights were happening*, we woke in our lovely rustic cabin. It was great to have a non-travelling day, and we relaxed with coffee and TV before walking into Inuvik, about 2km.

It was Sunday, and the town was pretty much closed, but we had a really good time wondering around, looking at the coloured houses, and overground utility pipes**, and enjoying the general Arcticosity of the day. There are 5 places of worship (including a mosque) in this small town, but services were over by noon and then the supermarket/general store/clothing store/bakery/Pizza Hut/KFC (all in the same building) opened so we had coffee with about 50 elderly men and purchased some food.

We headed back for toasted cheese sarnies and tea, then went for a walk around the lake. It's really quite flat round here, though you can see snow-capped mountains on the western horizon. And it's surprisingly (well, to me) forested, with small arctic trees where I expected snowy bare tundra. Still v beautiful though.

Back in our rustic cabin, G did some car sorting and I cooked sausages, which we had with lovely Smoking Loon wine for a v civilized last day North.

* they weren't
** they were interesting, really!

Inuvik Houses

Above Ground Plumbing!

Post office (i know its just too exciting!)

The igloo church

Little mosque on the tundra!

September 15th

G - Reporting

What can I say today we drove across the Arctic Circle I know it’s an imaginary line but still "WE DROVE ACROSS THE ARCTIC CIRCLE!" stopped took some pics and calmed down!

After that it was another 340km of Depmster Highway but 1st about another 50km on was the border between the Yukon and the North West Territory and by crossing that we have now been to all 10 Provinces and 2 of the 3 Territories the 3rd Nunavut has no road access so that will have to wait.

The scenery flattened out as we got closer to Inuvik and apart from 2 ferry crossings there was not too much to see before arriving in town where we checked into our lovely log cabin for the night.

The Arctic Circle (cool pic by Al)

Log Cabin in Inuvik

September 14th

B - reporting

We were up reasonably early and quite* excited about heading north to the Arctic! After a quick wander round town, half of which is now closed for the season, we grabbed coffee and muffins and headed north! Then, came back into town to buy gas. Then, headed North!!

The Dempster Highway turnoff is about 40 km out of Dawson City, and even though it was quite overcast everything was new and interesting. The highway is gravel, so G decreased the tire pressure and we set off. We had booked a hotel (well, the only hotel) halfway along the highway so we knew we could take our time and not worry about accommodation.

It was  a lovely drive, despite the clouds. Quite hilly, even mountain-y, with a lot of snow on the mountains but none on the road. The road was not at all busy, and we stopped many times to take in the vistas and photos. We lunched at Two Moose Lake**, were we didn't see moose but did see two beavers busily swimming around.

We arrived at the Eagle Plains Hotel about 7pm. Surprisingly, it was not on a plain, but on top of a mountain pass, with snow-covered roof and muddy parking lot. You have to leave your shoes in the vestibule, fair enough as by now everyone was pretty mud-encrusted. The room was warm, and we had a late beer o'clock and then tuna sarnies in the room.

*well, ridiculously
** cheese sarnies

The Start!

Tombstone Mtn Park

Home in the wilderness

September 13th

G - Reporting

Left Tok after posting some postcards and got on the road to Chicken, Alaska - a town whose  fame is much bigger than the town, it’s a tiny almost ex-gold mining town which has built its fame on being a tiny almost ex-gold mining town!

Downtown is 3 buildings: Cafe, Bar and souvenir store and down the road an RV park and that’s it, we had a coffee, picked up a bumper sticker and left.

Then it was up into the mountains and snow to get to the US/CDN border which was super easy in fact we ended stopping for 10 minutes chatting with the very affable border guard, before descending into Dawson city another ex-gold mining town but now very much a historical town/tourist attraction, for a relaxing evening and drinks in an ex-brothel now a rather great bar.

September 12th

B - reporting

We had coffee and toast in the hotel, then did a bit of shopping in Anchorage (snow chains, beer, warm trousers, wine) then retraced our steps back north, stopping for gas again in Palmer. It was overcast, with low cloud and intermittent rain, so we didn't get the wonderful vistas of yesterday.

We did, however, see moose! Finally, after driving about 10,000km across the entire width of Canada. We had two separate sightings, both quite lovely.

We arrived back to Tok at about 7pm, found a motel and then did some much-needed laundry before cooking a delicious tin of stew in the microwave. Yum!

September 11th

G - Reporting

After what has to be the coldest start of this part of the trip we made quick work of the 300km to Anchorage stopping here and there to take pics of the stunning scenery.

Arriving in town we quickly sorted a place to stay, then we had a good wander around, what can i say it’s a big but not huge American city, what’s strange is you're aware its way way up north and miles from anywhere!

In the evening we had dinner as Humpy’s which has featured on Man v Food. I have to say I did not try the challenge partly as its huge and also it cost $174!! The more normal portion size food was good though :-)

September 10th

B - reporting

It was a gorgeous morning, the sky pale wintry blue behind the massive snow-capped mountains now visible in front of the motel. Very cold, though...when packing up, I discovered that the beers in the car left out of the fridge overnight were a lot colder than the ones actually in the fridge.

We drove off, heading towards Alaska, past stunning turquoise lakes, snowy mountains and forests ablaze with gold. It became cloudier, with a few light snow showers but no drama.

We got to Beaver Creek around lunchtime, and stopped off in Buckshot Betty's for coffee* and soup, emerging into snow. 5 minutes down the highway we were in bright sunshine again!

The US border crossing is about 30km further west was smooth, and we were in Alaska! We headed towards Tok. Tok!! Even typing it is fun. There we got gas for Swiss and crisps for us, and decided to drive halfway to Anchorage and camp. So we carried further south, the road taking us past orange highlighter trees and dramatic vistas of snowy mountains, pink in the setting sun.

We drove further, until we found a State Park campground**. It was quite chilly, so I thermal-ed up before even opening the car doors. Then, resembling the Michelin Woman, I fired up the stove.

We scurried into the car and consumed sausages in pitta, wearing all our clothes, including gloves. And only fear of bears inspired me to wash the dishes afterwards.

It was lovely and warm, though, in the sleeping bags, under the duvet purchased last year in a bazaar in Kyrgyzstan. If only I had not had to get up to pee!

*coffee with evaporated milk - deeelicious

** The Alaska ones are not as good as the Yukon campgrounds, which are cheaper and have free firewood - hurrah for socialist Canada!

Room with a view

Warm food in the snow.

Top left hand corner of America!

September 9th

G - Reporting

After a very wet day yesterday I was hoping for better but was disappointed as I woke to rain :-( so we got onto the road quickly stop after an hour when the rain stopped for a bit to have a coffee.

Thankfully the rain stopped by the time we arrived in Whitehorse which after the thousands of Kilometers of wilderness and small towns came as a pleasant surprise as it’s a large and from 1st glance pleasant city.

We hit up the visitors information center and then onto Tim’s for wifi so we could check the weather further north which to our dismay was not good with snow coming in so time to re-jig the plans and head west 1st then north so after getting gas, food and checking out the local brewery where we picked up the odd sample or 2 it was time to carry on along the Alaska highway stopping at Haynes Junction where as it was cold and we are wimps we got a motel for the night.

September 8th

B - reporting

Up early to a lovely sunrise over the bare mountains, turning the grey rocks all shades of pink. It was not too chilly, and we bumbled around having coffee and porridge, enjoying the view of the lake. We were on the highway by 8am, aiming for the Liard hot springs, which had been recommended to us by a random dude, and several guidebooks.

However! when we arrived we were informed the Springs are closed till 11am! This was due to tree felling, so fair enough, but we were still rather disappointed. We had a long ways to go so we carried on towards Watson Lake. We had been driving for about 10 mins when G said, excitedly 'look!' and pointed at a black bear in the middle of a large puddle, or small pond, near the side of the road. We stopped and looked at it through binoculars and the camera lens as it splashed around, scratching its ear and looking remarkably like a human (in a bear suit) having a bath.

When he got out of the pond we retreated to the car and drove slowly away. The scenery continued magnificent, autumnal trees exploding in gold and russet, and we enjoyed just being there until we rounded a corner to discover a herd of Wood Bison grazing beside the road. They are magnificent beasts. We watched them for ages, uninterrupted by any other traffic. They do seem a bit dim, though, wondering across the highway, and unfortunately they are often the victims of traffic accidents.

We reached Watson Lake by lunchtime, and really enjoyed the Visitor Information Centre with it's great film about the Alaska Highway and it's free coffee and plethora of brochures, maps, and other v helpful info.

The weather closed in a bit during the afternoon, and though it had stopped raining by the time we reached our campsite at Tesling Lake it was really quite chilly. G started a fire in the fire pit while I cooked another spamtastic meal, but we had to retreat into the car quite early. I was quite chilly at night, despite wearing
socks...maybe I removed the thermals too early.

September 7th

G - Reporting

It seemed a night in a Motel room and drinking my own body weight in tea did the trick as a felt a lot better than the day before, so we struck out north towards Fort Nelson the guide book said the drive would be boring but it was really pretty with forests in every shade of green and yellow you can imagine and the occasional information point with historic mile markers from the building of the Alaska Highway.

Arriving in Fort Nelson mid-afternoon we filled up with gas at the eye-watering price of $1.45 (I know, cheap compared to Europe!) and carried on our way the scenery changed quite dramatically once we got out of town with mountains rising up around the highway providing some stunning views.

We got the campsite around 4:30 only to find it closed so we pressed on to the next only to find that closed too so we crossed our fingers and went for the 3rd arriving around 6:30 and yay it was open and was as a bonus the best looking of the bunch right on the lake, so relieved we settled in for the night.

September 6th

B - reporting

After breakfasting (Cheerios!) in the hotel, we set out to buy winter clothes. Grand Prairie seems like a v nice town, with a lively main street and also lots of shops in the malls, unlike some of the towns we've passed through which seem, sadly, to have been killed by Walmart.

We then carried on north, through more grain fields and then mixed pine and deciduous forest, the trees turning golden yellow. The sunlight up here takes a bit of getting used to, for 'southern' brains. The sun's angle is a lot lower, so though the time is barely noon, the angle of the sun seems completely wrong, as if it's about 5pm.**

We arrived at Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway - Dawson Creek - at lunchtime. Dawson Creek is an attractive little town, today full of sunshine and blue sky. We had a coffee and updated our insurance as we are now back in BC, and had a wonder round the town.

G was not feeling v well, so we decided to stop early and so found a nice motel in Fort St John, a small but very pleasant town I walked around before buying some groceries and beer.

*because we are so good at planning ahead we are buying out thermals the day we head north

**I am, however, easily confused. I kept thinking it was beer o'clock already.

We're Back!!

September 5th

G - Reporting

After a slow start caused by drinking copious tea we finally hit the road around 11 and spent a really uneventful day driving across the rolling hills of NW Alberta finishing the day in the city of Grand Prairie which has the look and feel of a boomtown i.e. sprawling and messy where we found a cheap motel and retired for the day.

short blog post because, well YOU try writing something interesting about NW Alberta!!!

A road side massive beaver a common sight in NW Alberta!

September 4th

B - reporting

We left Calgary early and headed north, for Edmonton. After negotiating the busy morning rush we continued on the long straight highway, past lots of fields. It's very agricultural round here, and so far from the mountains that it's really flat. I guess there has not been a great deal of rain, as it's quite brown, though the giant skies are still wonderful.

We reached Edmonton after lunch and had a quick wonder around. My impressions are of high wind whipping round very tall* buildings, but we were there only to find a phone to arrange meeting out friend...we went to see him in Spruce Grove for a lovely evening of beer and chatting.

*for the prairies

September 3rd

G - Reporting

Quiet day spent at B's brother's in Calgary.

September 2nd

B - reporting

We had a relaxing day staying with family, having a lovely late brunch then just pottering around and playing with the cats!

September 1st

G - Reporting

Woke early and got the hell out of monster RV land that was the campsite in Drummheller and carried on out of town to check out the Hoodoo rock formation which turned out to be really small despite the star billing they have in the tourist books but at least we got to see them alone something that would not be repeated the rest of the day.

After a quick breakfast in town we joined the Q at the star attraction in town the Royal Tyrell Museum regarded as the best dinosaur museum in the world, and despite all the screaming kids it did not disappoint taking you thought all the eras of Dinosaurs right up to modern day mammals with amazing dioramas and displays.

After we did a quick badlands interpretive walk where i found out they are badlands because they bad lands to travel across, who knew!

After that it was just a straight shot into Calgary to stay with B's brother

Hoodoos

Not Actual size!

Bad lands and great skies

August 31st

B - reporting

We left quite early, heading over the river to have coffee and explore the Broadway neighbourhood. Lots of funky shops and attractive tree-lined streets...nice! But we have a long way to go so we hit the highway and went west, out of Saskatchewan and into Alberta.

The prairies are lovely, even though most of the land is no longer prairie grass but agriculture. This time of year the fields are all different colours, a sea of tall grasses*. Even the sides of the highway are covered with gorgeous purple and yellow flowers, shimmering in the wind under the enormous skies.

The scenery changed a bit when we crossed into Alberta, becoming rather scrubby with heavily-grazed lands and herds of cows. It became gradually more rolling as we approached Drumheller, Canada's Dinosaur Capital!

We found a campsite, which was very busy so we were lucky to secure a site. We had a 'mongolian-style' dinner (tinned meat, onion and veg all fried up, sounds disgusting but once the meat is in little crispy lumps it is yum!) and after enjoying the Blue Moon rising over the eastern hills had an early night.

*am not a farmer, not sure what the crops are

straight and flat-ish!