{Road Trip} Day Six - Well, Hello ALASKA!

We left a cold and rainy Watson Lake, YT and grabbed a quick breakfast at Tim Horton's...

All of the locals were pretty much wearing parkas and hats and rain boots and looking at us crazy Americans like we were dense in our patriotic t-shirts and shorts with NO coats!

After breakfast, we hit the highway again.  One of the reasons I love road tripping so much is that you actually see the change in landscape as you move along.  These bright, purple flowers were a welcome addition along the road today...

A couple of favorite stops along today's route were beautiful Kluane Lake...

{getting a little delirious after all the driving & M was over the smiling}

and the area around Tachal Dhal, formerly called Sheep Mountain...

Much excitement ensued when we saw our first grizzly bear, a mom and her two cubs right on the side of the road...

 and, even MORE excitement for crossing into ALASKA!

It's a new state for all 5 of us!!!

 

The international border is marked with a wide clearing...

The girls attempted to leave their brother behind in Canada...

and we attempted to recreate the same picture we took in both Texas/Arkansas in 2012 and Delaware/Maryland in 2015...
 

before continuing on to the town of Tok to grab a late lunch at the renowned Fast Eddy's...

before leaving the, now familiar, Alaska Highway motoring on to Anchorage via the Glenn Highway...

The exciting news about this part of the trip...we saw our first moose, like in full, on the side of the road!!!

First of all, here's a little history about me, and the elusive moose...

I went all the way up to Maine in 2013 looking for a moose to cross the road, and clear up to the Northwest Angle of Minnesota in 2014 looking for moose, and all I ever saw were a whole bunch of "Watch Out for Moose" and "Moose Crossing" signs...

Today, we all FINALLY saw a for real, moose, and then again, and again, and again...4 moose!!!   I was a little excited...just a teensy bit, as verified by M's fairly accurate impression of me, here...

"We're in Alaska!  We saw a moose!  We're in Alaska!  We saw a moose!..."

(For the record, I did see the face of a moose peering over a bush our first day on the Alaska Highway, but it was kind of far away, and I was starting to think it was a figment of my imagination as no one else in my family saw it and we never saw anymore until today!)

Anywho, now I need to see a man moose...these were all girls, but I want to see a big moose with antlers...not leaving until I see one...ha!

The running count for Day THREE is:  4 MOOSE, 3 bears, 3 bunnies, 2 foxes, and 1 eagle...

More {Road Trip} 2017 Fun

Day One - A Presidential Start

Day Two - Getting Corny

Day Three - Oh, Canada! + Happy Birthday, Hubby

Day Four - Alaska Highway - Dawson Creek, BC to Muncho Lake, BC

Day Five - Alaska Highway - Muncho Lake, BC to Whitehorse, YT

Day Seven - Icebergs, Glaciers, and Fjords, Oh My!

Day Eight - All Around Anchorage + the Parks Highway to Fairbanks

Day Nine - Denali National Park & Preserve + Go UAF Nanooks!
Day Ten - Into the Arctic
Day Eleven - JUNEAU
Days Twelve & Thirteen - Driving for Days
Day Fourteen - Hello, Seattle!
Day Fifteen - A Couple of Capital Cities with Capitol Steps to Climb
Day Sixteen - Out and About in the Portland Area
Day Seventeen - Idaho
Day Eighteen - Utah, and a Goodbye
Day Nineteen - From the Mountains to the Plains
Day Twenty - Canvasing Kansas
Day Twenty-One - Good Bye, Kansas + Hello, Missouri!
Day Twenty-Two - Finishing Up Truman's Missouri
Day Twenty-Three - Kicking It Through Kentucky and HOME!

{Road Trip} Day Five - Alaska Highway - Muncho Lake, BC to Whitehorse, YT

We woke up to a beautiful, cold morning at Muncho Lake...
  

but warmed up quickly at our first stop of the day, Liard River Hot Springs...
 

where we relaxed a bit in the warm springs...

 

  
and as an added bonus, we didn't find out that just last week a bear had to be chased out of the hot springs pool (while visitors were in it) until we were getting ready to leave...  Oh. my. word.

After leaving the hot springs with everything we came with, all children and limbs accounted for, we continued on into Yukon (our 1st Canadian Territory!)...

{yes, we are definitely looking the part here, driving nearly 4000 miles in 5 days}

and over to Watson Lake, YT for a late lunch...

Wildlife wasn't as abundant today, but we did see a huge herd of bison...

The running count for Day TWO is:  51 bison, 4 bears, 1 bunny (like I said, not a big day for wildlife!)...

Stopped for the night at Mile 887 -> Whitehorse, Yukon...

We'll continue on to Anchorage, Alaska tomorrow...

More {Road Trip} 2017 Fun

Day One - A Presidential Start

Day Two - Getting Corny

Day Three - Oh, Canada! + Happy Birthday, Hubby

Day Four - Alaska Highway - Dawson Creek, BC to Muncho Lake, BC

Day Six - Well, Hello ALASKA!

Day Seven - Icebergs, Glaciers, and Fjords, Oh My!

Day Eight - All Around Anchorage + the Parks Highway to Fairbanks

Day Nine - Denali National Park & Preserve + Go UAF Nanooks!
Day Ten - Into the Arctic
Day Eleven - JUNEAU
Days Twelve & Thirteen - Driving for Days
Day Fourteen - Hello, Seattle!
Day Fifteen - A Couple of Capital Cities with Capitol Steps to Climb
Day Sixteen - Out and About in the Portland Area
Day Seventeen - Idaho
Day Eighteen - Utah, and a Goodbye
Day Nineteen - From the Mountains to the Plains
Day Twenty - Canvasing Kansas
Day Twenty-One - Good Bye, Kansas + Hello, Missouri!
Day Twenty-Two - Finishing Up Truman's Missouri
Day Twenty-Three - Kicking It Through Kentucky and HOME!

{Road Trip} Day Four - Alaska Highway - Dawson Creek, BC to Muncho Lake, BC

While today (much like the 3 days prior), was a long day of driving, once we hit the start of The World Famous Alaska Highway, things really picked up...

We left our hotel in Edmonton, Alberta early this morning, and with the help of a time zone change, made it to Dawson Creek, British Columbia (our 7th Canadian Province!) with plenty of time to explore a bit and grab a quick lunch.

We  started off at the Alaska Highway House, a small interactive museum that teaches about the construction of the highway...

 and grabbed a couple of pictures at the markers around town before setting off on the next part of our adventure...

Boy, were we in for a treat...  What a beautiful drive!

We saw huge mountains, gorgeous lakes, and a good bit of wildlife, too...

The running count for Day ONE is:  6 bears, 4 sheep, 3 deer, 1 moose, and 1 huge porcupine...

Our resident animal lover, M, was absolutely beside herself...

Stopped for the night at Mile 442 -> Muncho Lake, British Columbia...

We'll continue on to Whitehorse, Yukon tomorrow...

More {Road Trip} 2017 Fun

Day One - A Presidential Start

Day Two - Getting Corny

Day Three - Oh, Canada! + Happy Birthday, Hubby

Day Five - Alaska Highway - Muncho Lake, BC to Whitehorse, YT

Day Six - Well, Hello ALASKA!

Day Seven - Icebergs, Glaciers, and Fjords, Oh My!

Day Eight - All Around Anchorage + the Parks Highway to Fairbanks

Day Nine - Denali National Park & Preserve + Go UAF Nanooks!
Day Ten - Into the Arctic
Day Eleven - JUNEAU
Days Twelve & Thirteen - Driving for Days
Day Fourteen - Hello, Seattle!
Day Fifteen - A Couple of Capital Cities with Capitol Steps to Climb
Day Sixteen - Out and About in the Portland Area
Day Seventeen - Idaho
Day Eighteen - Utah, and a Goodbye
Day Nineteen - From the Mountains to the Plains
Day Twenty - Canvasing Kansas
Day Twenty-One - Good Bye, Kansas + Hello, Missouri!
Day Twenty-Two - Finishing Up Truman's Missouri
Day Twenty-Three - Kicking It Through Kentucky and HOME!

{Road Trip} Day Three - Oh, Canada! + Happy Birthday, Hubby

Happy 150th Birthday, Oh, Canada...and happy (not 150th) birthday to Hubby, too!

 
We hit the road fairly early and crossed into Canada right after lunch...

I'm telling you...  These kids have been the BEST trooooopers!

 We've already driven nearly as many miles as the entire route of our very first big family road trip out to Texas and back in 2012, and we haven't really even gotten started yet!

Today, we checked off two new provinces for all 5 of us...both Saskatchewan and Alberta, bringing us to a total of 6 Canadian Provinces visited as a family, but who's counting...  Oh, who am I kidding...that'd be me...(insert emoji of girl raising her hand here)...

Once we were a bit up the road outside of Regina, Saskatchewan, we ran across the most darling little ice cream shop...  Hubby had been promising the kids ice cream (for HIS birthday), and I'm so glad that we stopped when we did, as there was literally not much of anything else on the road in between Regina and Saskatoon, at all, much less any other cute little ice cream shops!

 {our very own twisted sisters}

On to the start of the famous Alaska Highway tomorrow!!!

More {Road Trip} 2017 Fun

Day One - A Presidential Start

Day Two - Getting Corny

Day Four - Alaska Highway - Dawson Creek, BC to Muncho Lake, BC

Day Five - Alaska Highway - Muncho Lake, BC to Whitehorse, YT

Day Six - Well, Hello ALASKA!

Day Seven - Icebergs, Glaciers, and Fjords, Oh My!

Day Eight - All Around Anchorage + the Parks Highway to Fairbanks

Day Nine - Denali National Park & Preserve + Go UAF Nanooks!
Day Ten - Into the Arctic
Day Eleven - JUNEAU
Days Twelve & Thirteen - Driving for Days
Day Fourteen - Hello, Seattle!
Day Fifteen - A Couple of Capital Cities with Capitol Steps to Climb
Day Sixteen - Out and About in the Portland Area
Day Seventeen - Idaho
Day Eighteen - Utah, and a Goodbye
Day Nineteen - From the Mountains to the Plains
Day Twenty - Canvasing Kansas
Day Twenty-One - Good Bye, Kansas + Hello, Missouri!
Day Twenty-Two - Finishing Up Truman's Missouri
Day Twenty-Three - Kicking It Through Kentucky and HOME!

{Road Trip} Day Two - Getting Corny

Today we made it from Des Moines, Iowa all the way up to Bismarck, North Dakota with a couple of short stops along the way...

First up, we stopped at the grave of Vice President Henry A. Wallace...

Henry A. Wallace served as the 33rd Vice President of the United States under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

He was born on a farm in rural Orient, Iowa, where the home still stands...

From there, we continued on past many, many of these...

and even passed one being moved (in several parts) along the highway, which the kids thought was super neat...seeing each part up close and realizing how huge they are!

In Omaha, Nebraska, we made a stop at the birthsite of President Gerald Ford.  Though the house is no longer standing, there is a lovely memorial garden in its place...

complete with an interpretive area narrated by President Ford...

We ate lunch at a local burger restaurant that was nearby...

before continuing on to Mitchell, South Dakota to visit the (World's Only) CORN PALACE...
 

So, my dear friend, S, made me promise we'd make a stop.  She couldn't believe that we neglected to pay homage last time we were in the area...

Now, the Corn Palace was something...  There was some construction going on, and I believe that they were in the process of stripping it to prepare for the new murals that go up annually...  I'd say that the best time to visit would be in late summer or early fall when the new corn is up and it's at the height of it's amazing corn glory, but the kids thought that it was the coolest thing everrr...

 

We enjoyed wandering around looking at the exhibits and especially at all of the photos showcasing the corn decoration themes used over the last 100+ years!

We even ventured out onto the front balcony for a great closeup view of the murals, plus a neat view of everything down below...

It's free to visit, but the gift shop will get you if you need (or don't really NEED) anything related to corn...and kitchen gadgets related to corn?  Who knew that there were so many???  My word...  To commemorate our visit, we came away with a fabulous ornament for our tree and a metal corn stalk for our yard come the fall...

From there, we pushed on through to Bismarck, North Dakota for the night...

On into Canada tomorrow...

More {Road Trip} 2017 Fun

Day One - A Presidential Start

Day Three - Oh, Canada! + Happy Birthday, Hubby

Day Four - Alaska Highway - Dawson Creek, BC to Muncho Lake, BC

Day Five - Alaska Highway - Muncho Lake, BC to Whitehorse, YT

Day Six - Well, Hello ALASKA!

Day Seven - Icebergs, Glaciers, and Fjords, Oh My!

Day Eight - All Around Anchorage + the Parks Highway to Fairbanks

Day Nine - Denali National Park & Preserve + Go UAF Nanooks!
Day Ten - Into the Arctic
Day Eleven - JUNEAU
Days Twelve & Thirteen - Driving for Days
Day Fourteen - Hello, Seattle!
Day Fifteen - A Couple of Capital Cities with Capitol Steps to Climb
Day Sixteen - Out and About in the Portland Area
Day Seventeen - Idaho
Day Eighteen - Utah, and a Goodbye
Day Nineteen - From the Mountains to the Plains
Day Twenty - Canvasing Kansas
Day Twenty-One - Good Bye, Kansas + Hello, Missouri!
Day Twenty-Two - Finishing Up Truman's Missouri
Day Twenty-Three - Kicking It Through Kentucky and HOME!