Duhu Lake to Bear Lake/Crooked River Provincial Park, B.C. (Day 8)

We had a rough night at Duhu Lake. We woke up to a sick Lucas when it was still mostly dark out, and we still far enough North that being dark out meant it was in the wee hours of the morning.  When we woke up again for the day, all the blood have gone from Lucas' face and he did not feel any better.  He went outside and laid on a picnic table bench and threw up until there wasn't anything left, then fell promptly back to sleep.  We put him back in the van after we packed up camp and decided it would just be a day of driving.  After a few miles and  not enough coffee, Lucas' tummy was painful and he was very vocal about it.  We felt bad for the poor little guy and shamelessly turned on Monsters Inc., Avengers, and another half of Avengers in quick succession on the laptop.  With headphones of course.  Magically, the tummy bug disappeared over the course of the day ("Must've been the movies mom, see?  They make me better!"), as we pushed the fluids and Lucas was zoned out enough to pass for asleep.    

This was one of our very few stops this day.  The sun peeked out from behind the fog and we stretched out and threw the frisbee for a while.

We made it to Dawson Creek, the official beginning of the Alaska Highway, and took time to putz around town for a bit and see the sights

The Fam at mile 0

Even sicky got excited!

 Next we stopped in Chetwynd, where I went gaga over the chain saw sculptures!  Look at these things!  They are incredible!  Unfortunately the contest had been the weekend prior, we would have all loved to watch that!  Maybe next year!!!

We looked through The Milepost an stopped at a few campsites on the way, finally deciding to stay at Crooked Creek/Bear Lake for the evening.  This place was CLEAN!  And the showers were free and hot!! This was such a welcome after... um... let's not actually announce the number of days since the last shower at this spot, mmkay? :)

Lucas threw the frisbee around some more, and I did a few days worth of dishes since we had running water. 

Lucas was starting to get good the the camera!  The picture is almost level! ;)

We met a SUPER awesome lady named Marita (from Grand Prairie) while I was washing dishes, and she invited us to hang out.  Apparently we are too much of party animals though, because they went to bed by the time we were ready to walk over there and hang out.  (Hey, we hadn't been on any sort of schedule in... 1, 2, 3, 4... 11 days!!)  So we busted out the cameras and each tried to take pictures of the moon while we hung out around a very peaceful fire with delicious vodka cran's (with ICE in them) :)

Liard Hot Springs to Duhu Lake (Day 7)

Monday, June 11

We had a short swim for the boy in the morning before we took off for the day, then meandered down the Alaska Highway, and stopped for lots and lots of pictures :)
The first several are from Muncho Lake, which was my favorite lake we saw (and that's saying a lot since we went to Lake Morraine and Lake Louise on this trip too!)  The skies were blue and the water was turquoise... it could not have been more picturesque!

We let Lucas have a turn with the camera :)

 Hello Moose!

 Spectacular views off of the highway

This is where we parked for the night, at Duhu Lake.  The campground was closed, we think the presence of pine beetles may have been the culprit, as they had ravaged the area, though we were just guessing.  Lucas got sick in the middle of the night here.  I'll spare you the grosser details.

Tahkini Hot Springs to Liard Hot Springs (Day 6)

Sunday, June 10

We woke up the next morning at 9am, which had become our regular wake up time on the trip.  It was glorious, though not necessarily conducive to any sort of 'early start.'  We headed into Whitehorse, Yukon to see the sights:

 The MAN

 Sign Post Forest

 My sweet boy :)

 Bison!

 Rest Stop Race!

Rest Stop BBQ!

Once We past through the Yukon into B.C. the animals started coming out of the woodwork!

 

 We arrived in Liard Hot Springs in time to take an evening swim:

 

 



Cathedral Creek B&B to Takhini Hot Springs, Yukon (Day 5)

After another restful evening, we headed down the road to Tok, where we met a couple of nice sled dogs!

Then we hit the road for the border! 

The Canadian border crossing went great, and we were excited to see the Yukon!  We spent the entire day on the road and saw lots of cool things, but my favorite of this day was the Rock Shop just South of the border, where we met Dorothy and Jim and their dog Buddy.  Dorothy regaled us with tales of Grizzly Bears and Secret Service Agents; driving lessons and dogs; and I'm pretty certain I learned a lot about marriage in the half hour or so we spent with them!  She also made the world's best cowboy coffee--so stop in and say hello if you are ever passing through!

We continued South and ended up at Takhini Hot Springs for the night.  We got there too late to swim, and the mosquitoes were pretty terrible, so we swivelled the front passenger seat and hung out inside the van for a while before bed.