Baby steps, enjoy where you are at

It's a lazy Sunday here in Alaska but we are going to be checking out a used Class C around lunch time...sssh don't tell anyone :). 

Joe is more excited than I am, I'm always a wait and see before getting excited.  Too many times of getting ramped up just to be let down I suppose.  We are going with an open mind due to we both know this will not be our "forever" vehicle.  It's our starter vehicle! The one that we try on for size, gets our feet wet with in regards to living in a vehicle so we can narrow down our needs, must haves, and it would be nice to have.  We have a pretty good idea of what we "must have" but it's amazing how things begin to change once you're in it.  So we will see how this progresses.

We are getting exposed to spring weather in Alaska.  Like most areas we will have a bout of "warm weather" where things begin to melt.  Like right now we may reach 40 degrees today but within a couple of days it's snow snow snow!  It's not really called "spring here" but "breakup".  Which is a fun way of looking at the weather... I see that I'm breaking up with the cold dark weather but it really describes the TERRIBLE road conditions.  In Alaska they don't use salt on the roads, they use gravel of some sort.  So during the winter you are pretty much driving, in some areas, over packed down snow and ice.  No big deal you get use to it.  But now with the weather warming up that snow and ice is breaking up and you are driving on like the worst back country road imaginable.  Plus with this thaw and freeze craziness, once you get to the road, there are potholes that will blow out your tire if you are not careful in addition to all the gravel that was laid down...wind shield cracks are the norm.  So although the Alaska mountains are and will be forever beautiful in the background of my day to day driving, the roads are surround by black dirty snow and booby trapped roads.

Well my coffee is done and it's time to get moving and see what our future may look like!

Hello 2018

It's a little late but the beginning of the year is always a little busy! We decided to take a train trip up to Fairbanks to check out the land and a new area with the hopes of seeing some Northern lights.  

The train ride was great and we did see some beautiful scenery when it was light out;)  

They have less light time up there and after a week of that I could tell the difference in myself mentally.  I'm glad we live in Anchorage.  On the train we spotted 22 moose and a couple of sheep!  We brought books for the long train ride but we spent most of our time looking out the windows to see whatever we could!  

A really cool thing was that the railroad is the only one in the U.S. that has "flag service" which is people who live in the middle of nowhere Alaska they can flag down the train so they can go to the next town for supplies and then also to get back to their homestead.  It's pretty amazing how people are living out there in the middle of nowhere, limited luxuries, little to no contact with others, and the brutal winter of Alaska! 

Our hotel in Fairbanks was perfect for us, they had a restaurant and bar LOL!  We found out that a lot of things close around New Years.  We were limited on what we could due to what was open and due to the biting cold but we did our best.  We checked out some breweries, got some local eats, went to the pipeline, and checked out a museum.  

outside of the auto museum, it was awesome and a great find in Fairbanks!

HooDoo brewery, good stuff...even had a porter myself and I'm not a beer drinker!

THE pipeline!

love the random art in the town!

It's easy to see why drinking can be a problem here...especially in the winter months with limited day light, cold weather that doesn't encourage one to go outside, have a nice drink is very appealing!  Although the weather is cold it is so beautiful!  

We didn't see any lights :( but we live here so I know we will eventually.  Maybe this weekend!  We both have apps that tell us when it's a good time and this weekend is looking good :)

Joe asked me this past weekend if I'm still happy that we are here in Alaska and I am.  It's amazing to think this, Alaska, wasn't even on my radar and not a place I'd think I'd ever wanted to live but here I am and I'm happy. 

Never say never!

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!