So Close!
Tensions are running high in the Schultz Family. After 3 weeks of never being more then 20 feet apart we have finally come to the point of being sick of each other. Well, maybe not sick of each other, but definitely needing a few more feet of space. Oh, and what doesn’t help is 90 degree weather with no air conditioning. Silly Canadians. You can basically consider it the kiss of death when you see a box fan in your hotel room.
On a lighter note, Wes and I have developed silly accents over the course of the week! More from joking around about it then from hearing it spoken. The accents have gotten thicker the farther north we’ve gotten, for sure.
So let’s catch up. We left off in Vancouver. From there we headed north and east. I know, in the wrong direction, but Canadians have made a valient effort to preserve their beautiful country, so there aren’t many roads at all. We took the Sea to Sky highway and it was awesome! A word of advice, though: if you visit Vancouver, stay in Vancouver. Don’t stay in a suburb because you’ll spend most of your time in traffic. Our drive from Surrey to the start of this highway took an hour and a half. And we only went 39 miles!
We stopped in Whistler for lunch and walked around Olympic Village for a bit. That was beautiful! I can only imagine what it looks like when the mountains are covered in snow. After that, we all fell asleep (except Wes) and I forgot to tell Wes what the next city/town/village was so we took a wrong turn. Actually, we went straight instead of turning. Not Wes’s fault. The roads are not labeled like they are in the good old U.S. of A. After I woke up and looked at the map we realized we had gone 25 miles in the wrong direction! Nothing like an hour detour on an already long drive! Also of note, I ate some gluten on accident and morphed into psycho mom for the rest of the day. Also not helpful.
Needless to say, we finally made it to Prince George at 10:30 pm (we left at 0800) and stayed in the totally rockin’ Travelodge. Good pillows, weird smell, lame breakfast. The end.
The next day we drove to Fort Nelson, BC. This day was meant to be just as long as the previous, but it went so much smoother. There weren’t as many mountainous curves and everyone was just in a better mood. Not much happened aside from seeing a brown bear and a few black bears. Wes drooled over some streams, sighed about not fishing in them. Super 8 Fort Nelson was just about as awesome as the Travelodge.
Next came Watson Lake, our first stop in Yukon Territory and the start of an absurd lack of air conditioning. Watson Lake is a tiny little town. We started the tradition of walking to our dinner every evening since we are in the car for so long. Ben gets mysterious leg cramps everytime we set out on foot, though.
We stopped and saw The Sign-post Forest. It’s basically what it sounds like: a forest made up of sign-posts from all over the world. One guy started it a long time ago and since then, people have come from far and wide to post a sign or license plate. We saw a few from Nebraska, a lot from Florida, even some from Germany. It was pretty cool.
After a short 6 hour day, we arrived in Whitehorse Yukon Territory. This city has 22,000 people. We walked to the Yukon River from our hotel and spent a good hour throwing rocks into it. I even skipped a few! I’ve never been able to do that before! We all got some much needed sun and excercise.
We went to dinner at Klondike Salmon and Rib BBQ. It was way too expensive and not really that great. I’ve made better salmon then that!
I’ll post a bunch of pictures later. It’s too hot to sit here at the hot computer any longer.
Tomorrow: Alaska! Two more days until we are there and can start looking for a place to call home!
These Ordinary Graces 