We're here!

We arrived in Louisiana around 6:30 p.m.!!! It's very warm and humid here. More updated later (assuming the lodging office gets the internet fixed...)

Flashback: Yellowstone, Day Three

Continuing our adventure through Yellowstone N.P....

Our third and final day was the subject of much debate. On the one hand, we were feeling pretty wiped from the day before, and we thought Kiersten needed some run-around time. On the other, we didn't want to waste what could be our only time in the park for the next few years. We compromised by agreeing to do a ranger-led hike which would happen early in the morning, then coming back to the campsite that afternoon.

I got up early that morning to get the campsite set up and the fire going. While I was working, I heard some noise in the woods and decided to investigate. I was able to quietly get a close glimpse of a doe and fawn looking for some early morning food. I kept my distance and watched as they made their way through the woods over 15 minutes, before I finally lost track of them.

Anyway, we made breakfast and got moving by 8:30 so we could make it to the 9 a.m. hike. Unfortunately, the hike was farther away than we estimated, and we were caught behind a very slow-moving RV whose driver refused to pull over to let us pass (as the roadsigns said he should). We made it to the hike location just in time...to see the ranger departing with the group. Sabotage!

After more debate, we decided to trek out on our own on the South Rim Trail, which follows...yes...the south rim of the Yellowstone River. Along the way, we caught gorgeous glimpses of the river and its Upper and Lower falls. The hike got a little strenuous for continuing to go uphill, but we did it.

The climax of the hike took us to Artist's Point, apparently named because artists enjoyed going there when they were painting early pictures of Yellowstone. We were treated to an outstanding view of the river, the falls, and a large portion of Yellowstone's Grand Canyon. We also discovered that we could have driven straight to Artist's Point, since it had its own parking lot. However, the hike was very refreshing, so we liked our way better.

Afterwards, Kiersten fell asleep, so we set her down and Christina was able to write in her journal for awhile. I drove off to look for a gift shop, and found that the Canyon area had a wonderful visitor center which explained the geologic history of the park. I liked it so much that we took Kiersten back there after she woke up so that she could play with the interactive exhibits. (I don't think she understood most of them.)

After that, we went back to our campsite to get ready for dinner. While Kiersten played, Christina found some showers and had her first one in several days. She apparently loved it, because I didn't see her for awhile after she left. Later, we had hot soup for dinner, and then cooked some marshmallows. While doing that, some nice pre-teen girls from the neighboring camp asked if they could play with Kiersten for awhile. We were very happy to oblige, and they all had a good time.

So we learned that taking a more relaxed approach to camping works best with a two-year old. We got a good hike in, while Kiersten got a free ride and some run-around time. Although we didn't get to see all of the major sites, we saw enough, got exercise, and followed our little one's schedule. Besides, not seeing everything gives us an excuse to make a return trip to the park.

Day Twenty-One: Wakeeney, KS to Paul Valley, OK

Almost there! Today was a big push; we realized that if we stopped short, we'd have a very long final leg to drive tomorrow. So we went all the way from Wakeeney (about 70 miles from the CO/KS border) to Paul Valley (about 1/2 hour from Oklahoma City, and another 70 miles to TX).

The only snag we hit was in Wichita, KS, when we stopped to visit McConnell Air Force Base. We thought we could save money by going to the commissary for groceries. Good plan, no? Well, the road directions to the base were lousy (I should have listened to Christina, but the road sign said "McConnell, turn left"), and we ended up driving all the way around the base. We later tried an alternate route, but when we got to the gate, they told us we couldn't get in that way because our car was "too full" (whatever that means). So we went through the OTHER gate, and although we got into the base...it turned out the commissary was closed on Mondays. Sabotage!

Christina had to snack on cereal bars until we got to Oklahoma City, where we started looking for restaurants. Traffic was lousy, but we finally found a Super Target just south of the city. Even better, it had a Qdoba nearby, so we got some great Mexican food for dinner. (Kiersten almost an entire huge burrito.)

We then went to Target and bought tomorrow's groceries, plus a Disney CD and Hello Kitty towel for Kiersten. (Warning: the Disney CD is sung entirely in cartoon voices and should not be heard by those who value their sanity.) I looked in toys, but didn't see the particular action figures I was looking for.

We could have stopped at a hotel there, but we pressed on just a little bit further to save some time tomorrow. We're now in Paul Valley, at a very nice Comfort Inn with a pool and everything. Tomorrow, we make way to Dallas to get our other car, and then on to Shreveport to finish this three-week saga.

Results: Eh, that goof-up at McConnell kind of ruined a good driving day. I didn't find my Hulk, either. Grade: B.

Total distance traveled: 4,654 miles.

How Many States Have You Visited?

Here's a fun link I learned about. You can click on this site's list of states and see how many you've visited. This trip has given us a chance to see many parts of the U.S. which we've never seen before, so it's fun to see how much of the map we can fill in.

For the record, I'm including states in which I've visited solely by having a layover in one of their airports. These include Nevada, Washington, Oregon, and Minnesota. Also note that as of tomorrow, I can add Oklahoma, and by Tuesday, Texas and Louisiana. (If I can get to Mississippi or Arkansas, I'll have made a ring around the country with a weird miswestern gap.)

Flashback: Yellowstone, Day Two

Continuing to catch up on what we did while in Yellowstone...

We started our day by visiting the geysers and hot springs at West Thumb (so called because to early explorers, Yellowstone Lake appeared to be shaped like a hand). We had a nice walk around the basin, and saw the painted pools and numerous hot springs. Apparently, there were some geysers there, but nothing erupted during our visit. However, we did see dozens of bubbling and steaming springs which were hot enough to kill a person. We kept our distance and admired them safely.
















Next, we drove from West Thumb over to Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin. Along the way, we stopped at the Continental Divide marker. Christina is a weather buff, so this was an important stopping point for her. (You actually cross over the Divide at several places in the park, but it was still fun.)

We got over to Old Faithful in the early afternoon. We were nervous at first when we saw a geyser going off in the distance, but this later turned out to be one other than Old Faithful. We actually had a little time to kill before the eruption, so we stopped in the visitor center for awhile. We later made it to the main viewing platform in time for the next eruption, which lasted about 5 minutes. Kiersten was interested in it briefly, but decided to play for the rest of the event.




Kiersten started to act up after that, mostly because she missed her afternoon nap. We took a brief visit to the Old Faithful Inn, a 104-year old building where Teddy Roosevelt stayed. It's a fabulous, grand old building which we hope to stay in the next time we visit the park. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the interior; it was too dark and my camera couldn't pick them up.

We finished our day with a walking tour of the Upper Geyser Basin. We saw some go off, and others just stew without event. Some of our highlights included the Chinese Spring (which was actually discovered by a Japanese man), the Sawmill Geyser (which swirls clockwise and sounds like its namesake), the Great Fountain Geyser (we missed the once-every-twelve-hours eruption), the Grand Geyser (hasn't gone off since April), and the Castle Geyser (pictured here; it resembles its namesake). The tour was mostly enjoyable, although Kiersten was still cranky due to boredom and exhaustion. We did learn that we needed to respect her schedule on vacation and remember that she needs time for fun as well.

It was an otherwise fruitful day, but we did cram in a little too much, and were exhausted by the end. Would the next day be any better? Stay tuned....

Flashback: Yellowstone, Day One

Or...whatever day of our trip this was (15, I think).

Our first day at Yellowstone was fun, but a bit exhausting. We got a bit of a late start into the park; we figured "we're already here, so why rush?" This actually worked to our advantage, as Yellowstone is notorious for its early-morning traffic jams. We noticed the parking lot of our lodge clear out by the early morning, so we avoided the early-morning rush.

Anyway, here we are at the Park's famous arch at the North gate:














After sitting at a brief construction delay, we made our way to the Albright Visitor Center at Mammoth Hot Springs to get our initial overview of the park. Kiersten enjoyed the stuffed animal displays upstairs, but mostly, she enjoyed running around.

We next made a brief stop at Undine Falls on the road between Mammoth and Tower Junction. We also stopped at the petrified tree a little further down the road, mainly because Donald Duck tried (unsuccessfully) to cut down such a tree on his trip to Yellowstone, and we wanted to show Kiersten. (Unfortunately, it didn't look like much of a tree.)

















We then drove over to Tower Waterfall, which we understood to be the waterfall to see in Yellowstone. It was...ok, as far as waterfalls go, but we were too far away to really appreciate it. The trail which led to the base of the waterfall had washed out, so we didn't get to see it up close. Also, we may have been a bit spoiled, since the falls at Glacier N.P. were also wonderful, and we got much closer to them.












After the falls, it was around 1 p.m., and we were getting tired and wanted to get to our campsite. We continued through the Tower-Canyon-Fishing Bridge route, although we ran into a brief traffic jam when about half of the Yellowstone bison herd decided to cross the road. We didn't mind; they were very interesting to watch up close. A few did come very close to our car, as illustrated by this photo, taken from the driver's side.














We got to our campsite at Bridge Bay in the early afternoon. We were a little intimidated at first, since our initial glimpse of the site had open spaces with R.V.s everywhere. However, our reserved site was in Section G, which was set back further in the woods and had much more privacy. This later worked to our advantage: on our third night, there was a strong wind which didn't affect us because we were so sheltered by trees. Anyway, I set up the tent, and Christina cooked us a nice hot steak-and-potato dinner. Our air mattress also worked wonderfully; it inflated in minutes thanks to our auto-pump, and it was considerably softer than our camp pads from Glacier.

Overall, Day One in Yellowstone was pretty successful, although we were a bit wiped out from our previous travels.

Day Twenty: Denver, CO to Wakeeney, KS

I think I lost a day somewhere. We left on a Tuesday, so every following Tuesday should be 7 days later. The first Tuesday we left was Day 1; the following Tuesday was Day 8, and the one after that was Day 15. Today is Sunday, so if this week's Tuesday is Day 22, then today should be Day 20. I must have missed a day from spending so long in Yellowstone, so I'm resetting the numbering with this post.

Anyway, we're now in Wakeeney, KS, a sleepy town on I-70. Not much to report today: we went to Mass with Mark and Danielle early this morning. The church was nice, but they refinished half the pews, so we all found ourselves sitting in the back on folding chairs. Afterwards, we relived an old tradition of ours from our law school days by going to a diner for a post-missal breakfast. It was crowded, the food was slightly greasy, and the waitress spoke with a Greek flair. In other words, it was just like I remembered (except now we were all busy entertaining our kids).

We got some groceries at a local Whole Foods afterwards. Thank heavens Christina had me pay for the food, because it was there that I noticed that my credit card was missing. Thankfully, I had left it at the diner only a few blocks back, so I was able to retrieve it without a problem.

We drove a long and somewhat boring route after that. Our original plan was to get to McConnell Air Force Base today, or failing that, Salina, KS. We actually fell 130 miles short of Salina, because we were getting really tired, and we'd forgotten that the time zone changed again in Kansas. Kiersten was pretty well-behaved, and she's even not as demanding for her Disney CDs as she used to be. She was also getting very tired by the end of today's drive, so we decided to pull over before she passed out in the car.

Tomorrow, we're aiming to reach Oklahoma City or maybe even further. Tuesday will be the rough drive: we need to get to Dallas, TX to get our other car (shipped from Anchorage), and then drive on to Shreveport so I can report into the base. We're almost there, and yet finish line seems so far away...

Results: We had a really late start, but with good reason. The drive was productive but uneventful, although we did fall short of our goal. Grade: B.

Total miles traveled to date: 4,226 (and still no oil change).

Day Twenty: Casper, WY to Denver, CO

We've had a long day, and I'm feeling wiped out, so I'll post today's update and work on the Yellowstone update tomorrow or Monday. Here's highlights from Saturday, 9 August:

• We had a very nice stay at the Sleep Inn in Casper (actually Evansville, just next to Casper). The continental breakfast included waffles, so it was basically a whole meal. Kiersten misbehaved a little, but this was probably because she enjoyed not being in a car.
• We checked out a little later than usual, because we had to finish packing. However, today was a shorter drive, so we didn't feel the urgency to get moving. We planned on going back to the Wal-Mart in Casper for groceries, but it occurs to us that we want to go East, not West. Fortunately, I found a free publication which outlines what's at each exit on Wyoming's highways. Between that and the advice from the hotel clerk, we decide to press East and find food in that direction.
• Travel on I-25 is great. The speed limit is mostly 75 mph, so the miles roll by very quickly.
• We stop at a Subway in Wheatland, WY for lunch. Thank goodness the $5 footlong program is still going.
• After a short time, we pass by Cheyenne, WY. Unfortunately, we forgot that F.E. Warren Air Force Base is nearby. We also forgot that we could have stopped at the base commissary for even cheaper groceries. Nuts.
• We cross from Wyoming into Colorado shortly after that. For some reason, I use Kiersten's Hello Kitty book to quiz Christina on state nicknames. Colorado is the "Centennial State" for reasons we don't understand. (Later, we learn it's because Colorado received its statehood 100 years after the U.S. was founded.)
• It takes us a little longer to get to Denver, as traffic increases and the speed limit drops around the city. We finally arrive at our destination around 3:30. We're now staying with our friends Mark and Danielle, whom we knew from law school and haven't seen in 5 years.
• Mark and Danielle have two kids, one of whom is a girl named Isabel who's only two years older than Kiersten. They play independently at first, but they seem to become more interested in each other as the evening goes on. By the end of the night, the girls are sharing a room and playing with each other's baby dolls. We're glad Kiersten found a friend on this trip.
• Mark and Danielle prepare a fabulous dinner, and we later relax while watching a movie. It's great catching up, and we're grateful for the room and board for the night.

Tomorrow, we'll be off to church and brunch, followed by a lengthy drive through Kansas. We presume we'll be stopping in Salina, KS, but we don't have a set destination yet.

Rating: A good day with a short drive. Grade: A.

Total miles driven to date: 3,848 miles. (We need an oil change!)

Day Nineteen: Yellowstone National Park to Casper, WY

We've successfully camped for three nights in Yellowstone. We're now safely in Casper, WY, and we should be in Denver tomorrow afternoon. We're recovering from the camping experience, so I'll update with more pictures and narratives later.

While you're waiting, here's a photo of Kiersten with a bison herd (from a safe distance).

Days Fifteen to Eighteen

We'll be camping in Yellowstone National Park and without internet for awhile. If we're not eaten by bears, we should be posting again by Friday night (if our hotel in Casper, WY has internet).

Day Fourteen: Glacier NP to Gardiner, MT

Highlights from Monday, 4 Aug:

• Still not sleeping well. It's freezing, and even my mummy bag doesn't seem to be insulating me very well. I've tried relocating my sleeping bag and letting Christina sleep on both her and Kiersten's pads, but the ground is still poking us. Neither of us does very well this evening.
• I get up around 7. There's FROST everywhere in the middle of August! I get the fire going again just to warm myself up. It's a miserable morning and it feels more like November than mid-summer.
• Christina gets up (with my prodding--I can't blame her) and we get breakfast going. It's scrambled eggs today, and they also work out quite well on the cast iron skillet. Kiersten gets her oatmeal cereal, and after breakfast, she happily plays while we pack up.
• Getting the tent back into its box is not as easy as taking it out.
• The first half of this LONG drive isn't too bad. The speed limit goes up to 70 in some parts, so we're happily crusing along for a few hours. When we get to Helena, we slow down significantly. First, we stop at Target (we love Target!) and collect some camping supplies that we'd wished we had for Glacier. This includes an air mattress, since we can't bring ourselves to sleep on a lumpy ground again. Next, I look at a camping store for thermal socks, while Christina gets food at Albertson's. Her venture is more successful than mine, but I do manage to get some more starter logs.
• We then put Kiersten down for her nap. It's now 3 p.m. and she's desperate for sleep. Normally, we'd make her ride out the rest of the day so she'd be tired enough to go to bed, but our shopping venture has worn her out. This keeps us occupied until around 3:30.
• We stop for gas ($44.00 here--doing much better) and then crawl through Helena's traffic. We spot a Wal-Mart, and I run inside to see if they have thermal socks. They don't, but I do get Christina a pile of chewing gum, and a neato Darth Vader toy for myself. (They didn't have anything I wanted in Edmonton....) Of course, it's now 5 p.m., and Kiersten has woken up in a cranky mood.
• We continue to speed along, God bless Montana's high speed limits. We stop in Bozeman for a quick dinner before pressing. Sometime after 7, we make it to Gardiner, and we can see Yellowstone's northern gate in the distance. We're staying at the Yellowstone Village Inn, a quaint little lodge on the edge of town. It looks a little dated, but the facility has everything we need. It also appears to be a family establishment, as the owner has her two school-age girls working the front with her. Kiersten readily conks out, and we set out to repack the car once again....

Results: Too long of a drive, with too much obsession over "we also need this" for camping. However, we made it, and the lodging is VERY welcome after two nights of cold camping. Grade: C-.

Total Distance Traveled: 3,181 miles.

Day Thirteen: Still in Glacier NP, MT

Highlights from Sunday, 3 Aug:

• Ouch! We do NOT sleep well. We're sleeping on simple foam pads to give us some cushion and elevation. They're pretty useless, because we can both feel large rocks underneath us. Also, it's freezing. I seem to be doing OK in my mummy sleeping bag, but Christina is sharing a half-mummy with Kiersten, and they're quite cold.
• I wake up around 7 a.m. to get the morning fire going. Success! I can actually get a fire going by myself. (I do use the cheater log again, though.) I'm mostly concerned with the temperature: the morning air is still mighty cold.
  
• Christina gets up a little later, and we get breakfast moving before Kiersten gets up. This morning's menu consists of delicious French toast. I have to admit, the campfire-cooked meal is very fun.
• We quickly get dressed and take down everything except the tent. It's Sunday, so we still need to get to church. The nearest one we know of is in Browning, MT, about 40 minutes away. The distance isn't that far. but the road winds a lot and has a lot of free range cattle, so we need to drive slower.
• Browning is a little bit of a frumpy midwestern town, but it's not awful. It's in the middle of the Blackfoot Indian Reservation, too; neither of us have ever been on a reservation. We easily find the Little Flower Catholic Church and make it in time for the first reading. Kiersten is pretty well-behaved, but ends up misbehaving for the last 1/3 of the Mass. (The poor kid has been cooped up a lot; she enjoys her freedom.)
• Lunchtime! We try a Subway across the street, but it's not open yet because the morning help never showed up. We try a supermarket across the street, shop for awhile, and realize we don't like the selection. So we go back to Subway...where they're still not quite open. The owner can see that we're hungry, so she lets us order whatever's available. Christina and I both get chicken, and Kiersten has a turkey kids meal.
• Back to Glacier! It's warmed up considerably since this morning, and we're now able to freely hike without heavy clothing.
• We drive through part of Going-to-the-Sun Road (the main tourist road which cuts across the park). Since our time here is limited, we decide to hike to St. Mary Falls, a short hike to a lovely waterfall. Christina decides it's her turn to wear Kiersten on her back for once, and she does quite marvelously. The hike to the falls takes about 1/2 hour, well worth the effort.
• The trail continues to another set of falls, Virgina Falls. This hike is a little steeper, but still manageable. The trick to this trail is that there's three points where you come to a waterfall. The main attraction is the last one; it's a spectacularly large waterfall which was so powerful, it generated its own wind. Kiersten loved seeing it!
• After making one last stop at a nearby gorge, we decide to head back for dinner. Between church and the hike, it's gotten pretty late. This time, we cook hot dogs! Kiersten loves the idea of cooking dogs over an open flame, and we let her help with caution. A little later, we cook marshmallows, and she has a great time eating those as well.
• I go off to an evening talk about Glacier's birds, while Christina puts Kiersten to bed. I learn that one species of bird lays its eggs in other birds' nests, and lets those birds raise their young. Awesome. I'm pretty sure there was a Simpsons episode on point.
• Cold again! Once again, the temperature rapidly plummets after dark. Christina and I hurry to get stuff done so we can get ourselves to bed. We do pause for one important sight: we notice that the stars are much, much clearer out here, away from civilization. Without any light pollution, we see the night sky is filled with countless stars (and one planetoid in the East-Southeast which we think is Jupiter). Awesome.
• We're freezing. We pack what we can in the car. Off to bed!

Results: So-so Mass, but we got our $5 footlongs at Subway. Great hiking with spectacular views. Cooking is a lot of fun. Grade: A.

Days Twelve: Calgary, AB to Glacier NP, MT

And we're back online! Let's see what you missed in the last 3 days...

• The drive from Calgary to back into the U.S. was pretty uneventful. We did have to make at least one stop for groceries and supplies. The closer we get to camping, the more we get into the habit of "Oh, I need this...." On Saturday, it was an over mitt: we realized that we'd be cooking with a cast iron skillet over an open flame with no hand protection. I found a nice one that stands up to 93 Celsius...which, in American, is about 200 degrees.
• We drove a little out of our way to Coleman, AB. Apparently, this is where Christina's grandfather was born, so we got a quick photograph of her and Kiersten outside the Coleman post office.
• We got a little lost after that; the route to the U.S. border was not well-marked, and we had to keep asking for directions.
• We're now off the map of our Milepost! Hurray! The thing kept falling off our dashboard. We can now put it away and sell it on eBay next summer. (Word to the wise: the Milepost is FLIMSY. I recommend wrapping it in contact paper before heavily using it.)
• We drive through Canada's Waterton National Park. It's known as an "international peace park" since it borders Glacier, and they have some joint management. If we had more time, we'd have probably visited this park as well.
• We cross the border around 5. Back in the U.S.A.! (Christina is sad to leave Canada; she enjoyed seeing everything in litres and kilometers again.)
• We get to Glacier maybe an hour after that. We're pretty tired and hungry, since the drive took much longer than we expected. The tent is pretty painless to put together, however. We eat a cold dinner since we really don't have the patience to make something hot. Also, we're not allowed to chop firewood here, so we have no fire.
• By the way, the scenery is gorgeous here. Very different from Alaska. I was expecting Montana to be more flat and rugged, but we're right into the Rockies here.
  
• OK, panic: we have no firewood. I drive off-camp to check with various general stores. A lot of them are sold out, but I do manage to score two bundles for $6 each. (Ow!)
• It gets cold FAST in Glacier. It was almost 70 degrees when we arrived, but the temperature starts plummeting once the sun goes behind the mountains. According to our thermometer, it went down to the mid 30s. We rush Kiersten to bed and bundle her in some warm clothes and her sleeping blanket.
• I make my first pathetic attempt at a fire. Christina has to explain to me that, no, you don't just go and light your big log. You need to throw kindling and small branches and newspaper into the firepit to get the big log going. I've also got a magnesium flare...thing...which is supposed to get a fast spark going. That doesn't work, but I've also got some starter logs, so we cheat and get that going. We get a nice fire going after that. Christina comments that it took two of us to get a fire going, so between the two of us, we make a whole person. I comment back that that's what makes a marriage. She likes that.
• We otherwise enjoy the fire while we try to keep from freezing our toes off.
  

Results: A long but not ridiculous drive, but we do arrive too late for a warm meal. We're kind of grumpy making camp, but we have a good laugh before bed. Grade: B.

Total Miles Traveled: 2,806 miles.

Day Eleven: Edmonton to Calgary, AB

Nothing much to report today. We ate our breakfast and got moving around 10 a.m. Christina and Kiersten went food shopping, while I gassed up the car ($62.00 today--the price is going down as we go south) and stopped at Chapters to look for some books I couldn't find at the mall yesterday. I have to say, I'm not as pleased with the selection of books in Canada, because I didn't find anything I was looking for.

We got a bit lost trying to drive out of Edmonton. The roads are a little confusing, and we missed our turn-off more than once. After some additional shopping (Christina found an outlet mall), we hit the road by 1 p.m. and got to Calgary around 5. We got lost again in Calgary--we had no idea where our hotel was, and we had to drive around the city until we found it. It wasn't too painful--all the streets are numbered--but it was confusing for awhile.

I think we're starting to get a bit traveled out. Tomorrow, we'll be on the road for 5 hours. We'll cross back into the U.S. at Montana, and camp at Glacier National Park for 2 nights before going on to Yellowstone. I think two nights' camping will do us good: fresh air, lots of hiking, and no driving.

Which reminds me: we'll probably be offline for awhile. We're spending Monday night in a hotel before camping for 3 nights in Yellowstone, so if we have internet on Monday, I'll post an update. Otherwise, we'll probably resume on Friday night. Goodnight!

Results: We spent a lot of time on what should have been a 3-hour trip. Hotel's not bad; it has a kitchen, but it's bachelor-sized. Grade: C.

Total distance traveled: 2,560 miles.

Day Ten: Still in Edmonton

We spent most of the day at the West Edmonton Mall. The first thing I noticed is that the mall wasn't as crowded as it was when we went two years ago. Christina reminded me that the last time we went, it was a Saturday and a Canadian national holiday. (N.B. for Americans: Canada has this random holiday in August called "Civic Holiday." It's their annual celebration of the desire to have a national holiday in August--no joke. Anyway, do not go to the mall on Civic Holiday.)

I took Kiersten to the Sea Life Caverns, but she wasn't too interested. She's been to two other aquariums, so maybe her reaction was "been there, done that." I think her highlight was getting her hand stamped by the ticket lady.

We had a nice Daddy-Daughter lunch at "Jungle Jim's," a very kid-friendly restaurant. The waitress brought Kiersten a hamburger with a ketchup-drawn smiley face, and a drink with an umbrella. Plus, the menu was shaped like a gorilla's face. Clearly, this was the highlight of her day.

Much of the rest of the day was a bust. We went to Build-a-Bear Workshop, but they were sold out of the new Hello Kitty doll which I wanted to get Kiersten. (Note to my sister: DOES YOUR SHOPPING MALL HAVE THESE?) I got some books to read, but not as many as I was hoping to find. I did get one Christmas present for Christina--too bad she'll have to wait 5 more months to see it. Later in the day, I took Kiersten to the Sea Lion show. She enjoyed it for about 20 minutes, then got really tired of it and kept asking for Mommy. I don't understand why--she really seemed to be enjoying that first part of it.


Christina apparently wasn't too thrilled with her shopping. She did get some stuff for herself and Kiersten, but mostly basics, and was disappointed in what she saw available. She also got stuck in a skirt she tried on when the zipper stopped working (no wonder it had been marked down-- they knew it was broken); the manager had to cut the skirt to get her out. Not to name the particular store, but Christina felt that she was treated horribly by the staff, and she may be turned off from it "forever." (Wait...maybe that's a good thing. Heh.)

Kiersten got really worn out and went right to sleep tonight. So now we're scrambling to pack up once again, since we'll be off to Calgary tomorrow. It's only a three hour drive, but we wanted to break up the trip since it'd otherwise be eight hours to Glacier National Park.

Results: We fondly looked forward to shopping at the WEM, but it just wasn't what we hoped. The best laid plans of mice and men...I forget how the rest of the quote goes, but the mice kept getting squished by the man, and the man was eventually shot by his best friend. Grade: C+.

What's Left After the Last Great Road Trip?

At every stop along the AlCan, we kept seeing these free publications called "The Last Great Road Trip." It's essentially a mini-version of the Milepost with lots of factoids about the places you'd see on the AlCan.

You'll note that the cover image is of two retirees and their dog, with their recreational vehicle behind them.










My problem is this: I'm 30 and Christina is 29. If we've already done the AlCan, what's left for us to do when we're a pair of retirees with nothing but an RV, lots of free time, and a little dog? Maybe we'll drive Route 66...

Mile 2112

It occurred to me that we crossed mile 2,112 of our trip today. The number is important purely because 2112 is also the name of one of Rush's early songs. How appropriate, since Rush is one of the best musical talents to ever come out of Canada. (I have a certain fondness for Alanis Morisette, but I own none of her albums and probably 10 of Rush's, so that should tell you where my loyalties lie.)

I love these guys. I keep telling my Canadian-born wife that she should appreciate the fact that my favorite rock band is from her country. She shrugs and tells me that all their songs sound the same. (Bah...so do Charlotte Church's.) I actually saw Rush perform on Bastille Day several years ago. Man, they're even more awesome in concert than they are on an album.

Anyway, when you're traveling the AlCan through the heart of Canada, be sure to celebrate mile 2,112 by listening to a Rush album.

Hey Jessica, Nathan, Gracie, and Emmy...

Kiersten keeps asking if she can drive to your house. She misses you guys! (Sorry Nick, she hasn't asked for you yet.)

P.S.: Kiersten has also asked to see the following people: Coral, Miss Angela, Declan & Zachary (but not Brandon), and her cousin Caitlyn (who was just born last week). She may have also asked for "Miss Connie," still not understanding that a) "Connie" is actually named John, and b) John ain't no "Miss."

Day Nine: Dawson Creek, BC to Edmonton, AB

This was a half-and-half day. I woke up at 6 to get an early start on breakfast, which let Christina get Kiersten dressed and get some packing done. (Wait...that sounds like I wasn't doing anything.) I got the car packed early, and we left at 8 a.m., which quickly turned into 9 a.m. when the time zone changed 1/2 hour later. (Funny thing...turns out Dawson Creek doesn't observe daylight savings time, so it was an hour earlier all along anyway.)

The first half of the drive went fine; we made great time and Kiersten was very well-behaved. For the second half, she was a little cranky (she didn't have her afternoon nap) and it rained fairly hard. We made it to the hotel around 4 after a quick stop for some groceries. The hotel is pretty decent, right near the mall, and has a swimming pool which Kiersten will enjoy. (Actually, she's been begging to go in it all evening.)

Tomorrow should have decent weather, and plenty to do. Kiersten and I will be having our Daddy-Daughter lunch, seeing the aquarium, and stopping at the Build-a-Bear Workshop. Christina will...I don't know...be found under a pile of H&M and Gap bags at the end of the day.

Update: We had a good time at the pool.














Results: Good morning; pathetic afternoon; decent hotel. Grade: B.

Distance traveled to date: 2,379 miles.

Day Eight: Fort Nelson to Dawson Creek, BC

Nothing significant to report for Tuesday, 29 July. The drive was a relatively short 4 1/2 hours, and Kiersten was so well-behaved that we did it in one straight shot. She's starting to eat more normally, which may be helping her behavior. Plus, we think she may be getting used to the concept of being in a car for hours at a time. She's begun self-directing her play again, rather than requiring us to entertain her-- seems to be a pattern every time her life is disrupted.

According to Google Maps, we've driven 2,010 miles so far, which puts us at about 2/5 through our trip. We're pleasantly burning gas (I spent $60 filling the tank today), but the price is coming down the further south we travel. We're also one week into our trip as of today.

Tomorrow, we're moving on to Edmonton, AB, where we'll be spending two nights. Christina hopes to visit a friend, and we'll also spend a day at the West Edmonton Mall. (Any mall with its own amusement park and aquarium is worth spending a day in.) Tomorrow's drive will be a little over 300 miles, or about 6 hours. We're also switching from the Pacific to the Central time zone; since we'll be losing an hour, we may leave an hour or two earlier to catch up.

Tomorrow should be tiring, but the trip will be worth it!

Distance traveled to date: 2,012 miles.

Day Seven: Watson Lake, YT to Fort Nelson, BC

We've successfully made it to Fort Nelson, putting us within 300 miles of the end of the AlCan. It's pretty late, so I'll update tomorrow with today's highlights. However, we DID finally see wildlife today, and lots of it. We'll have plenty of pictures of bison, moose, caribou, bighorn sheep and goats to post when we get to Dawson Creek tomorrow. Goodnight!

Update: The Watson Lake-Fort Nelson drive wasn't that bad. Kiersten was a little demanding for the first half of the drive, but she calmed down considerably after lunch and was a very good girl until the end of the day.

I've been complaining all week about how we haven't seen any wildlife, but today's drive more than made up for it. (N.B.: AlCan drivers need to be extra cautious, as these animals DO walk in the road. Thank God many of them are dark and easily visible from a distance.)

• First, we saw a number of Bison. Some were by themselves, but others grazed in large herds.

• Later, we foundsome beautiful bighorn sheep.

• One of Kiersten's favorite stories is the Three Billy Goats Gruff, so that's who we told her these fellows were.

• We're not quite sure what this fellow is. He could be a moose, but he looks somewhat deer-like as well.

• I took the quintessential mountain goat picture somewhere in one of B.C.'s provincial parks.

We also spotted moose, deer, and horses on the road, but we drove by them too quickly to get a decent photo. Our only big disappointment was having not seen ANY bears this trip, or even in the two years we lived in Alaska. I don't want to get eaten; I just want to see one doing something cute. Is that too much to ask?

Distance traveled to date: 1,731 miles.

Day Six: Whitehorse to Watson Lake, YT

Highlights from Sunday, July 27:

• Kiersten is...a little wild today, to put it mildly. We take her to the 9 a.m. Mass and she begins misbehaving immediately. We're unable to enjoy services at all and have to confine her to the crying room. She misbehaves except for maybe the last 10 minutes of Mass. She tends to act odd when she's not at her home parish, so we suspect that she doesn't recognize other churches as "her" church. Maybe she's feeling liberated since we normally have her strapped into a carseat for 6 hours at a time. Maybe she's just a normal two-year old.
  
• We head back to the hotel and finish packing up our things. We then head to the Real Canadian Superstore to buy some food for lunch and dinner. (Dinner in particular is critical--we recall that Watson Lake has lousy restaurants.) On the way, Christina is surprised at how much modern stuff is in Whitehorse--it has Starbucks, Wal-Mart, and a bunch of other Canadian brand-name stores. Whitehorse does have 20,000 people, and it's a large tourist spot, so maybe we shouldn't be surprised.
  
• We stop at Whitehorse's Beringia Museum. It's an exhibit hall dedicated to ice age relics and fossils found in the Alaska-Yukon region. They've got a full Woolly Mammoth skeleton, and skeletons from other animals as well. It's a small museum, but its quality is on par with what you'd see at the Smithsonian.
• Kiersten largely enjoys the museum, but it's close to her nap time and she starts acting punch drunk. Everything is funny to her, and she's running around in circles screaming. After several time outs, we put her down for her nap and hit the road. Christina also takes a nap for a few hours while I drive for awhile.
• This stretch of highway actually weaves between the Yukon Territory and British Columbia, so we're all over the map today.
• Kiersten is somewhat well-behaved after her nap, although she's still addicted to her Disney CDs. How many times will we hear "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" on this trip? The sound of it is really quite atrocious...
• After having dinner on the road, we arrive at Watson Lake in the early evening. We're staying in the Air Force Lodge, which is completely unconnected with the U.S. Air Force. It's a wonderful hotel which was apparently used by the U.S. Army Air Corps back in World War II. Today, it's run by a very nice German couple who actually remember us from our stay two years ago. It's honestly the nicest hotel in Watson Lake, and believe me, the other hotels are not much to look at. We're quite comfortable in this place.
  
• We take Kiersten for a little walk to get some energy out of her. The lodge owners have horses in the back, so she enjoys a good look at them. Unfortunately, she's still not ready to go to bed, and we have a hard time getting her to go down. She finally goes out by 11, and unfortunately, we haven't gotten any packing done. We're going to be scrambling tomorrow...
• Results: Nice lodging at both ends, and a nice museum in the middle. However, Kiersten's behavior needs significant improvement. Either she sees a child psychologist, or we'll need to go to an adult one....(Just kidding, we still love her.) Grade: C.

Distance traveled to date: 1,412 miles.

You know you're in Canada when...

...you end up buying your kid one of these.

Day Five: Destruction Bay to Whitehorse, YT

Highlights from Saturday, July 26:

• Woke up on time as usual. Breakfast wasn't as great as I'd hoped--just a set of pancakes and some tea. I otherwise liked this B&B, but I'm used to getting larger breakfasts and this was rather small by comparison.
• Kiersten is feeling MUCH better. We don't hear a wheeze, and she's acting normal, so we think our planned hike is a go.
• We stop at Kluane's north visitor center first to check with a park ranger about recommended trails and bear sightings. We're told that a mother bear and its cubs were sighted a week ago, but nothing more recently. We're also told that the Sheep Creek trail should be pretty enjoyable. The ranger also shows us some bighorn sheep high up on the mountain range through her telescope. There's also some sheep skulls and volcanic ash on display, and she lets Kiersten play with them for awhile.
• We get to the Sheep Creek trail around 10:30 and set off with Kiersten loaded in our backpack. On the way, we encounter a memorial sign for a young hiker who was killed by a bear several years ago. It's rather sobering and scary all at once.
• The hike is fairly steep, even though it's only a few miles. We find ourselves taking a lot of rest stops, because we're not used to working out our ankles this way. Much to our dismay, the mosquitos use our rest breaks as an opportunity to chew us. Even repeated sprays don't seem to keep them away. The only positive we note is that the mosquitos seem to keep away from areas with no trees.
• We meet a lot of foreign hikers, including one group from Germany. We seem to be meeting a lot of Germans in this part of Canada, so we curiously ask what brings them here. They reply that they've seen pretty much everything else there is to see, so the Yukon is all that's left for them.
• We estimate that we've hiked maybe 2 miles; it's a lot less than we'd have liked, but the hill is VERY steep. The weather is also variable: it's cold when cloudy, but we're roasting when the sun comes out. We finally take a break for lunch in an open area. Kiersten's been a little upset, so lunch cheers her up.
• We continue hiking, and Kiersten takes it upon herself to walk. We think she's crazy, but she actually manages to make a little distance. Plus, it helps tire her out for her afternoon nap. (By the way, isn't my beard coming in nicely? It's not often I can go a week--much less three--without shaving. Bless those military regulations.)
• This hill goes on forever! We finally decide to turn back around 12:30 p.m. If it were just Christina and I, we'd probably keep going (and have gone a lot farther). However, Kiersten's needs are more important, so we decide that we're content with what we've seen. We've gotten some excellent views so far anyway.
• Kiersten goes down around 2 p.m., and we head back to Whitehorse. Nothing to report on this leg; it's largely the same drive we did for the last part of yesterday.
• We get to Whitehorse around 5 p.m. and hit the Wal-Mart (civilization!) to stock up on supplies. We get to our hotel (a fairly modern facility) around 6.
• We make dinner and give Kiersten her bath. After we unpack tomorrow's needs, I put luggage back in the car. We'll need to get going fairly early tomorrow, since we need to get to church (it's Sunday!) and we'd like to take in at least one sight before we drive on. Kiersten and I find "Peter Pan" on TV and watch a little (she' s now curious about Tinkerbell) before we put her to bed.
• Results: Good hike, even if it wasn't as far as we originally planned. So-so for the rest of the day. Grade: B.

Distance traveled to date: 1,140 miles.

Day Four: Stewart Crossing to Destruction Bay, YT

Highlights from Friday, 25 July:

• We wake up around 7:30. We seem to be getting pretty good about getting up in the morning, even though we really should go to bed sooner. The showers have mercifully warm water. This being the middle of the Yukon, we worried that we'd be taking an ice bath.
• We pack the car. Our strategy of packing as much as we can the night before seems to help get us moving sooner. Unfortunately, I packed the car incorrectly today, so Christina has to do a quick re-pack so that I can see out the rear window.
• Breakfast is actually pretty good, although Kiersten eats less than we’d like. The restaurant inside the lodge is very cute, almost diner-like. We notice that all their food seems to be homemade--the bread is very fresh, and the ham has an unprocessed taste to it. Since the owners are in the middle of nowhere, it must be cheaper to make their own food than to have it shipped in.
  
• We get moving around 9:30, which is close to on-time for us. We do our best to keep Kiersten entertained, although she's become addicted to the Disney CDs we bought her (we've played "Bippity Boppity Boo" over and over and over...). The drive is a little long, but there’s lots of nice scenery. However, we still don't see any wildlife other than a small creature which might have been a fox.
• We reach the small Yukon town of Carmacks around noon and stop at their small visitor center for lunch. I take Kiersten inside for a look around. The lady manning the center has a little girl with her who's a year older than Kiersten. She seems happy to make a friend, so both girls play for ½ hour while Christina makes lunch. We later learn that the girl doesn’t have many friends in this small town (many of them are native children who are on different schedules), so she's thrilled to see another little girl her age. Sadly, she's also really reluctant to let Kiersten leave when it's time to go.
  
• We gas up again--$75 to fill the tank! I buy a “bear bell,” since bears have been spotted in the area and we're going hiking tomorrow. The idea is that it generates constant noise, so a bear will know that humans are in the area and steer clear of them.
• We leave town around 1, and Kiersten goes down for her afternoon nap. We listen to the last disc of "Airframe." The overall story and mystery were pretty good, although Crichton goes into this weird anti-media rant at the end of the story. It's not a bad story point, but the obvious social commentary is rather distracting from the overall direction of the story.
• We're within an hour of Whitehorse when we have to stop for construction. We don't have to wait terribly long, although Kiersten does wake up at this point. Back to the Disney CDs! I let Christina take over the drive around this point, so it's my turn to entertain Kiersten until our next stop.
  
• We drive for another 90 minutes to Haines Junction. Technically, we're driving back towards Alaska for this leg. It's a little sobering, because our inclination is to drive south and east, not north and west. We have to remind ourselves that we're vacationing.
• We arrive in Haines Junction around 5:30 and stop at the visitor center for Kluane National Park. When we drove from Florida to Alaska two years ago, we discovered Kluane when we stopped at their visitor center for a comfort break. We were so impressed by the park that we swore to come back on our way out and hike up Sheep Mountain. Anyway, their larger visitor center in Haines Junction is impressive, although I was hoping to see more stuffed animals to impress Kiersten. (She really liked the ones at Denali National Park, which we went to twice while in Alaska.)
• We watch Kluane's video on bear safety, and see footage of bears destroying campsites and chasing people up trees. We really wish we'd bought some bear spray....
  
• Kiersten starts coughing a lot and acting very sick. She also keeps filling her diaper; I change her three times in an hour. This is not a good sign.
  
• We continue on to our next B&B, the Kluane Base Camp (about 10 minutes from the park). Although in a rustic setting, the cabins are VERY new and much cozier than the ones we slept in last night. (N.B.: yesterday's cabins weren't bad, just not very modern.) There's also a full kitchen for guest use. We cook some dried soup, although Kiersten is extremely cranky and doesn't want to eat. She later throws up and develops a wheeze, so we quickly rush her to bed.
• Will our hiking trip for tomorrow be canceled on account of sick baby? Stay tuned....
• Results: Long drive, and we didn’t do anything or see any wildlife. It took forever to get between destinations, and Kiersten got sick. Not a bad day, but nothing we're impressed with either. However, our cabins are very cute and cozy, and we think we'll enjoy the night. Grade: C-.

Distance traveled to date: 978 miles.

Day Three: Dawson City to Stewart Crossing, YT

Highlights from Thursday, July 24:

• We woke up around 7:30 (deciding to sleep in just that little extra bit). Our B&B had a great breakfast, although Kiersten didn’t really want to eat. She's being finicky, so we put her leftovers in a container knowing she'll need it later.
  
• We go to Dawson City's old theater (now a historic site run by Canada's National Parks service) just in time for the start of the 9:30 tour. Our tour guide gave us a historical tour of the city and showed us the sights, including old bars, brothels (yes, brothels), banks, riverboat docks, and anything else you'd expect to see in an old mining town. Much of the town is a restored and preserved artifact; they really go to great lengths to give it that old-town feel (although the dusty streets and wooden sidewalks look very odd with modern automobiles). The tour is very interesting, although we only hear it in pieces. Kiersten wasn’t interested, so we had to take turns watching her and had to relay the parts we missed to each other.
• We go food shopping around 11 at the local supermarket. We've been buying food to make our meals instead of going out to lunch at restaurants. Although it's a little more work, it probably saves us 25% over the cost of meals out twice a day.
• After lunch, we drive out of town to the historic site where gold was discovered. It’s now just a little stream where people can try panning. Kiersten found a stick and pretended she was hiking, which looked adorable.
  
• We then drove to the top of Dawson City's "Midnight Dome." I get the impression that it's so named because it's high enough (in elevation and in latitude) that it doesn't get dark there in the summer. The Dome gave us an excellent view of Dawson City and the whole valley. Kiersten is very tired by this point.
• We drive back to Dawson City to visit its main museum. Kiersten goes down for a nap, so we're able to enjoy the museum in peace. We learn about life in the Klondike days, and we see recreations of old Klondike cabins (barely enough comfort room for two people...turns out tempers were short and fights were frequent). We also see a demonstration of a “rocker box,” which is a simple machine which uses water and motion to extract gold from a pile of dirt. Finally, we check out the train museum next door and learn about the short-lived railroad which ran through the Klondike until 1913.
• We gas up and drive out of town around 5 p.m. It costs about $50 to fill half a tank of gas.
  
• It only takes us 2 to 3 hours to drive to Stewart Crossing. (There's not much here, but since it's pretty far to our next destination, we wanted to get at least some of the next drive knocked out early.) Kiersten wakes up, but she's easily entertained for the short drive. There's some rain, but not enough to impair the drive.
  
• Still no wildlife anywhere. Very disappointing.
• We get to our cabins around 7 or 7:30. We're a little intimidated, because the place looks a little more rustic than we expected. The cabins do have some interesting made to look like a mosquito, moose, and a person, so I show them to Kiersten. We also see chickens in the back, which reminds Kiersten of the ones at her grandmother's house.
  
• I note that our cabin is a few steps above what the Klondike settlers lived in 100 years ago. We're in much better shape than those people, however, since it's summer and we're only there for one night.
  
• Kiersten has trouble getting to sleep, but eventually goes out. All this travel is warping her, and she doesn't appear to know how to handle it.
  
• Results: B+; good breakfast, good tour, good drive. We're a little put off by the cabins, so that keeps Day 3 from being a perfect day.

Distance traveled to date: 615 miles.

Day Two: Tok, AK to Dawson City, YT

Highlights from Wednesday, July 23:

• Kiersten wakes us up really early, asking to use the restroom. We attempt to sleep until around 7 a.m. We take turns showering, packing, and taking Kiersten to breakfast. Later, Adam takes Kiersten for another walk to see the puppies one last time while Christina finishes packing. Christina also buys a lovely hand-painted Christmas ornament from the B&B's gift shop, making it our last Alaska souvenir.
  
• We hit the road by 10 a.m.--later than we’d like, but earlier than yesterday.
• We juggle entertaining Kiersten by giving her various coloring books. She does OK until she eats the tip of a marker--bleah!
• We notice dead trees along Alaska Route 5--they go as far as the eye can see. We check the Milepost and learn that there was a large forest fire in 2004. It goes on for miles, so the book's description doesn't do it justice.
• The road conditions are terrible on Route 5; they're only occasionally paved. The Milepost tells us it's 40% paved, 60% gravel, but it feels like that ratio is severely off. One very slow RV driver slows us down for awhile.
• We don't see wildlife anywhere. We're hoping for a moose or bear, but nothing's showing up. We do hit some brief construction, but again, we get by it quickly.
  
• We arrive in Chicken, AK around noon. Chicken is as small a town as they come--it has 21 people in the summer and only 6 in the winter (many go back to Fairbanks). We stop at “Beautiful Downtown Chicken,” a restaurant and shop which has a facade to make it look like an old saloon town. Kiersten plays with two dogs, and gets to see--what else--a live chicken in a cage. We also meet Downtown Chicken's owner. It turns out she grew up in South Jersey and lived near Adam's hometown in Pennsylvania for awhile. She and Adam chat about home. She 's nice, and gives Kiersten a free doll-sized inflatable raft which she says aren’t selling. We buy some gas since the owner warns us gas is up to $7 per gallon in the Yukon. It’s around $5.40 in Chicken, although she says the guy up the road is charging $5.80. We eat lunch, and Kiersten goes to sleep.
• The road gets very steep and is in much worse condition at this point. It’s only 60 miles to the Canadian border, but the remaining trip takes us 2 hours. We listen to another disc of "Airframe" while Kiersten is quiet. The landscape is impressive, but there's no shoulder on the road and we're really worried about going over a cliff.
  
• We make it to the Canadian border without incident. We get past customs with no problem, although the border guard has a hard time figuring out who's a Canadian (Christina) and who's an American (Adam and Kiersten).
• The road is considerably smoother in Canada, but now we have to convert miles to kilometers. Fortunately, the Milepost is written in both kilometers and miles, so we have no problem finding our way. Kiersten eventually wakes up, but isn't too cranky.
  
• We completely forgot that there's no bridge from the highway to Dawson City. Instead, we have to load our car onto a ferry which takes us across the Yukon River. It’s a small craft which can carry maybe up to 8 cars. We get there just as the ferry is boarding and have no trouble. The trip is free and takes maybe 10 minutes.
• Our first stop is the Dawson City visitor center, conveniently just after the ferry landing. Christina inquires about the town while Adam takes Kiersten to meet a friendly St. Bernard across the street. It’s a puppy but still huge--Kiersten is a little nervous of it.
• The weather is very rainy, and it starts pouring by the time we get to our B&B. (At least it cleans off the mud which we picked up driving AK Route 5.) Anyway, the B&B is a very quaint place run by a nice young couple. Kiersten runs a little wild, but maybe less so than yesterday. Christina takes her outside to let her splash in puddles while Adam updates our trip log. After Kiersten goes to bed, we talk to some other guests--an older couple from British Columbia, but originally from New Zealand, They're traveling to Eagle, AK to see their son.
• Today’s assessment: weather and driving are lousy, but Kiersten is well-behaved. We make very good time. Lodging is nice. Rating: B.

Distance traveled to date: 509 miles.

Day One: Elmendorf to Tok, AK

Highlights from Tuesday, 22 July:

• We woke up around 7 a.m. and tried to use up what breakfast items we could. We haven't yet figured out the fine art of balancing food before a move (use too little, the car is overloaded; use too much, and you have nothing for the road), so we had lots leftover to throw in the trunk and whatever other places we could find.
• Adam took Kiersten for a walk (one of her last for the next few hours) while Christina masterfully packed the car. Unlike our last trip, we don't need to put anything on the roof. This is a huge improvement, since items on the roof can add to a car's wind resistance, and consequently its gas useage.
• We checked out of lodging around 9 a.m. We then drove back to our old town of Eagle River (it's on the way), sent some mail, took out some cash from the bank, made some final purchases for the road, gassed up, and finally got moving by 11 a.m.
• We have a quick pit stop in Palmer, AK. We also find some dried eggs which will work great for our upcoming camping.
  
• Alaska's highways are usually replete with construction in the summer, but we only run into one 20 minute delay.Saw several glaciers from the road. We’d seen them 2 years ago but didn’t understand what they were. The Matanuska Glacier is really, really long. There’s another glacier further on which is not the Matanuska.
• We don't see many cars on the road. Maybe it’s a slow travel day (it’s Tuesday), maybe the road trippers aren’t fleeing Alaska yet (we saw plenty when we drove up here, but that was in August), or maybe it’s the high gas prices. Maybe it's all three.
  
• We get to Glennallen, AK around 3 p.m. We remember it being a bit of a hole the last time we were here, but it's not as bad as we remember. It has a natural history museum with stuffed animals, and we hoped to take Kiersten, but it isn’t open on Tuesdays. We're left with taking her to the Welcome Center, which really just has brochures and ads for tourist locations in Alaska. Kiersten is changed and fed, though.
• We hit the road again, and Kiersten finally goes down for her nap after ½ an hour. It’s way past her bedtime at this point, so we expect her to be a mess tonight.
  
• We don’t recognize the drive up to Tok, although it was two years ago and we were pretty exhausted that time. Since Kiersten is sleeping, we decide to listen to our audiobook of Michael Crichton’s “Airframe.” It’s an interesting story about an airplane that nearly crashes, and how one of the aircraft builder’s employees investigates the accident.
• We arrive in Tok sometime before 7 p.m, and pull into our lodging, the Burnt Paw cabins. It's a cute B&B with puppies, Alaska sleds on display, and other things Kiersten seems to enjoy. There's a playground across the street, so we take her there to exhaust herself. She's up pretty late, though, as her late afternoon nap really messed up her schedule.
• Results: We spent too long traveling, and everyone’s too tired. Grade: C-. Good lodging, but a long day.

Distance traveled to date: 319 miles.

Finally, internet access!

They don't have much internet in the Yukon, or at least you have to go looking for it. Anyway, we have internet for tonight. I'll be updating with a single post from each day's travel, even though it's actually several days later. Got it?

In Dawson City, Yukon

We're in Dawson City, Yukon, and are about to go exploring all the Gold Rush history here. The drive up here was partially on a dirt/gravel road that looked like a farm driveway leading back to an old barn. We're heading for remoter parts of the Yukon the next couple days so may not be able to post til Whitehorse on Saturday!

Moving Day!

The movers are coming in about an hour. We'll be offline for awhile.

Hotel booking is done!

I just made the last hotel reservation for our trip! We're all set through Denver. After Denver, we're not 100% sure of our route, as it depends on whether our other car has arrived in Dallas (in which case we'll take a detour there to pick it up), so we might have to make those hotel reservations on the road or just drive up off the highway.

I'm excited about the fact that we're a little more prepared hotel-wise than we were last time around. Being able to drive straight to our hotel rather than going place to place checking for availability (and cleanliness...did we see some filthy places last time!) is going to save us a lot of hassle. Plus we've been able to find some places which are a little more off the beaten path. It'll be interesting to experience a wide spectrum of hotels...from national chains to local hotels to bed and breakfasts to rustic cabins without running water to campsites!

For your next trip, a FANTASTIC resource when researching places to stay is tripadvisor.com. You can read reviews from real people-- not the hotel-selected rave reviews hotel owners post on their website--to help decide whether the hotel will work for you. After this trip is over, we're going to put up our own reviews of the places we stayed at. We owe it to the web community; tripadvisor.com has been a godsend for trying to preplan this long trip!

Our Itinerary

With a little over a week to go, some folks have been asking for our travel plans. So here they are:

• Elmendorf AFB, Alaska (17-21 Jul)
  
• Tok, Alaska (22 Jul)
• Dawson City, Yukon (23 Jul)
• Stewart Crossing, Yukon (24 Jul)
• Destruction Bay, Yukon (25 Jul)
• Whitehorse, Yukon (26 Jul)
• Watson Lake, Yukon (27 Jul)
• Fort Nelson, British Columbia (28 Jul)
• Dawson Creek, British Columbia (29 Jul)
• Edmonton, Alberta (30-31 Jul)
• Calgary, Alberta (1 Aug)
  
• Glacier National Park, Montana (2-3 Aug)
• Gardiner, Montana (4 Aug)
• Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming (5-7 Aug)
• Casper, Wyoming (8 Aug)
• Denver, Colorado (9 Aug)
• McConnell AFB, Kansas (10 Aug)

We're not sure where we'll be after the 10th. We're shipping our other car to Dallas, and it may be there around that time. So after Kansas, we'll check on our car. If it's in Dallas, we'll head there next to pick it up. If not, we'll probably rest in Oklahoma before going to Louisiana. We'll be at Barksdale AFB by either 12 or 13 August.