It is so nice to not be cramped into the teeny tiny quarters on the ferry and we really enjoyed our huge hotel room our first night in Haines, Alaska. Nate went to the front of the hotel and asked where the best place to eat in town was. The answer "The Lighthouse". We quickly learned that is just about the only restaurant in town as well. We all went there to eat and it cost us an arm and a leg. Between us we got 3 hamburgers with fries, a shrimp quesadilla with fries, and 2 pizza's and 6 drinks. It only cost us 80.00 without a tip. I couldn't believe it. Nate decided that we needed to get on the road early so we could have as much sunlight as we could. We left Haines at 7:30 in the morning. We stopped at the gas station for breakfast (I know but in all reality that was all there was to eat). We headed on our way.
We drove through a bald eagle preservation and as we were doing it Nate said "All I want to see in Alaska is a moose, a bear, and a bald eagle. Look there is a bald eagle." I just laughed at him because he thought he saw a whale (before he did actually see a whale) but the whale turned out to be a rock. But sure enough I looked up and saw an Eagle. Then another and another. They were spread out and sporadic but we saw a few. Then we drove another 2 miles and we saw them all over the place. One tree had at least 10 of them in it.
We stopped to get a good picture of one (with my good camera) and got out of the car and the eagle flew away right over our heads. Soon we saw so many we stopped counting. In all we saw over 100 eagles in a 4 mile drive.
We drove for another hour or so and we were at the Canadian border. We had to go through customs which I thought was super lax. We showed them our passports and the dogs records and they let us go. 
We had heard that the roads on the Canada side were snowy but really well kept up. We were told lies. The roads were horrible. We went at a snail pace. We stopped at lunch time to get gas and lunch and while at the gas station we ran into a lady that was headed to our final destination which was Tok and she asked us if we wanted to kinda stay together so if something happened to one of us the other would be close by. Of course that sounded like a great idea. We all went to the same restaurant and then headed out. I had some great food at the restaurant but once again I paid a lot of money for such a small amount of food. But the Bacon and Potato soup and Veggie Sandwich was just what I needed.
We paid for our gas in liters. Gas was $1.17 a liter in other words over 4 bucks a gallon of gas.
This was part of our drive. The mountains are HUGE! I grew up in Utah so I am used to some mountains but, the mountains in Utah just seem small compared to the mountains we saw in Canada.
After some very slow going we finally made it back to the states. I must say that going back into the United States was just as easy as going into Canada. Of course we are American citizens so they probably didn't check us out so much. Even after we made it back to the states we had to drive 2 more hours to Tok for the night. 
After 11 hours, yes I said 11 hours we made it to Tok. We heard that Fast Eddy's was the place to eat in Tok. Which was awfully convenient because that was in the parking lot of our hotel for the night. It was great to streach our legs and walk around for a bit. But, once again we wanted to have as much sunlight as we could so we started our trip early, early in the morning. We also didn't have anywhere to stop for breakfast so we had gas station food again for breakfast. yum. As the sun came up we were greeted with some beautiful scenery staring back at us. The days on the road were kinda gloomy so the pictures reflect that and of course the beauty of it is lost in a photo.
I frequently read to Nate as he drives and while I was reading early in the morning to him and he was driving on snowy roads he yells "Holy Crap" and slams on his breaks. I thought for a moment that another car was spinning out in front of us or something and I may of missed a beat or two of my heart. Come to find out Nate had just saw a herd of Caribou on the side of the road and was super excited. By the time we turned back to see them they had ran off.
I did pull out my good camera to take may pictures although I haven't pulled them off of that camera so you get my small one and may of the pictures were taken through the window of the car so they aren't the best. But this picture below is a picture of a glacier.
The beauty of Alaska has already amazed me. Some of the time we couldn't see the tops of the mountains because they were up in the clouds. It was so beautiful and I am thrilled to know that I am going to have a white Christmas this year.
We stopped to get a good picture of one (with my good camera) and got out of the car and the eagle flew away right over our heads. Soon we saw so many we stopped counting. In all we saw over 100 eagles in a 4 mile drive.
We drove for another hour or so and we were at the Canadian border. We had to go through customs which I thought was super lax. We showed them our passports and the dogs records and they let us go. 
We had heard that the roads on the Canada side were snowy but really well kept up. We were told lies. The roads were horrible. We went at a snail pace. We stopped at lunch time to get gas and lunch and while at the gas station we ran into a lady that was headed to our final destination which was Tok and she asked us if we wanted to kinda stay together so if something happened to one of us the other would be close by. Of course that sounded like a great idea. We all went to the same restaurant and then headed out. I had some great food at the restaurant but once again I paid a lot of money for such a small amount of food. But the Bacon and Potato soup and Veggie Sandwich was just what I needed.
We paid for our gas in liters. Gas was $1.17 a liter in other words over 4 bucks a gallon of gas.
This was part of our drive. The mountains are HUGE! I grew up in Utah so I am used to some mountains but, the mountains in Utah just seem small compared to the mountains we saw in Canada.
After some very slow going we finally made it back to the states. I must say that going back into the United States was just as easy as going into Canada. Of course we are American citizens so they probably didn't check us out so much. Even after we made it back to the states we had to drive 2 more hours to Tok for the night. 
After 11 hours, yes I said 11 hours we made it to Tok. We heard that Fast Eddy's was the place to eat in Tok. Which was awfully convenient because that was in the parking lot of our hotel for the night. It was great to streach our legs and walk around for a bit. But, once again we wanted to have as much sunlight as we could so we started our trip early, early in the morning. We also didn't have anywhere to stop for breakfast so we had gas station food again for breakfast. yum. As the sun came up we were greeted with some beautiful scenery staring back at us. The days on the road were kinda gloomy so the pictures reflect that and of course the beauty of it is lost in a photo.
I frequently read to Nate as he drives and while I was reading early in the morning to him and he was driving on snowy roads he yells "Holy Crap" and slams on his breaks. I thought for a moment that another car was spinning out in front of us or something and I may of missed a beat or two of my heart. Come to find out Nate had just saw a herd of Caribou on the side of the road and was super excited. By the time we turned back to see them they had ran off.
I did pull out my good camera to take may pictures although I haven't pulled them off of that camera so you get my small one and may of the pictures were taken through the window of the car so they aren't the best. But this picture below is a picture of a glacier.
The beauty of Alaska has already amazed me. Some of the time we couldn't see the tops of the mountains because they were up in the clouds. It was so beautiful and I am thrilled to know that I am going to have a white Christmas this year.
We finally pulled into Anchorage around 2:30 that afternoon. In all that trip took us 7 and a half hours. I must say that 3 days on the ferry is not bad at all compared to all that time cramped into a minivan. At least on the ferry we weren't driving on yucky roads and we could get up and walk around whenever we wanted to.
After we arrived in Anchorage we checked into TLF and found out they didn't have space for our dog. We called 10 places before we found someone who would take her for us. Then we went to THE pizza place to eat in Anchorage called The Moose Tooth. And it was yum-my. Worth every penny. Then we went and saw JoLynn and Andrew just to say hi and see how things were going. We came back to our place here on base and crashed for the night.
I can't wait until life gets into a normal routine. This being without my stuff just sucks. But it shouldn't be too much longer.
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