Junior Nationals Next Week

Crazy, isn't it? How time flies….

Junior Nationals is next week and Dylan is going. Qualified on all three events. Top 20ish in the country.

Not without work. Not without dedication. Not without getting up at 5:15am to head to practice. Not without a couple of big time smacks here and there. Not without doubts. But he's made it.

Trip's Over - Summer Continues

What a great month+ on the road! We did and saw so much and my hope is that the kids remember it as the years go by.

I must say that out of the 18.5K km that we drove, the most frustrating part was in Ontario from the Manitoba border to Parry Sound. Seriously - a two-lane highway with a 90km speed limit?????  SO ANNOYING!!  Also, we got stuck behind a caravan of 40 trucks in a travelling carnival so it took 3.5 hours to pass all of them.

Am now sitting on the deck at the cottage watching the sunset, listening to the waves and to U2 with a fire going and a perfect Cabernet Sauvignon after a stellar jambalaya I made for dinner and considering the fact that no matter how far you travel to expand your experiences, the best are always at home....

Brent

The last leg of the journey..

Today is the beginning of our long drive home. We have no more plans to stop until West Edmonton Mall! Dustin has been asking about going there since we started discussing the possibility of going to Alaska : )
It's hard to describe the scenery in Alaska. The mountains are majestic and I want to say quiet. I can't explain how small they make you feel and how permanent and long lasting they appear. We drove through all sorts of mountains; hilly, craggy, sharp edged, some with the sudden stop of a tree line and some with snow but mostly very rocky.

We decided to drive for as long as we could now that we are heading home. We drove from Fairbanks to Watson Lake (got there at 10:30 at night) but alas, no vacancy. But as it was still light we didn't mind continuing on until about 12:30 at night. Driving at night rewarded us with some animal sights; 2 foxes and a herd of Buffalo standing in the highway. A truck was pulled over with it's flashers on but we didn't know why they were stopped so we drove by them. As soon as we got by we saw the herd. So discussing the possibility of charging bison (the size of the van) we decided to try going through, of course letting the truck go first : ) No problems, I think the buffalo must be used to traffic as they slowly moved over. 

By this time exhaustion took it's toll and we pulled over in a wayside with some campers and tried to sleep in the car. This was not a very successful venture! Therefore, by 4:30 am I was awake (to tell you the truth I think I was awake all night)  so away we went again. We were not fortunate enough to see Elk or Caribou on the way up the Alaskan highway but now because it was very early morning we did get a chance to see a few herds. 

 Elk

Caribou

I guess I shouldn't forget to mention the construction. It's almost as bad as Ontario roads in the summer. Here the roads are always under construction because of the permafrost. We got used to the bumping around and the waiting (sometimes up to 20 minutes) for one lane construction zones. Fortunately, after seeing how many Alaskan vehicles have cracked windshields we did not suffer the same fate.... until Alberta! On all our rough road driving we managed to get a stone chip on a smooth highway near Edmonton!! Oh well, apparently most of the windshield cracks in Alaska are from the extreme cold, not stone chips.

Edmonton Mall was enormous! The boys were able to do a lot of the rides on their own and the water park with Brent, seeing as how I'm not much one for the water. This freed me up to do some shopping! As Alberta only has 5% sales tax I did some shopping for clothes for the boys to go back to school. 

The rope course, 3 stories high!

As we left Edmonton we stopped in to visit cousins Melinda, Paul and family. Melinda let the boys have a horse ride, we enjoyed a nice lunch together and Melinda and I reconnected! It was great to see them again. 

   

On the way home we drove through Saskatchewan under a huge rainstorm with an unbelievable display of lightning. You will have to ask Brent about the "black lightning." Let's just say that we were quite tired at the time and it LOOKED like black lightning :) Anyway, we could see the end of the storm for a long time (it being the Prairies) and it felt like we we re driving under a blanket and out from underneath.

The colour of the canola fields was stunning as well.

Well, all in all it was a long trip home but we had an incredible time and have many memories to keep and to share. I know the boys loved it and hope they remember it well.

See you soon,
Linda

On the way home...

Regina, SK

Crashing for sleep after driving from Edmonton this morning. Home in a couple days probably and at that time we'll post all the pix and details from Fairbanks to back east.

Cheers!

Fairbanks, AK

August 1, 2011

Dylan: We went to the Gold Dredge and Creamer’s Field. At Creamer’s Field there were a lot of  Sandhill Cranes. 

Dredge #8: Fairbanks

Update of birds!! New birds I’ve seen are: Black-Billed Magpie, Bald Eagle, Bonaparte’s Gull, Gray Jay, Yellow Rumped Warbler, Stellar’s Jay, Sandhill Crane. In Barrow I saw: Dunlin, Black Turnstone, Red Throated Loon (but it was dead), Longtailed Jaeger, Glaucous Gull, Red Phalarope, King Eider, and wait for it… Lapland Longspur!!!!!!

Sandhill Crane

Brent: In our travels today we stopped and checked out the Alaskan Pipeline. 

At our northernmost point that we are sleeping in on the trip - Fairbanks with the sky at midnight!

Barrow, AK: Northernmost Community in USA

Yesterday we rose bright an early and got to the airport in Fairbanks at 6:30am for our flight to Barrow, AK. Our flight was fairly non-descript until our aborted first attempt to land in Prudhoe Bay. It was so foggy that as we were about to land the pilot gunned the thrusters and climbed again. We had no idea what was going on at the time. We tried again and he landed. Kinda cool, but also a little unsettling.

We continued on to Barrow and were surprised at how large the community was. Now, that said, I am not going to say there was much to do as we spent 10 hours there and it was MORE than enough.

Everything was muddy and in disrepair. Like many northern communities, the land was strewn with broken snowmobiles, trucks, cars, sleds, and buildings. We saw about 4 burned out houses in our walks. We were the only "tourists" wandering the streets and as it was Sunday, most of the minimal number of businesses were closed. We walked down to the ocean and were amazed at the rolling surf of the Arctic ocean coming in from who knows where :-) We placed our hands in the water and felt the coldness of the Arctic Ocean. We could see the ice far out off the coast, and we actually got to see some whales go by (probably Bow Whales). We came across a slaughtered beluga whale on the beach that we found out later was shot by locals two days ago and harvested.

It was raining and eerie - no one was anywhere... We found Pepe's restaurant for brunch and after experiencing the staff there I was concerned that being this far north affected intelligence.  In our walking, we asked four people for directions to certain landmarks and NO ONE could identify on the town map where we were to go. It was surreal!! People who lived there could not tell us where things where - or even where they were located on this map.

Dylan: King Eider at Arctic Ocean

We saw a few stores, the schools, the old archeological sites and then decided to grab a cab and head to the one end of the community to see some birds. Saw some birds, then got back to to Arctic Pizza for a quick snack. Then walked around some more and grabbed another cab to go to "the point" - the end of the road in Barrow and the northernmost point in the continental US.

 Arctic Ocean in Barrow, AK

Northernmost point in the US

We caught our flight back to Fairbanks and landed at 9:10pm. A busy day indeed!

We Climbed a Freakin' Mountain!

Today was a "relax" day as we were at the resort and not driving anywhere. Linda and Dylan ventured off in the van to Potter's Marsh for some birdwatching and Dustin and I climbed a mountain! Not too many birds seen, but they did see three bald eagles (two adults and a juvenile).

The North Face Trail here at the mountain is a 2.2 mile trail marked "strenuous" in the guide. Its elevation change is +2300 feet. We made it in 2 hours and 5 minutes. What the #$% was I thinking? :-) Our reward for making it up without getting attacked by a bear, falling off the perilously steep and narrow trail, or having a heart attack was to enjoy spectacular views and ride the tram back to the base. As I explained to Dustin: you just climbed 500 feet higher than the CN tower!

View from the top to the resort below

After we all met back up and hit the pool and hot tub for a recovery swim, we rode the tram back up to have dinner at the restaurant at the top of the mountain. It was really good. After dinner the boys decided to climb another crazy path up to what we thought was a small sign at the end of the trail. It was actually a 12 foot ski sign! The picture below is of the two of them (the extremely small specks in the lower middle left) heading along the trail out to the sign (out of view to the right).

On the Way to Alyeska: July 28

Linda: Drove to Alyeska Resort, just past Anchorage. Dustin has been wanting to see a moose and he was lucky enough to see five of them. One alone and two sets of a female with her calf.

We stopped along the way to see the Matanuska Glacier. It's a 4 mile wide glacier coming down through the mountains that is visible from the road. It looks like a river of ice but up close it actually towers over the trees, it's enormous!

We also wandered around downtown Anchorage, it is the first 'normal' sized town that we have seen since we left... uh... Washington I guess! Now we are staying at the resort for a few days to take a break and do some sightseeing.

Whitehorse to Tok

I didn't even know that there WAS a continental time zone past Pacific Time! We are now on Alaskan Daylight Time (AKDT) and are 4 hours behind those of you reading in Ontario.

Fairly long drive today from Whitehorse to Tok, AK. Animals spotted today were a female moose crossing the road in front of us and a meandering black bear that was lumbering along on the shoulder of the highway. We were literally 6 feet  from it and my insane family members were sitting with their windows open taking pictures! I had one foot on the gas pedal ready to gun it and a hand on both front and back power window buttons. And they think I was nuts for jumping out of a plane years ago.... Sheesh.

The Tok School here is a K-12 school with about 11-15 kids per grade. Nice class sizes, but could you imagine going through 13 years of schooling with the SAME classmates? No thanks...

Off to Alyeska Ski Resort tomorrow for a couple of apparently rainy days - so much for the outdoor activities we had planned! I am hoping for the best though... We are looking forward to taking the tram up to the top and hope that the clouds don't ruin the view.

Alaska!

We made it to Alaska yesterday (although it was just a brief sojourn into the panhandle so it doesn't really count...).

Skagway is a cruise ship port town so it was a bit of a circus here downtown - too many jewellery stores!  Stopped for lunch at the Red Onion Saloon (an old saloon and ex-brothel where you could tour upstairs: "$5 for 15 minutes - just like it was in 1898"). We escaped out Dyea Road to end up at the head of the Chilkoot Trail at the Chilkoot Trail Outpost. Linda and the boys went to look for bears last night and this morning. Today we are off to Whitehorse.

Dylan: We looked for the bear spot for an hour then we went a totally different direction and found the place. It was so cool there were salmon right there like 3 feet away. We came back at night and started waiting for bears. Then 10 people came and started fishing right where we were watching. We drove down the road a bit because we thought no bears would go there and then 30 minutes later I see them with cameras so we went over there and of course there's a grizzly. We got out of the car and stood on the little bridge and watched it for 20 minutes. Then it came on the bank. There was no water in between us so mom, Dustin, and I went back in the car.

 Showtime, guys!

It's here somewhere... 

 There! Impressed?

Show's over. I am outta here...

It's a zoo out there...

Watson Lake, YT

Very eventful drive today! I'll leave it to the true "outdoorsy" members of the family to describe the sights!

Dustin: Today we left on our 21st day. We saw lots of buffalo. It was so cool because the first buffalo was walking right beside us and I was shaking! Later, we saw another buffalo and bears. We saw a mother bear with two cubs. It was funny because when dad honked the horn their two heads popped up out of the grass. We arrived at Watson Lake and stayed at Big Horn Lodge.

Dylan: Today we were on the Alaska Highway the whole way for 507km. On the way we saw Stone Sheep, Caribou, Wood Buffalo, 2 Black Bears and 2 cubs. The first stop we stopped at was a little trailer park with homemade cinnamon buns. They were soooo good. The next stop was the hot springs, it was around 110 degrees. We arrived in Watson Lake.

Linda: What can I say, the boys mentioned all the phenomenal wildlife we saw! The Wood Buffalo was so huge, it was the size of the van. It was right up on the road and we were wondering who would win if he decided that we were too close! We also got caught up in the middle of a herd, half was on each side of the road. They seemed to be quite comfortable with cars. We did stop for lunch at the Liard Hot Springs, ate outside and basked in the relaxing waters of the springs. It was very hot, you had to ease in and get used to it. The closer you got to the spring, the hotter the water was.

The scenery continues to amaze me! The mountains were so high the tops rose above the treeline. We tend to follow rivers through the mountains so there are many breath-taking views! I really enjoyed today. Yay! We made it to the Yukon!

When we got to Watson Lake we stayed at The Big Horn Lodge. There isn't really much here even though it appears to be a big town on the map. We had two choices for dinner. This was the better choice. The auto repair shop/diner!

That Ain't No Smokey!

Dylan: Today we had to get up early again to start our 10-hour drive to Fort Nelson. The drive started off boring but then we got into the mountains. We saw a black bear cross the road at around 11:00 and then we saw another black bear eating something on the side of the road so I got some pictures. I also saw a Northern Goshawk, about 4 deer, and a dead moose on the side of the road.

Dustin: Today was our 20th day. I was so excited because when we were on the road I saw my first bear. The first one was a small one and I saw him run across the road behind the car. Then we saw a bigger bear right on the side of the road which is this bear in the pictures below. We are in Fort Nelson and had dinner at Boston Pizza. Then we watched a movie and now it is time for bed.

Dylan's shot at side of road

Linda's close up