Almost to Mile Zero

Tonight we are at the mile 80 rest area on the Alaska Highway. The highway was curvy with a number of steep grades some of which we had to climb in first gear. But we got an early start and might have made it to Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway at Dawson Creek but we had more construction stops than we have seen before. We followed pilot cars 5 or 6 times, some after long waits. It makes for slow traveling and a long day.

We drove through the Rocky Mountain section of the highway. We had many great views of the mountains and saw more variety of wildlife than we had seen on any day except when we took the tour bus at Denali.

The wildlife that we saw included buffalo, elk, caribou, and stone sheep.
These stone sheep were really cool, they walked in front of the bus as we pulled over, then they ran down the side of the road, almost disappearing in all the rocks.
these two were on the other side of the road and the one seem to be saying talk to the butt!!
this is a lone caribou

Hot Springs Tonight

We had an easy drive today from Watson Lake to Laird Hot Springs Provincial Park. We had heard a lot about the hot springs here as being a don't miss along the Alaska Highway. We got here about noon and it seemed too soon to stay but we weren't sure we would feel like driving after a good soak in the hot springs, so we took a spot for the night. It was $19 for a no hookup spot for the night which seems high, but it includes free use of the hot spa which is ordinarily $5/person, so in a sense we are only paying $9 for the campsite. In any case, the campsites are large and wooded, a pleasant setting, and easy to maneuver in our bus. We enjoyed the hot springs in the afternoon so much we returned again in the evening.

Looks like Dennis needs to get back in the sun and improve his tan.


The drive over was easy. The highlight was a close look at this buffalo walking along the road.


this is a really big guy.

Watson Lake

Today we drove from Whitehorse to Watson Lake most of which involved the only portion of the Alaska highway that we had already driven. We hit an area of thick smoke around Teslin but it cleared up to the point that there is no smoke in Watson Lake. We are parked at the Downtown RV Park in Watson Lake which seems to be a good choice for an overnight stop. We are next to the nice First Wye Lake City Park.

first wye lake city park

We made a couple of stops at the Teslin Tlingit Heritage Center and the George Johnston Museum. The George Johnston Museum had the best coffee that we have had for a while. We drove the Old Alaska Highway for a mile or 2 at Teslin then got back on and went over this bridge which is the longest one on the Alaska Highway.
The longest bridge in the Yukon

side view of the bridge, there is a lot of smoke, visibility was very poor.

We had really good coffee here and the young girl who worked there was very informative about the area

One of several totem poles



More totem poles



After getting parked at the RV park we looked around Watson Lake a little and went to the Northern Lights Center where we saw a video and light display focused on the aurora borealis and a somewhat disconnected but interesting video on astronaut training.

We went to the only fast food place in town and were pleased to see that they had pizza listed on the menu as we have not had one for a while. As soon as we mentioned pizza the proprietor/cook said "no pizza." We said "but it's on the menu". She said that she was too busy and essentially threated that she would burn it if she made it. So we decided to order something else from their limited menu (since its the only place in town).

Whitehorse, Yukon

Fortunately the smoke eased up by the time we got to Whitehorse making is easier to enjoy our visit. We are staying at Pioneer RV Park near Whitehorse. This is a nice park with large full hookup sites and good wifi and cable tv included in the price. They also have amenities like discount fuel, car wash and pet wash, all of which we have had occasion to use. They even have an oil change facility and mechanic at the park. Dennis was happy about this as we are due for an oil change, grease and general servicing which he was going to himself at his parents house when we get back to Washington. He talked with the shop where they are quite familiar with MCI buses as the park owner also has a tour bus service. And their prices were good so we had them do the needed maintenance and also do an inspections for any other potential problems. The bad news is that they did identify a couple of items that will need attention but not urgently, so we will get them taken care of later.

We visited the Copperbelt Railway and Mining Museum including a train ride. We visited some of the interesting parks and saw the world's largest fish ladder.


this is some old copper mining equipment used to work the mine below.

We also stopped by the see the SS KLONDIKE
and also visited the old log church in downtown Whitehorse:


Dennis spent a couple of fascinating hours going through the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Center today. We could easily have spent more time in Whitehorse but we need to move on tomorrow.

Back to Yukon

We left Fairbanks yesterday after refueling and started the long drive back to the lower 48. We wanted to get to Tok before the Post Office closed as we had mail including a replacement GPS waiting for us there. We were in smoky conditions until shortly before we reached Delta Junction. We had hoped that we might see some buffalo in that area but apparently the prime viewing area was not on our route. We did stop at the Delta Information Center and saw the end of the Alaska Highway signposts. Now we just have to get to the beginning as we drove only a couple short sections of the Alaska Highway on the way up.

We arrived at Tok in mid afternoon to find that our mail including the new GPS unit was in fact there. We decided to go on.

We entered Canada at BeaverCreek without difficulty and only a short wait for 5 or 6 vehicles ahead of us. Around that time we started to see smoke again. We drove on looking for a place to stop and nothing met our needs. We were surprised to find that most businesses along this route seemed to have been closed. We were looking for a good pullout along the road to stop for the night but found nothing suitable. We ended up stopping at the Lake Creek Yukon Government Campground. It was a nice quiet campground in the woods along the creek. We did not notice the smoke when we were stopped but the mosquitoes were everywhere.

We continued on this morning having decided that we would probably stop at Haines Junction. We had reluctantly decided not to make the 300 mile trip down to Haines and back even though we understand that it is a nice drive and an interesting town. The smoke was getting worse and we had decided that we would prefer to keep going than to stop in so much smoke. We did stop at the visitor center in Haines Junction and talked to a couple of people who told us that the smoke was worse going on to Whitehorse so that didn't make sense. So we turned about and drove about a half mile back to the Klaune RV Kampground in Haines Junction. This afternoon the smoke had eased a little and we looked around Haines Junction and drove about 30 miles down the highway toward Haines and stopped at Kathleen Lake in Klaune National Park and also walked part of the Rock Glacier Trail.

This is a statue that is located at the intersection of the Alaska hwy and Haines junction.

Transfer station

This morning we prepared to leave Fairbanks, Dennis was going to fuel up the bus and I was to meet him at the gas station after I took the trash to the transfer station.

Let me explain the TRANSFER STATION, most places would call this a landfill, but not here. This is one of the most happening places around these parts.

I think that a lot of Fairbanks homes have been furnished from here. The only thing I can say it that you must see it to believe it.

This place is dumpster diving heaven.

Chena Hot Springs

Today we drove to Chena Hot Springs. Dennis' Aunt Pat went with us. Chena Hot Springs is a resort about 60 miles northeast of Fairbanks. The ride was scenic but a bit slow because of some areas of construction.

A major attraction of Chena Hot Springs is the Aurora Ice Museum. This is a unique frozen building with everything inside made of ice. There is a Polar Bear, Igloo, Bar area, and a duplicate of a prize winning ice statue of jousters. There are 2 bedrooms that can be rented for the night but apparently no one has yet made it through the night on the beds of ice. You can order a cocktail at the bar in a glass of ice. We passed as the drinks were expensive and hold the ice glass and drinking in the freezing museum did not seem appealing.

This is the area where the ice is made for the ice building.






Beautiful ice pieces here

dennis crawling out of the igloo.

love these colors were just beautiful
how would you like to park your bare butt on this ice toliet.

We really love this polar bear bed, but dont think we could spend the nite sleeping on it.

We also went on a tour of the operation of the geothermal aspects of the facility. All buildings are heated directly with the hot springs water. In addition in recent years the facility has developed the capacity to generate it own electricity by turning turbine generators with the hot water. This was apparently a challange because the water is only 165 degrees which is not as hot as that of some other similar facilities. In addition, they have a greenhouse which is also heated and powered by the hot springs.
These were really huge hanging tomatoes.

This large planter caught our eyes, very well done.

We also visited a farmers market and flea market near the university and had a great dinner at the Chena Pump House in Fairbanks


this is a dead tree that has been carved out. the tree in sitting on the dinning deck at the pump house.

more of ther carved tree

these veggies were outside the front of the pump house.






You can see how large the cabbage is by looking at the take out box.



After dinner we went over to the large animal research farm to check out the must ox



What a way to end a great day.
.