Month: October 2016

Chapter Twenty: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

~ Julie M. ~ Leave a comment

The way home began with a stop in Watson Lake, Yukon at Sign Post Forest, which is exactly what you would expect: rows upon rows of signs tacked twenty high. Afterward, we went down BC to Liard, which boasts beautiful hot springs in a natural setting in the woods. They were certainly the prettiest we have seen on this trip. They also turned out to be the smelliest, and, as it was in nature, there were no showers for afterward. This isn’t a problem for those going home after the springs, but for two vagabonds living out of a car, it was not pleasant for us. About 400 km south down the Alaskan highway, someone was wise enough to have a shower stand beside his restaurant, charging an arm and a leg per shower, which we happily paid to no longer smell like egg. We completed the Alaskan highway, passing many bison en route, at Dawson Creek and crossed over into Alberta.

We spent the next week national park-hopping, from Grande Cache (where we spotted a cougar), Jasper National Park (our third and final hot springs and my Jasper got to take a photo with Jasper the bear), Lake Louise and Banff. We took the Icefields Parkway south which is so picturesque and serene. When we did arrive in Banff, we rolled the car into the first garage we found, sputtering and grinding. Some not-so-cheap repairs later, and we were on our way again. We stopped briefly in Kananaskis park, but it was too cold and rainy for a hike so we drove on to Calgary, where we both had a dose of culture shock. We had not seen so many lights, cars and people in weeks, and, frankly, it was overwhelming. We stopped for a beer and a burger (both great) and continued east to Medicine Hat, stopping to park overnight under a very starry Saskatchewan sky.

 

We took the TransCanada highway back for most of the journey, making stops and detours here and there, whenever we saw something we wanted to explore. We visited Regina, spent an afternoon in friendly Minnedosa, Manitoba, and went to the pristine but mosquito-ridden Lake Manitoba shores before stopping to visit a friend in Winnipeg.

I had been to Winnipeg before with work but always in the cooler weather. We really enjoyed the city, walking along the forks, Saint-Boniface, and the old buildings in the financial centre. We stopped for brunch at Stella’s in Osborne Village and picked up cookies by George and then met my friend and her partner for dinner and drinks and stayed over at their lovely home.

We started the final stretch the next morning, stopping for coffee (tea for Jasper) and cinnamon buns at Tall Grass before heading into my home province of Ontario.

 

 

We followed the north shore of Lake Superior homeward, popping into Kenora, Thunder Bay and Sault Ste Marie en route, and stopping at the Terry Fox monument (as well as others), Kakabeka Falls and going for a hike in Sleeping Giant park.

Our plan had been to visit Killarney park for a couple of days, then Manitoulin island and take a ferry to Tobermory, which would be our last stop. However, when we did get to a very rainy Killarney, we realized that you can only enter from the east side and we had overshot the route to Manitoulin by about three or four hours. At this point, Toronto (our final destination) was equally far away. We hemmed and hawed about our options, but were not looking forward to more rainy camping or sleeping in the car, so we decided to save the last two stops for a long weekend in the future, and headed home for our second and final pit stop on our year (or so) of adventure.  ❤

Chapter Nineteen: Top of the World

~ Julie M. ~ Leave a comment
We arrived in Denali National Park on a seasonally cool afternoon. We found a camp spot which was right above a small river, which you could hear through the night. Denali is fairly centrally located in the state of Alaska and you really get the feeling here of being out in the wilderness, with nothing around you but mountains and plains for days. No electricity or running water. We explored a bit on our first afternoon, getting ice cream and a few beers for the fire. We did two more full days of hiking, where we hardly ran into another soul. At points, you could see for miles ahead with not another person in sight. It was beautiful. Cold, but beautiful. We spent our final day in the park on a bus trip which takes you as far into the interior as the roads will allow. On the bus, we spotted grizzlies, black bears, lynx and elk, among others. If you go anywhere in Alaska other than the southeast peninsula, I would say that Denali Park is the place to go. Being August, we learned that summer had already come and gone, and we were well into fall. Although it was cool, the colourful foliage made it well worthwhile. As a park guide told us, here there are four seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and construction. I guess we made it for the former!
We treated ourselves to one more salmon bake on the way out and headed on. Blasting the heat in the car, we headed further north to the Northern Lights Capital of the world; Fairbanks, Alaska. Sadly, as in Iceland, we were not in the height of the lights season and it was cloudy to boot, so we did not happen upon the lights. Fairbanks is a unique and slightly run-down city, best known as an army base, and sitting just south of the arctic circle. we toured the town and got a motel room and had a cozy night in.
 
The next day we headed eastward again, through the perma-Christmas town of North Pole (aptly named to attract toy manufacturers, though it didn’t have much success) and along the Top of the World Highway. The TOTWH is closed in the winter, so any towns (and I use that word loosely) situated on the road are left to stay home through the winter or snowmobile several hours to the nearest watering hole for supplies. A perfect example of this is Chicken Alaska, annual population: four. An old gold dredge and now a kitschy RV park in the summer, the one family that lives there year round relies on canned and frozen foods, and boiling snow for water over the harsh Alaskan winter. The town was originally named Ptarmigan, a sort of bird that resembles a chicken. When the name proved too hard to spell, let alone pronounce, it defaulted to Chicken, which has likely been a big factor in improving tourism.
 
We drove on to the US-Canadian border, which, being 9:00 p.m., was closed for the night. We pulled the car into an overlook point and slept until it opened up again. Funny thing about the TOTWH is that the whole of it is exceptionally pothole-ridden and dilapidated, save the 2 kilometer stretch on either side of the border, to create a false euphoric first impression upon entering either country.
 
We arrived in Dawson City, which we were happy to see was the Klondike town we had been hoping for since crossing into the territories. Dawson is not so much a city as a museum town, preserving the look and feel of the gold rush days (with some modern comforts, of course). The streets were unpaved and the houses were tavern-esque and just run down enough that it felt like the real deal. We went to visit the cabin of the poet Robert Service, a family favourite. It felt a bit like a pilgrimage to me, having grown up listening to my dad reciting his best works.
We went to Diamond Tooth Gerties to catch a show that evening and, between sets, we went to the Dawson City Hotel for a sour toe cocktail.
 
A sour toe cocktail is just as it sounds. Created in the fifties and likely inspired by The Ice Worm Cocktail poem, tradition has it that you order a shot and place in it a preserved human toe. You then take the shot and the toe has to touch your lips in order to receive a certificate.. and street cred, of course. Every night at Toe Time (9:00 p.m.) the professional toe administrator will sit down with you and say the rhyme, “You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but your lips must touch the gnarly toe.” And gnarly it was; long and purple. But – when in Rome… so we did it!
 
After sleeping off our toe-hangover, we drove up further north, to what really felt like the top of the world, Tombstone Territorial Park in northern Yukon. Stunning as it was remote, we really fell in love with this spot. Fall was in full swing, and there were far more bears than people in a square mile. We found a camping spot and hiked up a trail to get a better view of the scenery. We had overheard a few people discussing how active the northern lights were the night before, but, alas, we did not see any. No matter as the sprawling, vast scenery more than made up for it.
 
Heading on south, we stopped just outside of Dawson at a local dredge to try our hand at gold panning. We spent about half an hour in the rain sifting and shaking our dirt, but in the end, all we got was wet. And, I suppose, the memories.
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Until we came to the marge of Lake Lebarge… or rather the inspiration for the icy setting in the Robert Service poem, The Cremation of Sam McGee, which is actually called Lake Laberge. Azure waters framed in vibrant green trees, this was a lovely little camping spot. By way of context, I had been wanting to come to this spot since I was a little girl, to see how the place compared with my imagination of it. My dad would recite this poem when we went camping, with the lights out and the fire crackling, and conjure up such vivid imagery of Sam, sitting in a blazing oven. For me, coming to Lake Lebarge was definitely a bucket list item.
 
We stopped back briefly just outside of Whitehorse where my friend Agatha and her (new!) fiancé were wrapping up their own northern adventure. We spent an afternoon in the local hot springs, and an evening playing cards and games by the fire.
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When they headed to the airport the next morning, we, too, headed on, starting the long drive back home. ❤

Chapter Eighteen: North

~ Julie M. ~ Leave a comment
There are a few things you notice as you start driving north of the 49th parallel, once you’ve passed the lower cities like Vancouver (where we stopped at Momo for some sushi), Squamish and Whistler Village: The roads deteriorate, the nights get cool and the days stretch nearly into midnight. There is also an almost palpable lack of other people. You can drive the hwy 37 up British Columbia and go hours without seeing a single car. Stocked with canned ravioli, a spare gas tank and heavy blankets, we were prepared physically if not mentally. Suddenly it really felt as though it was actually just the two of us on this trip. No distractions, just an open road, increasingly large mountains and some wildlife. The first time we saw a bear on the side of the road, we drove back past him two more times. By the sixth or seventh, we shared a smile and a, “That’s nice.”
We really enjoyed the longer days. Our first night after veering north, we lit a bonfire and waited…and waited… and waited for it to get dark and then it finally dawned on us that the sun would be setting much later in these parts.
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We did notice that, once the dark had come, it was getting much, much cooler. British Columbia was tolerable, but in northern Alaska, I camped out in two pairs of pants, thick socks, a shirt, two sweaters and a jacket, hood up, sleeping bag and duvet on top. It was cold. But I’m getting ahead of myself. In BC, we stopped at Pemberton and Boya Provincial Parks, visiting the lackluster Prince George in between. The parks were beautiful and on pristine, turquoise lakes. We visited Joffrey Lakes outside of Pemberton and rented a canoe for a morning paddle in Boya. We were sometimes very lucky with our meal breaks, when we would see a beautiful scenic or lakeside pullover, to enjoy a meal with a view. We also had a lot of campfires in this part of the trip (often with roasted marshmallows and spider dogs). It felt very North American again, after four months in Europe.
 
We got into the Yukon on a Saturday and booked into a motel in Whitehorse by that evening, hungry for some entertainment and food that was not a cold salad wrap. We went to Klondike Rib & Salmon for their namesake platter and mixed game meatballs, which were delicious. We walked around the main street strip hoping for some saloon-style bar reminiscent of the gold rush era. Instead, we found a modern bar full of tourists and a hotel bar with a local act playing some live music. We stayed in each for a drink but were a bit let down and headed back to our motel to cut our losses. At least we caught a magnificent sunset at 11:30 p.m.! We would head on towards Alaska the next morning but come back to Whitehorse a couple of weeks later on our way out.
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The road to Alaska was long and scenic, along the Alaskan Highway. We passed through Kluane Territorial Park, known for its abundance of dall sheep. The scenery was a mix of mountains, forests, lakes and glaciers. It was incredibly beautiful. We attempted to go to Wrangell St. Elias National Park but turned around at the one horse town of Chittina (with the trademark motel-restaurant-bar combination) when we realized the next three hours drive would be pot-hole ridden dirt roads and our little sedan may not have made it.
 
We drove on to Anchorage, where we booked two nights in the sleaziest inner-city campground I’ve seen. Most of the sites were occupied seasonally and it had a very rough and tumble crowd. No matter as we wanted to spend the days in the city… which proved to be more time than needed. The city of anchorage is beautifully situated. Aside from that, however, we found there was not much to do in the city itself. We walked the downtown, bought some reindeer sausage, stopped at the 49th State Brewery patio and walked the waterfront trail. We went to the Native Museum. After that, we were hard-pressed to fill the rest of the time we had allocated to anchorage. We explored the greater city hoping to find a cozy café to read in. All we found were strip malls. We were a bit disappointed as we had high expectations of anchorage after seeing beautiful Juneau last spring. I suppose it is best left for a hotel, hot meal and afternoon stroll.
 
We rode on, through Sarah Palin’s hometown of Wasilla, and toward Denali National Park. ❤

Chapter Seventeen: Once Upon a Time in the West

~ Julie M. ~ Leave a comment

We drove about thirty minutes from Deadwood and set up camp in the sleepy community of Spearfish, as they were having “Friday Nights;” a weekly festival where they close the streets for vendors and pedestrians and a stage for live music. Despite the mostly cheesy country music covers, it was a nice way to spend an hour or so. We may have tried too hard, squeezing an extra three out of it. We popped by the local Irish pub for a pint and some live tunes after the street fest was done.

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On we drove the next morning through the state of Montana and ended up in the town of Cody, rodeo capital of the west, just in time for the Saturday night show. For the life of me, I cannot imagine what would possess someone to get on top of a bucking bull, but it was entertaining to watch, along with the horse riding and lasso competitions. Of course, we began with the anthem and the lord’s prayer, as is custom in these parts. We stopped into a country music bar for a few live numbers afterward and then settled into the Walmart parking lot that would be our campsite for the night, before heading into Yellowstone Park.

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After being laughed out of Walmart in the morning for asking if they sell veggie burgers (“This is Wyoming.”), we drove into Yellowstone to spend three days, hiking the plains and visiting the thermal pools, geysers and natural landscape of this massive park, where it wasn’t uncommon to drive three hours in a day just getting around. Jasper perfected his bonfire-making skills and I my propane-stove cooking skills and we both found that the nights were much cooler than we had expected for camping but it was no doubt worth the payoff, which was a sky of a million sparkling stars.

After 3 nights of Yellowstone (which, I might add, did not have showers… something we were not-yet-but-soon-to-be used to), we were in need of a hot breakfast, motel, shower and laundry, in that order. After driving through the two horse town of Three Forks and towns with nothing but a church, hunting and ammo shop and bar with signs boasting the second amendment above all others, we ended up at a Motel 6 in Helena with a pool, which we lazed at all day and then we watched tv all night… it was heaven.

 

We drove up to Glacier National Park and took the ‘going to the sun’ highway through it, which was breathtaking. We had hoped to park and do a hike at some point but it was high season for tourists and every lot was jam packed. So we headed onwards, through Idaho, stopping briefly at Coeur d’Alene for another Friday evening festival, this one a bit bigger and more exciting than in Spearfish. We stopped for a drink and some bluegrass music and meandered along the waterfront before driving on.

The next stop was Mt. Ranier. Again, parking was an issue but we managed to nab the last spot up near the lodge, where the main hiking trails begin. This might have been the spot where my expectations were most exceeded so far on this trip. The hike up the mountain was absolutely gorgeous, full of brightly coloured wild flowers, streams and waterfalls, amazing mountain views, snowy patches and a glacier. We even spotted a (gummy) bear! You can climb the full mountain but it requires proper hiking equipment and takes 2-3 days so we opted for the day hike route. I rolled my ankle (again!) on the walk to the car, so Jasper decided to make it a hotel night, with popcorn and movies.

We continued on west and, when we hit the coast, dipped down to Portland, Oregon, for the morning. We arrived on a Sunday so the oddly-named Saturday market was in full swing. Jasper walked and I hobbled past some indie musicians and the donut shop (the line was around the block) and visited the food truck village for some middle eastern eats. We explored a bit but I was limited by foot so we headed back to the market for some hibiscus iced tea and then drove to the rose gardens, which were lovely and vibrant. Then back in the car we went and headed north, stopping at a drive-in cinema just outside of Seattle for the double picture show, junk food and some old fashioned romance.

Next up on our adventure was to cross on into Canada and start venturing up north as we headed into the wild.

❤