Alaska Road Trip: Part Miscellaneous

 

These are photos that I'm not totally sure where I took them. Or I had 80 pictures similar and I wanted to pick the best one. For instance, we saw a ton of bears. Brown, black, cinnamon, grizzly. Bears eating. Bears swimming. Bears cavorting with each other. (What we didn't see? Caribou or elk, which we had signs warning us of the entire trip.) We did see a mama moose and her baby along side the roadway but I was driving and therefore have no proof.

 



"Tiny Bear Is My Co-Pilot"

One lesson I took away from this trip through Western Canada? Don't trust any bug, not matter how small or innocuous-looking. If you see anything with six legs flying around you, destroy it or it will destroy you(r forehead). Even though it looks like I'm about to sprout horns here, it was even worse an hour before that when I inadvertently itched and expanded my brow to caveman-like proportions.

Alaska Road Trip: Part 3

There were at least 3 places along the way touting their "world famous" cinnamon buns. We were finally worn down by the third one we came to and stopped at the Braeburn Lodge to see what all the fuss was about. It was certainly the largest bun I'd (and Andi!) had ever seen and I guess that's what makes them famous.

We made a special side trip to Carmacks, YT because The Milepost said there were 5 nice hikes where you could look for agates in the area. We went to two different information centers in town and were met with blank looks when we inquired just where to find these amazing trails. We did a little Google-fu and found info on the Plume Agate mine. We're not quite sure if we found the kind of agates mined there but it was a really fun hike and we found a lot great rocks to run through the tumbler.

This next photo was taken with my iPhone and I have to admit I'm pretty impressed with what the phone camera was able to do! This was Kluane Lake in the Yukon Territories. Absolutely stunning scenery.

Then we were lucky enough to find Cottonwood RV park right on the shores of Kluane Lake. It was by far the most beautiful RV park we stayed at the entire trip. The fact that there was a grizzly bear hanging out there only added to the charm, although it upped our concern for our tent-camping neighbors. The moon photo was taken at about 12:20 AM.

 

Our very first gold-panning experience. It didn't pan out (har har), and the water and rain were freezing, but boy was it exciting. It's the little things for us.

Road Trip To Alaska: Part 2

This was the last little bit of British Columbia. Dawson Creek is the official start of the Alaska Highway, that's about all there is to say about the town. Heheh. Andrew was really taken with the fields of blooming canola so I was sure to get a photo for him. A lot of our pictures were taken while we were driving, I'm glad so many of the turned out anyway. There wasn't much time to stop for photo opportunities. It's surprising how long it takes each leg of the journey and we didn't even need to stop for bathroom or snacks!

This was from the signpost forest in Watson Lake, YT. Watson Lake was a surprise jewel on our trip. We had been to many towns that sounded interesting in their brochures but didn't really deliver once we got there. This little community was really friendly and it had a neat planetarium. The girls were excited for the "movies" but once they began Andi started to have doubts. "Mommy, I don't wanna go to space!" she whispered. I explained that if she didn't want to go she could just close her eyes. Pretty soon one eye was fluttering open, and then the other. Guess she did want to go after all!

Morely River was the first place Andrew stopped to use his Yukon Territories fishing license. No luck on the fish but we did get up close and personal with local wildlife. The flying, biting kind.

Wolf Creek campground outside of Whitehorse, YT. These pictures are from the trail that goes around the campground and was our very first view of the Yukon River (uh, not pictured). I will tell you walking quickly (to avoid mosquitos) and waving your arms and slapping yourself (to thwart mosquito bites) is pretty decent exercise. 

Pictures from the second hike at Wolf Creek campground. It was a super steep climb up to the ridge but well worth the views.