Made it to Alaska!

We made it to our hotel in Haines Junction and settled in.  It is a small village and the hotel was suspect.  It was old, as most things are on the Alcan, but it was comfortable and had hot water for a decent shower so I"m good :P. We walked over to a restaurant for some grub and a beer.  While there a local lady started to chat us up, she "works for the Chief".  I was curious to ask what work she did but for some reason didn't, she was a chatter anyway.  I told Joe about wanting to ask her that and he was like he wondered too but didn't ask because she was already somewhat full of herself.  Liked to talk and had limited listening capabilities.  

People like to give us advice about this move, which is appreciated, but they hardly listen to what we already know and how we feel about things.  Once this becomes apparent we let them talk and then we go about our day.  

Our hotel did face a beautiful snow capped mountain range!  Amazing beauty in this area!

We got up and the coffee shop across the street actually served espresso drinks! Praise be! this is the first morning that Tux is making it apparent he's over this traveling business and hid under the bed when we were getting ready and packing up the car.  Poor guy but he's a trooper and it wasn't a big production to get him in his carrier so that's a blessing.

It was a very short drive to Tok, Alaska but it was good because it gave us a lot of down time.  We are both getting worn out and tired with the driving and packing.  Crossing the border was easy and they asked about any guns.... seriously people we have no guns!

We had a big lunch and lazed around a little bit before having a light dinner and going to bed.

The next morning, Tux hid again, poor guy.  But it was off to our new home.

Joe has been keeping in touch with the lady that owns the condo we are interested in and we gave her a heads up that we'd be there later that day and that we'd like to see the condo later that afternoon.

We have rented an AirBnB close to downtown Anchorage, 2 bedrooms and a kitchen for us to relax a bit.  We got settled in the AirBnB and then went to find some lunch and found the Gumbo House which worked well for us.  This whole weekend is overcast and rainy so it was nice to have some jambalaya to warm us up!  We were getting worried about not hearing back from Kelli, landlady, but decided to drive and check out the area.  

It's about 20 minutes from down town.  We were hoping for something closer but it's hard to find garages near downtown and that is one of 'would really like" to have.  It's just a little bit smaller than our apartment in Florida so we will have to do some wrangling with our stuff, more downsizing which we are cool with!  The area is quiet and it's on a lake.  No threw driving, which Joe likes.  We are on the top floor so no one walking above us and we think the one below us is an AirBnb.  We liked the drive by and still hadn't  heard from Kelli so we were getting bummed and then she got back to us with some times, late that night (after 8pm) and tomorrow! Ugh... Joe mentioned tomorrow due to wanting to see it during the daylight and she asked if we could see it "now" and we were like 10 minutes out so off we went.  She was suppose to meet us there but after 20 minutes of waiting we got a call.  She had someone walk into her office with no appointment but told us how to get in to the condo and let us look on our own (which I like to do).  

Walking around the place, the only "con" was figuring out where to put Tux's litter box! LOL. Like I said it hit on the things we were looking for: garage, space, price range, and close to my work.  With it being a condo we work directly with the landlady to get things fixed etc.  We don't have to worry about snow removal, that's covered already!  Oh and the place has a gas fireplace :). 

We are going to meet with her at noon today to do the paperwork so we can move in on Monday when we are due out of the AirBnB.  We haven't heard about our shipment from TMO, it is due to be here 25 September (Monday) but we'll buy some sleeping bags that we will need to get anyway :P

We really didn't want the stressor of trying to find a place while living in hotels etc.  We've been looking online for months and this one has been the best fit for all of our "wants".  I didn't find one closer to downtown but less square footage :( 

Animal sittings:

Buffalo: a big herd…. while typing of this entry!

Caribou: 9 alive and 1 carcass
Deer: 5

Dall Sheep: 1 mob

Rabbit: 1

Prairie Dog: 1

Tundra Swan: 6

Canada, day 4

I’m started off today as a passenger as we drive through the Canadian Rockies.  Yesterday’s drive was full of rain off and all but British Columbia is beautiful! 

We made a lot of little stops for pictures but you really can’t capture the beauty of the area, especially on a camera phone.  Joe pulled out his good camera so it will be good to see those pictures once we get to our new home.

Update: finally saw a herd of caribou!!!!  We had stopped for the night at Toad River Lodge, and were doing a walk about.  Across the lake I noticed an animal in an open field and pointed it out to Joe.  He ran back to the car for the binoculars!  It was a decent herd of caribou, about 9 of them!  We were so happy to finally see something!  Other than that,…. Saw some horses but they don’t count.  Also noticed some beaver damns, they are interesting animals, but no beaver.

One of our photo stops was at mile 0 of the ALCAN HWY.  It was rainy and chilly but it was a have to stop for a photo.

When we were leaving our hotel yesterday morning we wanted to stop and get some coffee. The prior morning, I pulled into a Starbucks although Joe had mapped us to a Timmy Hortons, aka Tims, for coffee.  So Tims are everywhere here, more than any other coffee place (Canada’s Starbucks?).  Joe has had them before and mentioned they are known for their coffee but when he knew them it was a basic coffee joint.  Now they have expanded their menu with breakfast and lunch fast food.  Anyhoo…. So that morning, no Tims.  The next morning, in the industrial area, we attempted to get a Tims.  The lines for the drive through were INSANE!  We parked and walked into one, inside there was a crazy line too, Joe checked his phone and found other Tims in the area and off we went.  But again, lines were crazy so I found a no name coffee shop with no drive through.  We got there, no line, actually no one in the shop so we were stoked.  A Philipino guy was working and we had a nice chat while we ordered our coffees.  I’ve started to order my coffee with almond milk.  I know I’m behind the times with this but it is delicious! When I asked about having mine with almond milk the guy stated, “I can do this for you” which is typical and it makes it sound as if I’m getting a special hook up but I’m not.  We passed through some other towns with Tims and the lines were still long.  Eventually that afternoon we passed one with no line.  We needed to stretch our legs so we decided it was time for a small coffee.  Joe ordered and it’s similar to DD, order a regular with its 1 cream and sugar but I ordered a double double.  First off the stuff was hot!  Some dumb American would have already sued them for a burn if they were stateside!  Mine was decent but nothing crazy line worthy. Even Joe stated we are not going to go out of our way for a Tims coffee!  Sorry Canadians, not sold on that one BUT I am sold on gravy with French fries!  That stuff is awesome!

We rented a small cabin at Toad River Lodge. It’s been a place for travelers since the 1940s before the ALCAN was built.  One of its touristy things is they have hats stapled to the ceiling and wall.  It’s similar to the dollar bill thing in some bars.  To me, as a public health person, it’s gross.  You can’t dust that stuff, you can see the dust on these things and they are serving food and drinks.  But like all these places, the food and coffee is good. The special that night was chili and it hit the spot and was fitting for a stay in a cabin by a lake in the mountains. 

One thing we’ve both noticed is how nice and friendly the Canadians are, along with a fun sense of humor.  This morning while we were having breakfast Yukon Jack came in, no joke that was his name, and was informing the owner there was an accident 5 kilometers up the road.  The guy was o.k. but was pulling a big camper trailer and was “impaired” instead of saying the guy was drunk off his ass.  They called it in and hopefully the guy got pulled out, it will take a doing.  We drove past and it was pretty serious and there was no way that guy was going to drive out, which he apparently wanted to do. 

Today we got a long drive ahead of us, 10 hours.  We usually try to keep it to an 8-hour drive day but at that stop point there were no hotels, everything was booked plus traveling with a pet puts more restrictions on us.  I keep telling Tux he needs to start pulling his weight but so far nothing. 

We will stop tonight and then one more night on the road before making it to Anchorage.  I am ready to be settled but am totally appreciating all the beauty we are driving through!

Animal sittings:

Buffalo: a big herd…. while typing of this entry!

Caribou: 9 alive and 1 carcass
Deer: 5

Day 3 in Canada, 19 September 2017

It’s my passenger day :P  
Joe and I are taking turns driving, he drives a day and I drive a day.  Makes for delayed post but it’s working for our traveling so one person isn’t getting slammed with all the driving.  Driving all day is tiring!
After our glamping experience we drove up through Montana, which is a beautiful state!  We had some traffic problems but we made it to the border without too many delays!

So, we were both nervous about the border crossing because we’ve never done it before.  Of course, we’ve heard a lot of random stories.  We had all our required documents: passports and Tux’s rabies paperwork.  We pulled in and went into a building on the U.S. side.  We walked in and were met with some confused looks.  We explained what was going on and that we were not sure what we needed to do, apparently, we just need to drive up to the Canadian window…. 
Anyway the U.S. guy asked, “why are you crossing here?”, I blurted out “why not?”  which probably wasn’t the best response but oh well, I thought his question was kind of dumb.   He asked if we had an inventory of all of our stuff in the back of our car?!  Nope, and that got us a little nervous but whatever we pressed on.  Drove up to the window and a cute Canadian helped us out, he seemed a little put out by us, or he was just really bored with his job in the middle of nowhere.  He asked us “what did you do with your guns?” It is assumed that all Americans have firearms and when we say we don’t people are confused and at times don’t believe us (this happened in a pub in England also).  Tux was interested in this transaction so poked his head up.  Officer Canada told us to pull forward while he held onto our passports.  We had a concern that they would have us unload our car and do a search so I was not looking forward to that.  We sat for about 10 minutes before another cute Canadian officer came back with our passports, asked Joe for his last four and sent us on our way because we didn’t have any criminal stuff show up. We were all good!

Just like that we are in Canada!

We wanted to take a detour and check out Prince of Wales hotel.  We attempted to go through the Montana way, it’s part of Glacier National Park in Canada but the pass was closed.  We didn’t think much of it and just figured we’d go to it via Canada.  It was our first “bump” of the trip and the road was closed down that would take us to the hotel.  With a quick google search it was clear that the fires that have been impacting the U.S. don’t mind a border and they had evacuated the area.  We heard that the hotel was saved but that area and the visitor center was lost to the fire.  As of the other day it was not listed as contained :(

Lower Alberta seemed like Kansas, flat and a lot of hay bales with cattle grazing. We found a place to stop for the night and walked over to a nearby sports bar for dinner and a drink.  It being Sunday and all it wasn’t overly busy.  Joe got a Canadian beer and I had a Strongbow!  No accents at this place and I noted to Joe that I hadn’t heard the noted “eh” but then the waitress used it and I started to feel that I was truly in Canada!  As of right now… no moose sightings.  We’ve seen deer, wild turkey, cows, horses, and a few llamas.  
Our full day in Canada I was behind the wheel and it was pretty boring, still very Kansas like.  As we started to get further north, we got more trees and right now there is more leaves that are changing so even though it’s raining right now it is pretty.  Yesterday it was pretty hazy with the fires so that can put a damper on any drive!  We drove through Calgary and Edmonton but visibility was poor.
Joe found our place for the night and when we pulled in he stated, “the pictures look a lot better online”.  It was a very simple building, the rain and haze didn’t help, there was a liquor store and lounge attached to it.  I sat in the car while Joe checked in, he comes out and says it’s nice inside!  We load up the cart and head in and it was pretty nice inside.  They were even having a guest appreciation that night, free pasta bar, and free food is always good!  Before going down and being appreciated we hung out in the room and settled for a bit.  Joe had found a nice condo for rent while I was driving so he made some phone calls.  It would be AWESOME to have a place set up prior or right when we get there and we can avoid the apartment hunting!
We heading down to the lodge and Sara, waitress, was awesome.  We got a drink and ordered some apps because we couldn’t decide what we wanted to do, free pasta or order from the menu.  We decided on the pasta.  
One thing I have noticed since being in Canada is the lack of women!  Maybe it’s just in the hotels and sports bars we’ve been frequenting due to seeing them driving around.  When I walked into the sports bar at our first stop, other than the workers there was maybe 2 other women.  Last night at our hotel in the lounge even less women and even more men!  We talked to Sara a little and we found out we were in an area that is going through an oil boom so a lot of transient workers, oil and a railroad.  We wanted to stop in Dawson Creek last night but we couldn’t find a place to stay and Sara said it was because of the workers!  So that makes sense…I did notice that a lot of the towns we were going through were very industrial which would also support a lack of women.  Although I acutely notice that there is not a lot of women, everyone has been very nice and open with us.  I know we stick out a little with our Florida license plate…. I’ve only seen a random Alaska plate!
Today we start on the Alaska Highway, aka ALCAN!

17 Sept 17: Montana and Canada bound!

We are currently driving to Canada through Montana.  Trying out my light laptop and using a word document to write a current entry to cut and paste later to the blog.
Last night we did some glamping in Montana.  For those that have not heard about glamping it’s fancy campy.  Our tent was big and when we pulled up the owner, on his golf cart, welcomed us and said he was going to grab another comforter for us due to the cold temperatures. It was about 40 degrees last night.  
Driving from SLC, UT to our AirBnB glamping site was beautiful!  Neither one of us have driven into Idaho or Montana before (if I did when I was younger I didn’t remember it).  We saw a lot of snow!  We were not expecting all of that but it was beautiful and we enjoyed the drive.

Now back to the glamping :P  We only took the bare necessities into the tent since we had to park away from the tent.  Tux has been confused since we hit the road and it took him a little longer than usual to calm down once we hit the road.  He was very chatty!  I think he was telling us about his adventures in the basement with the nephew and how happy he was to be with us!  He’s taking to the constant changes like a champ!  

We settled into our tent and took a walk about.  There was a lovely creek going through the property, a pond, and a waterfall.  He had some Highland Cows, which are my favorite cows!!!! I first fell in love with them when we were gallivanting around Ireland and Scotland.  They also have a 400 lbish pig which they used as a food processor.  They had a restaurant and bar on the property and we didn’t expect too much being out in the middle of nowhere.  We saw some wild turkey and also some wild deer grabbing some apples that had fallen off some trees.  The owner also had some goats and one was 3 legged :P  I swear there is a joke about a 3 legged goat but I can’t recall it.

After our walk about we walked up the grill and bar and there were a couple of local guys standing outside.  One guy is owner of a brewery in Helena MT and Joe had a nice chat with him.  The other guy lived in Anchorage AK for about 9 years and worked with UPS. We went in and the bar was full, which surprised me!  The Alaska guy introduced me to his wife and she gave me an earful of information about Anchorage!  They got some food delivered and I was able to break free.  We then went in and had a seat for dinner and OMG!  The food was amazing.  I had lamb chops and Joe had the duck.  We even forced down some dessert which was home made key lime pie which was better than anything we had down in Florida!  I drove the whole day yesterday, about 500 miles, so with a full belly and couple of glasses of wine (they also had a wonderful wine selection) I was ready to crawl into bed!  Joe wanted to have one more drink and a cigar so he did his thing and I laid in bed with Tux catching up on some emails and Facebook :P  Joe wasn’t out too late and it was time to snuggle and get some good sleep!

Unfortunately in the middle of the nigh we both had to take a walk to the outhouse!  So we bundled up and headed out of the tent.  As soon as I stepped out of the tent I looked up and OMG the stars were expansive!  It’s been a long time since I saw that many stars.  I just took a minute (anything longer I’d start to freeze) and soaked it in!  We survived the walk to the outhouse and then it was back under the 5 layers of blankets and Tux!
We didn’t set our alarms and we just gradually woke up and it was little after 8 before our bladders were telling us to get out of bed.  We got moving, got packed up, said bye to the local deer, and drove off to grab a coffee in Helena MT.  

So the day ahead is a border crossing, got the passports ready, and seeing some cool stuff before finding the next place to catch some Zzzz’s in Canada!  
This will be my second time in Canada, my first time being when I was in high school and checked out Niagara Falls with the school band.  It will be Joe’s first time in Canada!

Last Day in SL,UT

Today we are doing laundry and repacking to hit the road tomorrow morning.  Yesterday we were in recovery mode from staying up till 3am playing "pick a song" and having adult drinks!  Joe and I are not use to that rock star life and yesterday we were out of commission!  "Pick a song" is just sitting around and each person picks a song to play, youtube works great for this.  It's amazing how someone else's pick will bring up memories and having you thinking of another song you want to hear.  Sometimes even some dancing breaks out LOL

The seasons have changed since being here in Utah.  It was warm, hot even, the first few days but yesterday fall has started.  It's been cool, windy, and last night with most of the morning it's been raining.  I saw a post already that the mountains have already gotten a dusting of snow but I haven't noticed it yet.  I guess it's a good way to transition into the cold :P
Tux has been doing well in his basement dwellings with Marcia and David's nephew.  Bo, the boxer, has yet to notice there is a cat living in his house.  I know he's gotten comfortable due to last night he started meowing for food!  He's been on a weird eating schedule but he's a trooper.  So while doing laundry today I'm hanging out with him for  a little bit and he's defiantly not wanting to leave my lap!
Life is good and things are going smoothly.  

Looking forward to our next leg of our journey and the new sights to see!

Mid point to Alaska

We are staying a week in Salt Lake City, UT to relax a little bit before heading onward to Alaska which is about another 6 days.
We scored an awesome AirBnB in South Salt Lake for a couple of nights.  It was a two bedroom townhouse with a garage.  We could walk to a local brewery, which we walked to twice :P

Our first day there we met up with my friend and went to the 42nd Greek Festival.  I've gone to the festival a few times before when I lived in Utah and always enjoyed it!  Amazing food!  After getting our bellies full we walked over to the gateway and just sat and chatted for a while.

The next day was shopping!  We planned on doing some winter clothing shopping while in Utah before heading north and we did some good shopping!  We didn't get crazy but got some stuff and Joe started his winter clothing collection (he had nothing).  When we got home from that we both felt lethargic and took a quick cat nap before going for a walk.  We were just going to take a nice little walk in the residential area we were in but we ended up all the way at the U!  I mapped our walk when we got home and it was a little over 6 miles!  Good for us!

The following day we moved in with Marcia and David.  Our first night was full of good food and about 3 bottles of wine!  We had some heated conversations but it was healthy and the air was cleared of some misunderstandings.  We will be here for a few more nights before heading north.  
That brings us to the current day (I'm going to try and do this in a more current fashion).  We had a low key morning, we were not moving fast due to the late night and adult beverages.  We did a little shopping and sight seeing before making it back home for laziness and later....kick ass nachos!

Next adventure bound

A lot has happened since I last wrote...more traveling that I wrote about (I need to get better at this).
The 3rd September was our last full day in Panama City Beach, FL.  It has been our home for the past two years but we are ready to go and an opportunity presented itself!
We are on the road to Anchorage Alaska!  I got a job at the VA Hospital there and Joe will find a job once we get there, he is still on terminal leave so he's getting paid to move!  We are going to take about 3-4 weeks to get there.

We have been staying with friends and in AirBnB's which have been amazing.  We got one in Panama City Beach that was two blocks away from the beach!  It was chill and relaxing, a good way to leave the area before Irma made her presence known.

Our first stop after leaving Florida was Wynne AR where Joe's family is.  It's the farmland of Arkansas, similar to where my grandparents are.  We spent a full day there and two nights.  It was a good visit, and even Joe was surprised how well everything went.  His family is lively and some are chatty, there is always some drama and we were caught up on that!  One thing that we laughed about was the day to day living and how it goes when visiting family in the country.  We drive a lot, because nothing is near anything, sit, eat, visit, drive some more, sit, visit, eat, and repeat!

After AR we were off to Amarillo TX.  We again lucked out with an AMAZING AirBnb!  We got there early enough to do some touristy stuff and checked out Cadillac Ranch before having wine and Joe a cigar at our little cottage!  We also found a local eatery that was great!  We do very well at avoiding chain places as much as possible!

With all our sitting and eating I'm going to need to start a hard core exercise routine once we get settled in Alaska!
After Amarillio we were off to the Denver CO area.  
On the way to Denver we stopped at a random deli in Pueblo CO.  It was a legit Italian deli, Gagliano's Italian Market and Deli, it has been a family business since 1921!  We got a couple of amazing sandwiches, found a little lake, put Tux in his carrier and had a leisure lunch by the water!
Once we got to Denver we stayed with a friend of mine from my time in the Utah Guard.  They opened up their basement to Joe, Tux, and I.  We had some awesome dinners in the local area.  It was here that I realized I was not use to the dry weather like I was once before.  It's taking me some time getting use to the dry air.  
One of the reason for staying in Colorado for a couple of days was to check out the 4 Wheel Campers who had a dealer in the area.  We went and checked them out but we both didn't have a love connection.  We are the beginning parts of our research of them but it was good to get eyes on and physically get in one instead of just looking at them online.  
I had applied for jobs in that area of Colorado and Joe mentioned that he was glad that I didn't get that job, which I agreed with.  We like the area but maybe not the best fit for us, living wise.  
The next stop is Salt Lake City, UT.  The first few nights we had another AirBnB before moving in with my Aunt for the rest of the week.