Seattle, Washington
British Columbia, Canada
Leaving Seattle around noon Monday we knew we had a long haul ahead of us. Essentially what we needed to do at this point was drive the whole way through Canada and up and around into Alaska. Undoubtedly this was the longest stretch of driving in our trip and we wanted to do it as quickly as possible to maximize our time in Alaska.
I’m writing this entry around 10:00P.M. Tuesday night, some 36 hours after our departure from Seattle, and we have yet to stop for anything besides gas, coffee, a meal, a tourist stop, and a few photo ops. None of the stops was longer than an hour. Between the three of us rotating driving and sleeping we have driven about 2,000 miles in this period.
It has been a beautiful drive through British Columbia so far, however, and it makes it much easier to do one’s shift behind the wheel. Never before have I had to be so alert while driving though, as you never know what to expect in terms of wildlife wandering onto the road in front of you at little notice. So far we have seen countless dear, caribou, elk, black bear, brown bear, coyotes, mountain goats, moose, reindeer, bald eagles, wild horses, fox, and bison to keep things interesting. Below are some pictures.
We’ve stopped at three notable stops. One is called Watson’s Lake and for whatever reason it is home to the license plate forest. Here, there are just thousands and thousands of license plates and signs people have hung on trees and posts in one area. It is neat to see the variety of places people have come from. I knew we’d be passing through and happened to have an old tag laying around so we all signed and added a Pennsylvania plate to the collection.
The second stop was at the beginning of the Alaskan Highway, which commences in Dawson’s Creek (yes there is an actual place in the middle of Canada with this familiar title). In accordance with the rest of our trip we stopped for a picture. Unfortunately for me it was at 3:30A.M. and in the middle of my sleeping shift so I was less than thrilled to be taking pictures in the cold. This disgust can be noted in my pleasant face.
The third stop was tonight for dinner; we stopped in White Horse at a place we’d heard about in multiple travel guides and books – Klondike’s Ribs & Salmon. Once again my passion for food was shining through. After 34 hours on the road we had been looking forward to a good meal and I can officially say 2 hours later and still stuffed we had it. I recommend it to anyone passing through. Were all exhausted and are searching for a campsite for the night before finishing our journey out tomorrow morning. We should be in Fairbanks, Alaska by early afternoon. Until then…cheers.
Black Bears
Brown Bears
Porcupine
Mountain Goats
Moose
Owls
American Bison
The signpost forest at Watson's Lake.
The beginning of the Alaskan Highway.
No comments:
Post a Comment