We thought about staying another day at Toad River but it was too cold and windy - 34 degrees when we got up. So we closed up and moved on up the road.
The day was beautiful - mostly sunny, and, we had to show some more scenery pictures (too bad they don't do justice - guess you had to be there!).
This is Muncho Lake, a 9 mile jade-colored lake, and almost completely frozen over this late in the year.
It seemed as though spring had really sprung on this route today - the grasses were green. And, because of that, we saw a lot of wildlife:
Then, just a little way up the road on the opposite side, we saw this one. He was all alone:
Then, a little further down the road, we saw this lone elk:
Next, bison:
See the young calf:
As I mentioned before, our trip from Ft. Nelson to Toad River was only 110 miles. That was planned because today, Wednesday, we are driving about 210 miles to Watson Lake, but, about half way, is Laird Hot Springs which we really like. We got there early, about 11 AM, and, the parking lot was almost empty. By the time we left, which was about an hour later, the lot was full.
The springs were excellent - the water was hot and really felt refreshing. If only we could have taken a nap afterwards!!
Talk about coincidences - when we walked up to our trailer, we saw another Hitchhiker trailer behind us. So I went over and knocked on the door. When the lady answered, I knew right away that I knew her from somewhere before. I said "I know you," and, of course, she said "You look familiar, too." Then I remembered that she and her husband were parked at a vocational school in Kenai for the summer in 2011. We were at the middle school and when I went for a walk one day, she was outside so I talked with her. They are headed back to Kenai again - this is their 18th year of doing the school thing. We plan to get together when we get there!!
Anyway, back to our trip up the road - and more wildlife:
A little more scenery as we travel down the road:
And then we find more bison:
And then, more crossing the road:
We finally made it to Watson Lake and the Downtown RV Park about 4 PM. They had plenty of sites but by 7PM, the place was full. No jokes about being the only trailer in the park this time!!
After we got setup, we walked over to the Sign Post Forest to see if we could find our sign that we put up 3 years ago. When there are over 70,000 signs, it can be overwhelming, but we kinda knew where we put it. It took awhile, but Judy found it.
Here is a picture of the sign when we put it up 3 years ago:
Here is a picture of the sign now - not bad for 3 years later:
And here is the updated version:
Notice that we didn't have the year(s) listed before.
It is now Sunday, 5/25, and we are in Whitehorse, YT. Got here on Thursday and will be leaving tomorrow.
We really enjoy this town alot. It is the capital of the Yukon Territory and has a population of about 28,000, 2/3rds of the total population of YT. During the construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942, the population swelled from 500 to 8,000. With building space at a premium, on entrepreneur began building small two and three story log cabins, or "log skyscrapers." Still being used today.
Just up the street is an old log cabin church - a museum today.
We went to church here today. A small Lutheran church. We visited this church twice back in 2011 and they had no pastor so the congregation took turns doing the serice. Both times we visited in 2011, the same family did the service. Mom played the piano and organ, daughter played the violin, and son (about six then) helped with communion, and Dad did the service.
They now have a pastor who has been there about two years. But the same family as before did the music - this time the daughter played the piano and organ and the son played the violin while Dad played his guitar. Mom got to sit in the pew and enjoy the service.
After the service we had coffee and talked with some of the folks there.
It is such a beautiful day that we drove up to Mt. Simi, a popular sking and sledding (and rock climbing in the summer) area.
Still some snow, as you can see (temp this AM was again about 32 degrees and now is about 57. So not too summery yet!!
Final view of the mountains in the background:
We leave here tomorrow and will continue up the highway to Destruction Bay, where the road gets bad for about 100 miles or so due to the frost heaves from the permafrost. It is mostly tar surface, but it will not be smooth. Last time we drove it, we averaged about 40 miles per hour so not too bad.
We will be in AK on Tuesday or Wednesday and then to Kenai by 6/2 to start our school security thing.
Will update again later...
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