7,500 miles on the odometer later, we finally made it to Alaska tonight. The scenery in Northern British Columbia and Yukon was captivating, and we met many interesting people and have experienced the northern hospitality. It’s a topic for another post. Meanwhile, here are some pictures.
The Alaska Highway was constructed by the US Army as a supply route to Alaska via Canada following the Pearl Harbor attack. It begins in Dawson Creek in British Columbia and ends in Delta Junction, Alaska. Worried about the news leaking to the Japanese, the over 10,000 men shipped out to the north for this mammoth construction did not know that they were heading that way. One of these men, Carl Lindley of Danville, Illinois, was homesick and erected a sign in Watson Lake, Yukon, pointing the way and stating …
We left Smithers, British Columbia (town of 5000) this afternoon and arrived in Stewart (town of 599) tonight. Look up Stewart, British Columbia in Google map. You will have to blow up the map pretty large in order to see it. You will have to blow it up even more to see the road that took us here. The scenery along the way was unbelievable. We saw three black bears on the roadside, hundreds of sockeye salmon spawning in this little creek, and a glacier right in front of us …
Earlier in the day yesterday we kept seeing helicopters dunking large metal containers into rivers for water. We knew there were forest fires somewhere. Apparently we were driving towards the direction of the fire, as the sky kept getting darker and darker and darker, with an orange glow in the horizon. We stopped by this organic farm for a sandwich and the guy who worked there looked at the sky and said, “I don’t like it”. It was so eerie to the point of being scary. Check out the picture.
It was nice to spend a week with my parents and sister in beautiful Vancouver. Angela’s parents, who came with us from San Francisco, had left last Saturday with their belly full. The food here, especially Chinese and Japanese food, is incredible. Angela and I are well fed, and are ready to get on the road again. Yesterday we purchased a few more items that we needed: - A compass. Its packaging reads “replacing luck” - Another pair of binoculars so we don’t have to fight for the only one that …
The idea was conceived in bits and pieces between Henry, Vincent (my brother), and I during our Whistler Ski Trip in January. It did not gain momentum until our greater travels took shape in mid-May. The idea was for Henry, Joey, and I to travel westward to the Bay Area, pick up my parents and Vincent, and then leisurely head up along the scenic Oregon Coast. We would see the redwoods and the Oregon coast, visit my uncle and cousins in Seattle, and then head northward to Vancouver for many …