Blog Archives

Day 5: Boseman, MT – Rapid City, SD

Posted on May 13, 2013

Day 5 was our last long driving day, and we did have some late night driving since we spent a full day at Yellowstone National Park. From now on the daily mileage will be significantly less.

We started our Yellowstone adventure bright and early, when we entered the park through the north gate in Gardiner, MT. Before entering into our park adventure, just a quick advice: a day is nowhere near enough at Yellowstone. We could probably spend there the whole month and still find new trails to hike and sights to see.

Our first stop was Mammoth Hot Springs that is known for travertine terraces. The interactions of water and limestone create chalk-white travertine. These terraces make some awesome photo opportunities – together with steam coming from hot springs.
Along the way to Norris Geyser Basin we made quite a few stops for pictures, as well as observed wildlife from elks to grizzly bears.
The most famous hot spring in Yellowstone is the frequently erupting Old Faithful. However, we didn’t make it to the western part of the park, so Old Faithful will have to wait to our next visit. However, the Norris geysers were wonderful even if not erupting tens of feet of water every few minutes. Did you know that geysers are hot springs that have only narrow spaces in their “plumbing”? Because of the narrow channels, water can’t freely access the surface, and let the heat escape, the pressure creates geyser effect.

We also quickly checked out the Falls in Yellowstone’s Grand Canyon, saw the sulphur caldron, and mud volcanoes. I ended up to having hundreds of photographs, so it will take for a while to go them all through and edit. For now you will have to enjoy the quick snapshots that I took with the iPhone.

Hubby and I at the Yellowstone Gate

Steamy!

Geyser Basin

Hot springs

Wyoming.

We exited the park through the east gate and headed towards Cody, WY. Cody is, by the way, founded by the famous Buffalo Bill. Right before the exit gate we spotted bighorn sheep up on the mountain, and got very lucky with pictures. I have a bunch of head shots of the sheep, and look forward to sharing the pics with you in a few days. Other wildlife sights toady consisted of grizzly bears, 5 moose, over hundred deer, quite a few elks…. a great day, I would say!

Drive through Wyoming to South Dakota was gorgeous. Montana has been my favorite state for a very long time but now Wyoming may have the first place in my ranking. I would love to live there, and operate my horse ranch. One day.

But over and out from Rapid City, SD. Stay tuned for another update tomorrow!

[ 1 Reply ]

Day 4: Edmonton, AB – Boseman, MT

Posted on May 12, 2013

by Nina

Hello from Boseman, MT! We are glad to be in one of my favorite states!

Last night we got to Holiday Inn Edmonton Downtown, and readjusted our route. Instead of driving only to Great Falls, MT, we decided to push it a bit more and make it all the way to Boseman, MT. Tomorrow we will be heading to Yellowstone, so we wanted to maximize our time there.

Our drive through Alberta, from Edmonton all the way to the US border was gorgeous. We saw some beautiful countryside. Our lunch stop was in downtown Calgary - one of my favorite cities in Canada. Yes, I have flown to Calgary only to see Calgary Flames playing….. must be the hoc,eh chick and Finn in me. So anyways, we greatly enjoyed our lunch at Metropolitan Grill despite their ~~really~~ slow service.
And we made plans to return to Calgary, and combine the trip with some backpacking and mountain climbing in Jasper and Banff National Parks. Due to Jason’s training schedule we probably won’t be able to make it until next year but awesome adventures are always worth the wait!

I also did my first real shopping in Canada – got another running outfit from Running Room. Sine I will be doing some charity runs supporting cancer research and patients this summer, I figured a pink ribbon outfit would be appropriate, speaking of cancer, one of our dear friends is seriously ill due to cancer that has spread quite a bit….. so if you are so inclined, keeping her in your prayers would be highly appreciated. She and her whole family truly deserve it.

Throughout the whole trip, we have been extremely lucky with common ALCAN mishaps such as rock chips on the windshield, or flat tires. Knocking the wood, we haven’t had a single rock chip on the windshield yet, and no flat tires either. Our first “disturbance” came this afternoon in the form of severe wind gusts. The wind gusts south of Calgary were some serious winds. So serious that we had to utilize some duct tape to secure our truck’s bed cover. But once we were done with the gusts, everything was perfectly fine again. It was nothing serious, nothing that a few good jokes in addition to the duct tape couldn’t fix.

While we really enjoyed our time in Canada, and look forward to going back, it was awesome to return to the good ol’ US of A this afternoon. Jason, I and even our four-legged travel companion were happy to be back at home. Things feel right when you can drive 75 mph on the highway, don’t need to deal with the kilometers, and fuel is reasonable $3.20/gallon, not $1.30/liter. Tassu was so excited at the border that when I handed our papers over to the border officer, Tassu jumped from the backseat into Jason’s lap. Border officer got good laugh out of it, and she was apologizing for not having cookies for the pooch. Well, last time when we crossed the border to Alaska, Tassu got two cookies so I think we are even.

So shortly – glad to be on the US soil. Stay tuned for the Yellowstone update tomorrow!

Calgary downtown. Alberta, Canada.

Countryside south of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Alberta, Canada.

Hello, Montana! We love you!

[ 1 Reply ]

Day 3: Fort Nelson – Edmonton

Posted on May 11, 2013

by Nina

Hello from Edmonton, Alberta! Another 600 miles done, and over past three days we have been driving about 1,900 miles. Jason and I still talk to each other, in fact we are having a blast! Tassu keeps being an excellent travel dog. Although he is spoiled. Yes, he gets his own queen bed in hotels we are staying at, and gets all kinds of tasty treats more than he should. In other words so much that he hardly even checks his puppy chow anymore.

Today was another warm day here in Canada. Temperature was around mid-70′s, and we did hit 80 degrees for a while in the afternoon . Awesome! I absolutely love the warm weather. After Dawson Creek the snow was gone and trees were having (some) green on them. Photographically the day wasn’t awesome. I snapped a few pictures here and there but the Mother Nature didn’t quite cooperate, and the sky looked pretty dull most of the time so it wasn’t the best day for landscapes. And wildlife was hiding pretty good today too: we saw a few different kinds of birds, and a few moose, deer, and caribou – no big herds anything exciting like that.

We stopped for lunch at White Spot in Dawson Creek, filled up (again), and I did a quick Safeway run for a real treat of mine: Kinder eggs. The delicacy that we don’t have in the United States.

We made it to the starting point!

Some things are great in Canada

From Dawson Creek we continued on highway 43 towards Edmonton. Switching from British Columbia to Alberta meant also a time zone change. All of the sudden we lost an hour of driving time…. one of the things that I didn’t even realize until the truck’s GPS kindly was an hour ahed of my watch.

Sceneries between Dawson Creek and Edmonton were absolutely awesome for a country (and horse) girl like me. Oh boy, how much I have missed seeing flat land, fields, cattle ranches and horses! Driving through slightly rolling hills was almost like a fairytale. We did a few stops along the way: one of them at the town of Beaverlodge - a place to build dreams. The giant carved beaver made me to hit the breaks, and stop by.

We had dinner at Ernie O’s, just off the highway 43 in Fox Creek. Great place for a snack while on the road: portions are more than generous, and service better than awesome.

Beaverlodge, AB

But it’s over and out from Edmonton, AB! Tomorrow we will be back in the good ol’ USA, and Monday we are visiting Yellowstone. Our original route was to stay in Canada for a day or two longer, and drive through Saskatchewan province to Dakotas but thanks to some great tips from dear friends, we will be heading down to Montana, Wyoming, Iowa ….. among other states.

[ 1 Reply ]

Day 2: Whitehorse – Fort Nelson

Posted on May 10, 2013

by Nina

We made it to Fort Nelson, BC, at the end of the day. We drove only about 600 miles but stopped several times for some of the coolest photo opportunities, had lunch and dinner along the way, and even had a bit slow start since there are Tim Hortons and Starbucks in Whitehorse. Our breakfast was Tim Hortons breakfast sandwiches (their egg white sandwich is simple yet delicious), and I was in heaven with my mint tea from Starbucks.

I didn’t even remember how beautiful town Whitehorse is. So not a surprise it is now added to my travel bucket list: long weekend in Whitehorse will be in our future plans. Too bad that we couldn’t stay any longer this time.

The first half of the drive from Whitehorse to Watson Lake was rather uneventful, not a whole lot of wildlife but we did shoot a bunch of landscape pictures. Be patient – I won’t edit them until I am at home again. After two days we already have tens of gigabytes of raw images waiting for processing….. and after long days I really don’t have too much time to edit photos.

We had lunch at Kathy’s Kitchen in Watson Lake: buffalo burgers were tasty but overpriced. I don’t remember munching a $15 burger for quite some time. But nevertheless, the food was good. And obviously it tastes delicious when it is your only option – in addition to granola and NutriGrain bars that we have in the truck. Our dinner spot was a tiny restaurant favored by truckers, Toad River Lodge that proudly serves homemade cookings, and their bakery products are something to die for. And Toad River Lodge had wi-fi, what a great chance to check the email (and Facebook). While in Canada, I have avoided the data roaming since AT&T charges an arm and leg for a megabyte, and in any case we do have wireless in our hotels for checking stuff online.

Totem Pole in Whitehorse, YT.

Tassu is greatly enjoying his travels. He is eager to check out the new places but on the other hand, he loves to curl up on the back seat and take a nap (or a few) when we are driving. We are very, very lucky to have a dog like him – it makes traveling very easy. On our first hotel night he made himself comfortable as soon as we got into the room: I just went to the the bathroom for less than a minutes, and when came back, the dog was snoring, half of him under the blankets….

Tassu on his morning walk in Whitehorse, YT.

Almost like “Mater” from The Cars

Another vehicle out of commission

One of the neatest things in Watson Lake is the Sign Post Forest. Travelers from all corners of the world have left signs in this “forest”, and as of today there are over 40,000 signs in this Watson Lake attraction. The first sign was erected by a homesick US Army Soldier in 1942 when he was working on Alaskan highway.

Sign Post Forest. Watson Lake.

After Watson Lake we started to see tons of wildlife. First we saw one buffalo, then another, and one more, and so on…. until we found the larger herds near Coal River. We have hundreds of awesome buffalo pictures, as well as I will get a video online up here sooner than later.The total headcount of buffaloes was 98 adults, and 15 babies.

In addition to the buffaloes, we saw two black bears, two moose, three deer, nine caribou, and 10 mountain sheep. Today was like driving through a giant zoo. We had a great time, miles were flying by. The only negative part of the day was the poor bird who flew into the windshield, and unfortunately didn’t make it… and yes, I was driving when it happened.

But as always , enjoy the pictures. It’s time to get some beauty sleep here in Canada, and get ready for driving to Edmonton tomorrow!

Buffalo.

And more buffaloes.

Living it up!

Buffalo Babies

Black Bear

Beautiful British Columbia

Mountain Sheep.

[ 3 Replies ]

Day 1: Anchorage – Whitehorse

Posted on May 9, 2013

by Nina

Today was the day when we started our 5,000+ miles in the truck from Alaska to Virginia. It was a sunny morning in Eagle River when we packed few last things into the truck, hopped in, and started driving. We had 690 miles of highway in front of us, and those miles flew by.

What a gorgeous day it was for driving! We had a great time, stopped every few hours to stretch our legs and let Tassu to sniff around. That little dog is such a great traveling companion. He was happily napping or looking at sceneries from the backseat. And of course making sure he got his share if we happened to munch any snacks.

From Eagle River we headed toward Glennallen, and Tok. We made it to Tok at lunch time, so stop at Fast Eddy’s was in order. The lunch was delicious: sandwiches, salad, soup…. And then 90 miles later we crossed the border, and were in Canada. Border crossing was, as always, a piece of cake. Some basic questions about where we are coming from and where we are going to, and we were good to go. After the border our trip continued to Whitehorse via Haines Junction. The roads after the border are bumpy. Very bumpy. Although I think they were better now than four years ago. However, even the truck got airborne a couple of times ….

We also saw some wildlife along the way: moose (of course, they are everywhere, all the time), a few caribou (and I was too slow to take pictures, and would have had only caribou butts to show), lots of swans, different kinds of ducks and bald eagles. And geesh, mosquitoes! There were quite a few big and mean ones about 50 miles from Whitehorse but they didn’t stop us from checking out an old bridge, collapsed log cabin and a little cemetery in the middle of nowhere.

Since it is getting late night in Whitehorse, and we have another long day ahead tomorrow, I will leave you with some pictures from today.