Adventure Alaska

August 3
Fairbanks… so on this particularly cold and overcast day we decided to hike the town. We parked across from the visitor center on the Chena River and met some local kids who loved our dogs and told us about a dog park. So off we went and “just around the corner” was almost 2 miles away. The dogs loved the park and got to play with some other dogs. On the way back we went to look at some historical sites and buildings. Then we went to Alaska Public Land Info Center. Awesome! All the info you need for doing cheap outdoorsy stuff, with advice like great views, how to react to a grizzly charge, and you could always just thumb your way back. We decided on some hikes, backcountry cabins, and paddling. With all of our new knowledge, us philosopher took off toward the University of Alaska Fairbanks. We cruised through the very modern campus to the observation overlook. On queue, the clouds cleared away just enough to see the magnificent Alaskan Range over 100 miles away. We were looking at the horizon and clouds and saw…. Holy smokes there was Mt. McKinley! It towered above the rest of the mountains and through the clouds. What a way to end the day.

August 4
We woke up to drizzle. What could we possibly do with another gloomy day (if only we’d known how many days we would wake up with the same thought.) we decided on Sam’s Club, Blockbuster, and the rest of the day was spent snacking on our new food and watching Vantage Point and Harold and Kumar Escape from Guatonamo Bay. Later in the evening we headed out to Chena River State Park where we found a nice place for Adam to do a 20 point turn, whack down some weeds with the bumper and park the trailer beside the rushing Chena. It was rainy so no fire, just bed.
(Later Side Note: I will add Jacqui’s campsite selection involved not only 4wd drive but offroading 4wd 1973 Trailer. In fact 1 week later I can still picking plants off various places of our trailer.)

August 5
Our very 1st Anniversary!!! Never thought we’d make it! J/K it’s been a very good year and so as a celebration of our success we decided to spend our day at Chena Hot Springs (did I mention that it was raining?) When we arrived we waded through the mud puddles and bought our passes. It was in the 40’s, so we were making a mad dash for the springs. There was a huge “rock lake,” a lake with big boulders all around the edges and a fountain spraying cool water in the middle. The water felt awesome at 104+. We soaked and soaked and Adam waited and waited to get a turn at the natural jet coming out of one of the boulders, but all the old farts were hogging it – he just couldn’t get in there.

Finally after I fought two and another one had a heart attack, I seized the moment and got under the jet! Ahhhh, it felt so good. We decided to go back to the trailer to get ready for a late lunch at the resort. After some tasty Smoked Alaskan Salmon Pasta and a Smokey Bird Sandwich for Jacqui we turned in for a lazy 2 hour nap. As we awoke, we slumbered back to the springs to fight off some more old farts. (Side Note: No one was actually hurt in the writing of our journal.) Jacqui decided to make use of their showers and electricity and came out of the bathroom looking stunning. I guess it’s not a bad thing to look so good when you are just camping We pulled onto a nice gravel bar right on the river, started a fire, and had marshmallows and ice cream.

August 6
Overcast and damp. Rain immanent. Started on our hike to the Granite Tors at 9am. We took our backpacking packs filled with rock climbing gear and camping supplies in case we didn’t make it back all in one day. It started raining at around 10 so we took shelter under the trees for a little while before giving up on a nice day and hiking on in the rain. Reached the shelter at mile 9 at about 2:45. We built a fire in the woodstove, rested our feet, and dried out some of our wet equipment. The shelters are for “emergencies,” they are free and they’re pretty darn nice with 4 walls, a door with a lock, and a wood stove – wish we had some in NC. After some rest we headed for the Tors. Within a mile we were in the Plain of Monuments, which is a huge plain at the top of the mountain with several groups of rock pillars jutting up out of the ground. We finally found a place to climb but it was too hard for me so I just belayed and Adam climbed. It was pretty chilly and we still had 5 miles to go before sundown so we were soon ready to go. On our way down the mountain we passed a lady probably in her 60’s hoofing it up the mountain with a rather large pack and her two dogs. I thought it was crazy because you’re a long way from nowhere and it would be ridiculously scary up there by yourself. Go Grandma! We finally dragged back to the trailer at around 9 pm. We were exhausted, our feet hurt, our hips and shoulders felt rubbed raw but we felt pretty proud of ourselves for making it the 18 miles in one day.

August 7
What were we thinking? We did not want to get outta bed or move at all. Everything hurt, when we finally got moving we decided we would tough it out and backpack the 8 miles into our backcountry cabin. We left around 2:45 and enjoyed a slightly easier hike to our cabin. The cabin was awesome, situated in a clearing with an outhouse, outdoor fire pit, deck, dry wood, and a rather appealing woodstove. It was in the 40’s outside and windy but within a few minutes the cabin was a toasty 90 degrees and we were opening windows. We ate, read through the cabin journal, and looked at magazines that people had left. Most people, we read, arrived at the cabin either by four wheelers or horse in summer, dogsled steams or cross country skis in the winter.

August 8
Headed for our canoe which was 10 miles away. We had dropped it off the day before about 2 miles away from the end of the trail that we were on. It rained off and on as we hiked out. When we got to the canoe we threw in our packs, hooded the dogs in so they wouldn’t flip us and jumped in for our 10 mile paddle down the rain swollen Chena River. Minutes after we got in the canoe it started pouring and continued to do so for the rest of the canoe trip. Our hands were so cold we were taking turns paddling and only paddling together when we needed to avoid a sweeper. We saw a coupled of bald eagle couples and two or three huge salmon washed up on the gravel bars. When we got to the take out poor Adam still had to run ¾ mile to get the truck. We headed right back into Fairbanks and directly into Taco Bell to reward ourselves for our efforts over the past 3 days. Then we made a stop at blockbuster for a couple more movies.

August 9
Put ourselves together for church. We made it there early! It was a small church but nice enough. We ate lunch, did some laundry, and went by the farmers market for some strawberry rhubarb pie. We lazed around and decided to head towards Denali National Park. We stopped at Healy, a few miles away from Denali, where we had a good view of the peaks of the Alaskan Range and at dusk a couple of moose stopped under the mountain range for some dinner. We did some trailer cleanup and maintenance and went to bed.

August 10
Into Denali. Found out to our disgust that it is rather expensive to enjoy the park. A “cheap” day and a half in the park would cost us $180 and we couldn’t take our dogs. The only way into the park is by the park’s buses and we were about to drop 180 when people came back from the bus ride and said it sucked because the roads were so muddy, the windows were all dirty and you couldn’t see anything. We decided on a hike near the park’s entrance and headed for the cheaper Denali State Park. This wonderful park happens to border the national park, is free offers majestic views of Mt. McKinley, and has a remote campsites opposite the beautiful Byers Lake that are absolutely free. Sounded too good to be true. It was getting very late in the day so we just pulled off on a gravel pullout beside the river.

August 11
Arrived in the state park. It was overcast but not raining so we were happy enough. The lady at the visitor center told us only 20% of visitors get to se Mt. McKinley. We put in our canoe on Byers Lake and canoed around for awhile, picked our campsite and headed back to grab our stuff and food. As we were canoeing back across the lake the clouds started to lift a little and the sun started to come out. We were pretty stoked! We spent the day chasing spawning salmon, napping in the sun on the picnic table, roasting hot dogs, and hiking to a waterfall. As the evening wore on the clouds kept drifting and clearing until we spotted a little sliver of white in the sky beyond the clouds and we decided this was McKinley. By 8 or 9 all the clouds in the sky had disappeared and we had the full view of Mt. McKinley – we felt ultimately blessed. We stayed awake till 11:15 watching the last bits of light disappear behind the huge mountain. We set our alarm for 5:30 and spent a restless night in the cold bear territory (there was fresh bear scat and paw prints a couple of sites down from us.)

August 12
At 5:30 Adam said, “We gotta get up!” I was thinking, “Oh CRAP, there’s a bear outside.” Just then Adam unzipped the tent and pointed towards the mountain, which was glowing pink and orange. The sun hits the snow covered McKinley first so while the rest of the sky was still gray the mountain seemed to be glowing. We packed up, Adam made some hot chocolate and we zoomed across the lake. As we headed towards Anchorage we had many more views of the beautiful mountain. We stopped in Talkeetna to walk around at some shops and to see the town that many mountaineers call “base” in preparation to summit Mt. McKinley – it was a pretty neat little town. We arrived in Anchorage by late afternoon and to our disgust discovered that all the parking lots (even our famous Walmart) said no overnight parking. We drove through the city and went to Turnagain Arm which was named by Captain Cook in the 1700’2 when he sailed through the Cook Inlet and then when arriving in the Turnagain Arm decided to “Turn Again,” to continue his search for the Northwest Passage. We looked for beluga whales at Beluga Point but saw none. We did however see the mud flats. This area has such an extreme tide (bore tides) that it rushed in at 15 mph and in a wave of up to 6ft tall. After the tide goes out it leaves the mud flats which some people think is a beautiful beach on which to walk. Shortly thereafter the coast guard is rescuing the suckers from quicksand-like mud and the 6ft tidal wave. Unfortunately there were no suckers roaming the coast for our enjoyment today. We headed back into town to spend the rainy evening watching “Step Brothers!” Hilarious! After watching the movie we were successful in finding a patch of parking lot without any no overnight parking signs.

August 13
Decided to skip breakfast and go for a bike ride to work up an appetite for our famous Salmon Bake plans. We took the dogs with us on an 18 mile ride along the lovely coastal trail on the edge of town. We also checked out Lake Hood, the largest float plane base in the world. The dogs were trucking along beside us at a good 15 mph most of the way. It was 5:00 when we got done with our ride and we were pretty hungry. We found Phyllis Café and Salmon Bake quickly and settled of Silver Salmon for Adam and Grilled Chicken with Teriyaki for me. It was delicious and we enjoyed it to the fullest on the porch as we watched other tourists cracking and sucking out the insides of King Crab! We did some souvenirs for the family shopping and drove out to Airport Park where there was a nice view of Anchorage and Cook Inlet to snap a few pictures. We ran into a nice man who talked to us for quite a while about Jesus and his theories, he was pretty cool. Then we took some night pictures and took off for the Eagle River.

July 26
We looked for a SDA church in Whitecourt – no luck. We drove on to Dawson Creek, BC which is Mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway. Of course we had to get a million pictures in front of the multiple signs that were around town. We picked up some info from the visitors center there and trucked on. The first 50 miles of the highway are pretty much remote farmland. Then, after passing thru Fort St. John, pop 16,000 we found a perfect site at Beatton Provincial Park. They had only one site left when we pulled in and the best one in the whole park for that matter. Apparently they save one campsite, which cannot be reserved, for people who ignore the “campground full” sign and drive all they way in. It was a beautiful site overlooking Charlie Lake. There was a phenomenal sunset that night despite the rainy weather.

July 27
We were woken by whiny dogs. Adam put them outside on the run and we went back to sleep. A little while later we woke up to quietness to realize that the dogs had escaped! After some walking and keen listening Adam found the little mischief makers at the dock tangled on some guide wires (they still had their leashes on). Ate a quick breakfast and hit the road. Picked up some groceries (backpack suitable) and filled up on gas at Fort St. John’s. We drove all afternoon and were just started to get bored when we saw a black bear eating grass near a roadside pond. After seeing some kind of wildlife you are on the lookout; thinking that every blob in the distant is something exciting. After a couple of hours of straining your neck you return to your usual car activities: sleeping, reading, or crocheting (that’s right – Adam is getting pretty good at it). We found a nice spot with a view of Summit Lake at Stone Mountain Provincial Park. We unhooked the trailer, ate supper, and decided to go out for a drive. We went off-roading to some hoodoos or “erosion pillars” as BC Parcs calls them. Then we hiked up to them and got some awesome picture of sunset over the Northern Rockies before sliding back down the rocky mountain to the truck. While out driving we saw 3 Caribou (neither of us have ever seen them) and 3 moose including a young calf. We then turned in for the night after talking to the campground host, a man who says he was offered the job of “looking after a campground for a $100 bucks a day” – Sweet!

July 28
Woke up considerably early, ate pancakes with strawberries and coffee and headed off for some hiking. We hiked about a mile and a half on a Flower Springs Loop that went alongside Lake Summit for awhile but soon we were frustrated with the lack of trail identification and the confusion of so many caribou trails. We decided instead to hike the Stone Mtn Summit. The campground host said it was a 5 hour round trip hike so we thought it would be just right. After lots of climbing we made it to the top of 2 summits. The first was 6400 ft and the second about 6600 ft. There were some awesome 360 degree views of the Rockies, valleys, Summit Lake, and dry creek beds. It took us about 4 hours and when we got back to camp we were starving. We packed up, hooked up, and hoofed it to a little lake on down the road where we enjoyed Spaghetti Sandwiches, broccoli, and salad. As we drove on towards Muncho Lake we saw several Stone’s Sheep (like bighorn sheep), a couple more Caribou, and a big bull elk. We cruised thru Toad River, pop 75 before riding into Mucho Lake. We called the parents, lazed in the hammock, and started supper at our roadside pull-off right beside Mucho Lake. It was absolutely beautiful – the water is turquoise and clear as can be and the Rockies are looming around the edges. We ate some chili and fried cornbread, s’mores, and sat beside our driftwood campfire just feet from the edge of the Lake.

July 29
We woke up to the sound of a float plane taking off and decided we wanted to churn up a little water ourselves so we went out in the canoe for a bit, without the dogs, and saw several fish. After some canoeing we headed north again, stopping for lunch at the Liard River Hot Springs. We ate quickly and went to soak in the 120-130 F natural springs. It was so hot we couldn’t even go to the top of the springs where the hottest water was. When I got out people were pointing at me and I realized that anywhere the water had touched had turned my skin bright red. There were some First Nation people there that said that you had to scoop or turn the water up from the bottom of the pool (where it is cooler) in order to make it to the hottest place (no thanks but good to know). After a couple hours of relaxing we headed on to Watson Lake and the Yukon border. We stopped at a couple of different small walks along the way to break up the ride: Smith River Falls, Rancheria Falls, and Whirlpool Canyon. Right at the Yukon border we stopped at Lucky Lake Recreation Area. The gate was closed and nobody was there but we wanted to see the “largest water slide north of 60” so we ventured in and once inside we saw a hiking trail. We walked a little ways around the lake and we were both talking about how nice the trail was. After about a mile or so we turned the corner and the trail wasn’t so nice any more; there were dense bushes pushing out into the trail. The sun was shining right in our eyes so we didn’t see anything until we were almost stepping on it. Adam looked down and pointed out a huge carcass of a moose. The front half was where we stood and the back half was several steps ahead of us next to a very large pile of fur. It was an awfully eerie feeling and I was ready to go. But Adam wanted pictures and the dogs were off in the woods looking for the killer so I just stood there in the grizzlies’ lair repeating memory verses from the first grade. Finally, I dragged everyone outta there and we returned to our wonderful truck. We made it to Watson Lake in time to make a sign to add to the Signpost Forest. Last time they counted there were 65,000 signs there. All of this started from a homesick man who was working on the Alaskan Highway in 1942. Apparently he hurt his foot and was given smaller jobs to do, such as replacing a milepost sign which had arrows with city’s and mileage to those city’s posted on it. He said he would do the job on one condition; that he could put a mileage sign to his hometown in Illinois. That was over 65 years ago. As we were driving away from the town it was 11 PM and starting to get dark when we went over a hill and spotted a bull moose running across the road in front of us. We stayed the night in some gravel pull-off a little way’s out of town.


July 30
Drove to Whitehorse. Drizzly, chilly, gray. Checked out the S.S. Klondike, historic sternwheeler from the gold rush days, went to the Visitor Center, and walked around town a bit. We chose our site in Whitehorse Walmart among 30-40 other RVers and spent the evening chillin out in the trailer.

July 31
We woke up late and lazed around most of the morning. Managed to do some laundry, call family, and pick up a few things from Wally World. Found a hike along Miles Canyon, drove past the float plane base, and biked around Whitehorse. Adam spotted a red fox near some condos on the outskirts of Whitehorse. We headed out, drove thru Haines Junction (so close to Alaska) and found a rest area without a “no overnight parking” sign and we had outhouses too. But the view of the mountains as our backdrop we didn’t mind. We are finding it rather hard to gear down to sleeping mode when it’s still light out at 10:30.

August 1
It was 48 degrees this morning. Kinda rainy and overcast. We drove to Kluane Lake in Kluane N.P. where we decided on a hike despite the weather. We went on a trail that said that grizzlies were frequently sighted on. However, we saw only a big paw print and a couple big piles of bear poo. We have decided to start keeping the dogs on leashes on hikes since there are so many bears and it keeps Jasper at a slower pace so she doesn’t wear out her leg so quickly. (She has been limping pretty badly after the last couple of hikes). There were some great views of the St. Elias Mountains and the toe of the Kaskawulsh Glacier. It was a 10 mile hike but it was no quite as strenuous as our Stone Mtn hike a couple of days ago so we are both feeling pretty good as we drive on to Beaver Creek, our destination for the night. The town of Beaver Creek is just minutes away from the Alaskan border. Full hookups tonight? We are planning on going to an SDA church service tomorrow in Tok, Alaska! Stayed at Westmark RV Park in Beaver Creek – not much in the way of charm but we plugged in and had water so it was a very nice change. When we went to sleep at 12 it was still quite light but the sun was sitting low, it looked like a clear sky so we thought we might be able to see the aurora borealis, we set the alarm clock for 3 am. When we woke up there were still traces of light on the horizon. When we woke up about an hour later the sun was “rising” again. It’s crazy.

August 2
Woke up, got ready for church and headed towards Tok (pronounced Toke). We arrived at the long awaited and highly celebrated “Welcome to Alaska Signs and went through the customs without any problems. After 60 miles of very rough roads about half of that gravel with tons of potholes. We arrived in Tok only 45 minutes late for church service. It is a tiny little church and I really don’t want to go in and make a commotion; however we have been planning on this for the last couple of days, we just thought we could make it on time.
So I started talking to a gentleman outside of the church and he invited us over for potluck over at his house. We missed the whole church service but luckily made it on time for the FOOD! We talked and ate the afternoon away as they tried to recruit us to Alaska. Around 4 o’clock we headed out and picked up a library of tourist information at eh visitor center. As we left Tok we noticed a hitchhiker that had been standing there for about 4.5 hours now (since we arrived in Tok) and decided we would be nice. Nice would have been a bar of soap and a bucket of water but oh well! We decided to truck up to Fairbanks about 4.5 hours away. So Jacqui, I, and stinky foreign hitchhiker guy made the journey with very little conversation. I was happy to be back in Alaska where they have cell phone and we tried to call all our lost contacts. Well as the hours wore on Jacqui was looking through the heap of info and they had a little tiny box on the about “Into the Wild.” Bam! HHG (Hitchhiker guy) had a book in front of our face in .002 seconds, “Into the Wild.” That what I do. I fly to Canada with NO money. Hike around. Go to Magic Bus. I sleep in bush not pay for camp site. Wow he talks a little English, enough to tell us that he like “Into the Wild.” Great! Me too! But unfortunately that guy died and we thought about alerting the Park Rangers they might just have another one here shortly. As we arrived in Fairbanks we dropped HHG off at the homeless shelter (Side Note: The shelter was actually a building not the bush, I guess the bush doesn’t have free meals and shelter from the constant rain.) and headed towards our campsite. Beautiful Walmart, let me just tell you this, it was the nicest and biggest Walmart I have ever seen! Oh yeah we were both struck by the late night hunger beast so we headed for the Bell. 1 ½ months is a LONG time to be deprived of Taco Bell. Full bellies, nice big campsite, good night.

July 12 Cont....
7:45 PM – Crossed the border into Quebec, Canada. No problems.
9:00 PM – Pulled into “Camping Magog-Orford.” After the national park told us we needed reservations to camp with them Whatever, anyways we got full hook up since we needed to try out our sink, fill up our holding tank, and get showers. To our great dismay the sink leaked quite a bit and got our lovely plywood floor slopping wet. Adam was able to fix it quite quickly. There was a barn with a big screen playing Shania Twain’s music and people were dancing, however, we just took our dogs for a walk and went to bed. By the way, the campground had over 500 spots and it looked like it was permanent residence for most of them. Oh, almost everyone here speaks French and ALL the road signs and papers are in French – it’s kinda freaky!

July 13
7:00 AM – Breakfast, cleanup, and HOT SHOWERS in our very own trailer!
9:00 AM – On the road to Montreal.
11:15 AM – Arrived in beautiful Montreal. Very rainy, gloomy day unfortunately. A nice guy commented on our trailer and we ended up talking to him for a while about the city! He gave us some pointers on where to go. He told us about a dog park on Docteur Penfield Lane so we took the dogs there to play for a bit. We ate lunch outside the dog park in our trailer.
1:00 PM - Looking like it’s going to rain again, drizzling a little bit, but we decide to put on our rain coats and see the city. We got about a mile away from the truck when it started to pour! We were soaked through and through by the time we got back to the truck.
Montreal has some beautiful old houses and buildings mostly made of stone and copper. They have hundreds of high end shops and most of the people you pass on the street are either “high fashion” or hippie. Almost every single yard has an awesome garden with tons and tons of flowers. The “nice guy” told us that because they have such a long winter as soon as it gets warm everyone spends all their time outside – that is very true, because even in the pouring rain there were other people walking around.
It was 20 degrees Celsius so it really wasn’t too bad. When we got back to the truck we drove down to the “Old City” where all the building were stone and there were tons of boutiques, patio’s, and old, beautiful churches.
5:00 PM – It took us about an hour and a half to get out of the city due to confusing roads, unreadable road signs (French), and traffic jams.
8:00 PM – Mac Johnson Wilderness Area. We let the dogs out to play, took quick baths, and did dishes. We didn’t walk around outside much because there were thousands of mosquitoes.
9:00 PM – Walmart Parking Lot Campground, Fee: $0 Canadian. Picked up a few things and went to bed.

July 14
8:00 AM – Headed towards St. Lawrence Island N.P. Apparently we missed our turn. We ended up driving along the coast of St. Lawrence River to Kingston where we walked the dogs in a shore side park. Here they decided it would be fun to chase a poor ducky into the river, swim out after it, catch it by its wing, drag it back to shore, and hold on to it until we reprimanded them loudly and they let it go. Sorry duck.
12:30 PM - Met the Kingston policeman! Adam had just made an illegal left turn when shortly thereafter we heard a bleep of a siren and dreadfully looked behind us to see that, yes indeed, he wanted us to pull over. He came up to Adam’s window and said “Two things, the license plate in the back window of your trailer; which one is valid?” (The Alaska tag we had in our back window had a “77” sticker for the last year that it had been used, the 90 day temporary tag was directly below). “and is that a gun in your back window, ‘cause we don’t do that here”. (What, you don’t do redneck?) We very convincingly told him sorry and made some quick changes before we pulled out again.
2:00 PM – Toronto! Ate a quick lunch of prime stake sandwiches and headed out on our tour of Toronto via the quickest mode of transportation – the bikes. 15 miles, the CN Tower, a walk down Younge St., and some angry pedestrians later we were back at the truck.
8:15 PM Arrived at Georgian Bay Island N.P. to find that the office and the town of Honey Harbor were closed down and there was no place to park our truck and trailer and sneak out to the island with our canoe. After driving around for about an hour we broke down and paid $30 for a site with a fire ring at Blue Waters Resort! We saw the end of a beautiful sunset over the Georgian Bay and talked a bit to the man who raped our wallet. We had a nice fire, put on a lot of bug repellent, fixed supper of turnip greens, mashed potatoes and gravy, and fried cornbread. We took showers and prepared a pack for our planned early morning canoe ride.

July 15
5:45 AM – Carried the canoe out to the dock. The dogs were very excited and full of energy. We finally coaxed them into the canoes and pushed off. The water was so calm and the colors of the sunrise were beautiful, but we didn’t get to enjoy it for long as the dogs were tearing back and forth, side to side, and hanging their paws and noses over the edge and into the water. Jasper got a little too careless and flipped out into the cold water. Needless to say she got to swim a ways before we let her get back in the canoe.
We canoed about 2 miles across the Georgian Bay before we reached the Georgian Island N.P., East Tonch Point picnic and camping area. By this time we were both more than a little irritated with our misbehaving dogs who couldn’t decide if they wanted to swim or ride. I hadn’t had any coffee; Adam hadn’t had any breakfast, so we both felt like tying rocks to our feet and going for a little swim. But instead we decided to eat a granola bar, have some Jet Boil cappuccino and take the dogs for a walk. Eating, drinking – good idea. Walk – bad idea. Even with a thick layer of bug spray all over us the mosquitoes were still swarming trying to fly into eyes, ears, and nose holes. We turned around after about 30 minutes and decided to do a little bit more canoeing. We figured it would be in our best interest if the dogs were pooped on the canoe ride back to the campground, so we took off with dogs swimming behind us. We stayed close to the shore for a while then began going from island to island. At every island they would get out of the water, rest, run around on shore, and then jump back in the water to chase after the canoe. Finally they were tired and they jumped in the canoe for a ride back to the campground.
7:30 PM – Drove the rest of the day and arrived in Sault Ste. Marie. We ate supper, called the parents, and decided to make Walmart our home for the night. Adam fixed the door and tightened the sink and we both took spit baths.

July 16
6:00 AM – On the road
11:15 AM - Arrived at Pukaskwa N.P. Ate PB&J’s and BBQ chips and decided we would take two walks: one with Jasper and one with Emo. We took a trail that went over lava rocks and out to the bay of Lake Superior. Lake Superior is the largest lake in the world and is an icy 39 F. There was a guy wading in it at the beach area; we weren’t so brave but we were eager to have Jasper go for a swim. We played fetch with her for a while and she would jump in and swim out to get the stick; however I think it was even a bit cold for her because she only went in 7 or 8 times. The water was crystal clear and it was a perfect day but we were a little bit worried that Emo might be yapping her head off back at the trailer so we kept moving.
1:00 PM – Took a short walk around the lake with Emo but had to head back because we could hear Jasper barking a lot. Emo found a chipmunk and flushed out a grouse, who was very upset. We’re beginning to think our dogs would like try a little bird meat?
1:45 PM – To Dryden, ON.
7:00 PM – Stopped to eat leftover spaghetti and salad; took showers and let the dogs out.
10:30 PM – Arrived in Dryden Walmart parking lot. Rainy. We had seen 2 cow moose, 1 young bull, and 1 dead moose in a ditch. We had also crossed the time zone (which they had a huge plaque and park for???) It didn’t get completely dark until about 10:00.

July 17
6:30 AM – Woke up and realized that there was some water sneaking in around some of the windows/doors and our sheets were damp in a couple places… decided today would be the day for doing laundry (two weeks… stinky). Pulled ourselves outta bed to go look for a laundry mat…
7:00 AM – Nothing is open yet in this town. We stop at a picnic area on the outskirts of town to find that the bathrooms are locked up. Ate some cereal and off to Kenora.
9:30 AM – Rainy. Awesome news averaged 14 miles a gallon (Adam did the math and every 1mpg better we get is about $400, so this is great but Canada average gas price equals about $5.00 US.) 20 miles or so to Manitoba – FINALLY!
12:30 PM – Found a laundry mat in Winnipeg. Ate some big franks and baked beans while we did some wash. Yummy! Got everything done and even tried calling a few people to only talk to voicemails…
6:30 PM – Arrived in Riding Mountain NP. Finally a NP that people actually visit. There is a nice town at the base of the park called Wassagaming, there are stores and restaurants. The town is on the shore of clear lake, a rather large lake popular with boaters. We found that sites with water and electric are $38.50, so we opted for the $15.70 unserviced campground halfway through the park. We checked our email at a little local restaurant that said wifi-hotspot. We asked to sit on the patio and 45 min later we never got served but did finish up everything we needed to do on the internet. Oh well, they saved us some money and Jacqui can whip up a pretty mean meal. Then we headed north through the park. We set up our trailer at a beautiful site among hundreds of birches. We also were fortunate to find one with a spectacular view of Moon Lake thus Moon Lake Campground. We found a spigot and filled up our water holding tank as we read the “Water Boil Advisory” put into effect on July 14. The water was a little brownish – yum! After we got set up we went back to Wassagaming to see if we could get some more money for a second night at the campsite and pick up a few things. On the way into town we saw a mother black bear and three tiny cubs, two black ones and one little brown one. They were all just chilling and enjoying the attention on the side of the road. The little brown one looked like the runt and was definitely the cutest. They were playing with each other while momma was eating. When we got back to the campsite, we still had not enough cash for our second night here because all of the ATM’s were kicking our cards out. I guess because they are American, but thankfully we had enough to get one night. We were pooped so we ate, took showers, and went to bed.

July 18
8:40 AM – Lazed around for a couple hours, ate breakfast on and by the fire, and finally pulled ourselves together. We drove out to the back (so we would not get impounded in a few hours), went on a bike ride on an overgrown, wet, mosquito infested (are you seeing a pattern?) trail, hiked up an observation tower, and headed back to the camp. We got our dogs to go for a canoe ride on Moon Lake (water was pretty scary, little things floating around in it, did not want to even put a finger in it) and took the dogs on a 1.5km walk. Then we just lazed around all afternoon in the hammock and by the fire. At around 9 when it was beginning to get dark we went for a drive and saw a bull moose beside the road. We did a little gravel spinning, roasted marshmallows and went to bed planning to get up early for adventures.

July 19
8:00 AM – Woke up a little later than expected but went for a 14 mile bike ride, took the dogs to the lake and for a bike/run. They really enjoyed it but we decided to really tire Emo out by letting her chase the truck but Jasper jumped out when we were going about 25mph. (If you don’t know Jasper than you wouldn’t know she already broke her leg once doing… I am guessing a similar roll, yelp, tuck position.) Anyways she was ok but now we can’t say she jumped out as a dumb little puppy when she still does it as a dumb big dog. Maybe she has had a few too many bumps to the head as pavement is not very soft. Then we loaded up the dogs (one smart, one dumb) and packed up the trailer to head out to Saskatoon, SK.
6:15 PM – Just drove through some serious storms and hail. I hope it doesn’t mess up our truck.
We stayed in a gas station parking lot just after we crossed the Alberta line. I couldn’t sleep because I was worried we would get in trouble for staying there or have our truck broken in to.

July 20
I woke up at 5:45 and was ready to go. We made it to Rachel and Levi’s before noon and spent the day hanging out. We took the dogs to a big lake near town and they had fun chasing each other and the seagulls.

July 21-24
Adam is working with Levi doing construction for a couple of days so I am being lazy, sleeping in, eating, and relaxing with Rachel and Evan.

July 25
Rachel took me to the local farmers market for some delicious fruit. We packed up and visited for awhile before heading out at around 5 pm. We stopped at West Edmonton Mall – the largest mall in North America. The mall happens to have a huge water park, an ice skating rink and sea-life exhibit in addition to 800 retail stores! Once we were back on the road we realized how tired we both were. At dusk we were jolted back to life when two deer went bolting across the road right in front of us… an excellent opportunity to check our breaks! We stopped for the night at the Whitecourt Walmart.

July 3
5:50 AM – Left Joe Rd, Horse Shoe, NC
5:00 PM – Arrived at Pappy & Bev’s House in Shermansdale, PA

July 4
11:00 AM – Headed towards Milton, PA for 4th of July Picnic at Uncle George and Aunt Jill’s House
11:00 PM – After a day filled with lots of food, family, and fireworks we headed to Nana’s house for the night

July 5
7:30 AM – Apparently Abbi wasn’t too pooped from last night’s festivities because she decided to wake up and play before 7 o’clock
2:30 PM – After a good lunch of vegetarian Stromboli and Philly cheese steak at a local restaurant we headed back to Pappy’s house
5:00 PM – Met Shannon’s new beau, Carlos, and went out for a nice Mexican dinner

July 6
4:00 AM - Woke up, packed up, and headed out for Boston, Mass
8ish – Lost in NYC, Paid an $18 toll to go over a “very special bridge”
2:00 PM – Arrived somewhere near Andover at Laura’s uncle’s house for lunch
4:00 PM – Left Uncle Bob’s
7:00 PM – Arrived in Conway, NH. Stopped for groceries/supplies at Hannafoods

July 7
AM – Woke up, picked fresh blueberries for breakfast. Decided to hike “Blueberry Hill/Rattlesnake Pool.” Approximately 2 miles up and 2-2 ½ miles down and to Rattlesnake. It was freezing cold; the dogs were too scared to go into the deep areas but they had fun running around shaking off by all the boy scouts. After leaving Rattlesnake Pool we walked out to a swampy area to look for moose, we saw lots of hoof prints (big ones!) but no moose
PM - On the way back to the cabin we stopped by the moose blind and there we was a female moose munching on some duck weed or some type of pond plant.

July 8
AM – Woke up to realize we were out of TP! Ate breakfast and headed to North Conway for some supplies and for some fresh food. On the way to town we stopped at Sherman’s Farm to grab some Homemade Black Raspberry and some Choco Chip Ice Cream. After picking up a few things we headed back towards the cabin. On the way home we decided we needed some more ice cream (strawberry and choco chip cookie dough). Adam saw blueberry milk in the cooler last time he stopped in a few hours ago and it was actually really delicious. We also stopped at Eastman’s Homestead to pick eggs, milk, cream (both straight from the cow and a bucket), and some maple syrup.
PM – We took a short 1 mile hike to “Emerald Pool.” A deep green swimming hole deep in the NH woods with a beautiful waterfall running into it. We all swam there. Jasper and Emo loved it! Josh “tossed” Abbi in to Laura and once she was in she seemed to enjoy it. It was so cold though, so had to force yourself to stay in – it made the head hurt!

July 9
7:30 AM – Jacqui and I headed to “The Basin” in White Mountain National Forest to do so canoeing. No moose only a loon that let us get like 5 feet away in the canoe. Good pictures but getting warm outside.
AM - So HOT outside! Isn’t the north supposed to be cool? Feels hotter than FL today! Only good choice is canoeing down the Saco River. We loaded up 2 canoes and a picnic lunch and headed out. 4.5 hours later we pulled the canoes out of the river. We had a good time floating (not paddling!) down the river. We found a rope swing and 4 pairs of glasses – sunglasses that is (a nice pair of Oakley’s and Vogue). As soon as we get the canoes back on the truck it started to down pour. When we got back to the Birches we started preparing for Thursday’s hike and went to bed early.

July 10
6:00 AM – Woke up, ate omelets and cereal.
8:45 AM – Started up the mtn towards Tuckerman’s Ravine and the summit of Mt. Washington.
1:00 1:30 PM – Reached the top of Mt Washington, 35 F with the wind-chill. Ate lunch and had some hot chocolate.
2:30 PM – Started our descent.
5:00 PM – Finally back at the bottom of Mt. Washington.

July 11
11:00 AM – Headed towards Portland, ME to drop Josh, Laura, Abbi, and Keira off at the airport.
1:00 PM – Drove to three different lighthouses. Headlight, Buglight, and one other one.
4:00 PM – Drove through Portland downtown and headed back to the cabin.
7:00 PM – Worked for a couple of hours on the trailer.

July 12
7:00 AM – Started working on the trailer trying to polish the top half before starting off.
1:00 PM – Finally got the cabin cleaned and closed up and headed for Canada. (Trailer still doesn’t look like a work of art but it works… most of the time)
2:30 PM – Black bear eating blueberries on the side of the road right past North Conway.
3:00 PM – Anethusa Falls Hike. Nice waterfall of about 200 feet.
5:00 PM – To Littleton, VT for supper – burritos at the restaurant “A La Shiny Trailer”