Settling in.....

Saturday, August 30, 2014.

We made it.  We're here.  I haven't had much of a chance to write about it because within a day of arriving school started!  Wow, were we shocked!  Greg and I quickly planned our days, went in the day before and moved the desks in our classrooms, and hit the ground running.  You can bet we will be in planning mode later on this weekend.

Boarding the plane...tight security huh?

Let me get you up to speed.  After arriving in Inuvik at the end of the Dempster Highway last Saturday, we were told there would be no flights to Tuk until Monday.  We were booked for the 6:00 p.m. flight on Monday, but when we showed up at the airport, our flight was cancelled because Tuk was fogged in.  We returned to the airport on Tuesday, and waited until 6:30 pm for the fog to clear.  Then we boarded a 9-seater tin can, and flew across the lakes and inlets up to Tuktoyaktuk, our new home for the next year.

On the plane heading over to Tuk from Inuvik.

Tuk is a typical northern community.  The buildings are all simple and sturdy, and there is no grass or frivolous decorations along the  roads or in the yards, and everything is dirt...dirt driveways, dirt roads, dirt yards.  It reminded me a lot of Northern Ontario.  This will all change once the snow comes and covers everything with a thick layer of white.  When it rains ( as it is doing today) large puddles form on the roads and in the yards, and the kids like stomping in them.  Ours are still watching them with horrified expressions on their faces, but I would bet that by June next year they'll be joining in without a thought.   There is a nursing station and there is a doctor in for 2 weeks at a time once a month.  We actually flew up with the doctor from Toronto who is here this time.  He is a Family Physician who likes the north and comes up to Tuk and the other communities often.  This time he brought his resident, who was new to the north and looking rather overwhelmed.  There are a few grocery stores in town, and they all have an extended part that sells houseware and clothing and outdoor gear.  It's sort of like a grocery store and hardware store wrapped into one with some clothing on the side.  (Side story: When Charlotte's new friends at school were admiring her t-shirt, one asked where she got it.  When Charlotte told her she got it at Walmart the girls' eyes got big and they asked her what it was like to shop in the store.  Their parents only order online!).

There is a taxi service in town as well as a community centre and youth centre, which are both very happening places.  The community centre hosts most of the adult sports and clubs and youth centre hosts all kinds of great sports, clubs and groups for the kids everyday after school and on the weekends.  It is adjacent to the arena, which is waiting for it to be cold enough for the ice to form.  This arena runs on real ice and is seasonal.  Too bad the hockey season can ONLY go from November until early June!!  There is also a municipal building which houses the local government, services such as the water/sewage commission, our local RCMP constabulary, and the Chief and Council, too.  There is also a government building for Territorial services, such as driver's licenses, health cards and that kind of thing.  Oh yeah, there is also an airport, as seen above. I can't forget that!

A view from down our street at 10:30 p.m.

Those are the buildings and services WE would use to define a community, but there is so much more to Tuk.   There are family smoke huts all along the south side of the village up and down a spit of land  that is protected from the ocean where families smoke the meat they hunt to preserve it.  Each family has their own traditional smoke hut, and are constantly smoking their meat so they can freeze it for later.  There is an ice house, which looks like a wooden outhouse above the ground. When you open the door, however, there is a giant hole, like  a well, with a ladder headed about 30 feet below the earth down into the permafrost.  It has been dug out and is a massive underground storage for families' food.  Again every family has their own spot for their food, but in order to reach it you have to wear a mining hat or have some sort of light for down there, and there is a big bucket on a winch that you take down with you so you can haul your food up and down there as you climb.  There is no electricity, so you have to make sure your flashlight is working.  There are also sod huts, which are the traditional houses built by the Inuit here during the spring and summer months. I haven't seen these yet, but I am eager to see one.  One of these huts was built to show to Queen Elizabeth when she visited Tuk in the late 60s.

We learned all this through the students in our collective classes over the last few days.  We asked them to show Greg the town, and take him out and show him the sights during the last 90 minutes of the day on Friday.  After a nod of approval from the principal, out they went! There were kids who hardly said a word in the classroom who opened right up when they pointed to the area beyond the village and said, "That is where I am going hunting for caribou this weekend!" or "The caribou I killed on the weekend is in our smoke hut right now!" A whole bunch of kids were very excited to be going out on the land for the long weekend with their families to go fishing and hunting, and living without electricity and living in a more traditional way.  They love that, and the challenge involved with it.

It is incredible to look around this land and realize that the cold does not stop them.  They live happy, productive and fulfilled lives by living WITH the land, and not AGAINST it.  I am really looking forward to learning more while I am here.  In the meantime, we have boxes all around us and need to spend some time unpacking.  I will post some pics of Tuk and the area, and I will also post some pics of our house once it's all unpacked and looking comfortable and cozy.  Judging by the wind and rain and fog today, the cozier the better!

We're Heeeee-eere!!!

Inuvik, NWT - Tuktoyaktuk, NWT 
200 km by plane in 25 minutes

Well, we did it!  We left Parry Sound, Ontario on August 12th and arrived in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories on August 26th.  We actually arrived in Inuvik on Saturday, but had to wait until Monday for a flight and then got fogged in until later today.  Whew!  We braved the hills, the prairies, the mountains, the changing of the temperatures, the Dempster Highway, and each other, and here we are.  Wow.

There is a sign at the airport that says "Welcome to Tuktoyaktuk", and we will go to it soon and take our picture beside it, but in the meantime, we are happily settling into our house, which is lovely. There are no paved roads here, and no grassed yards.  Just a lot of dirt and rocks, and, because it's been raining a lot lately, giant puddles the size of in-ground swimming pools! Most of the houses have siding on them, although a few are wood, similar to cabins at summer camp, which is the kind of place we stayed in when we lived in Summer Beaver in 2004-2005 when the boys were little.  The good news is ours does have siding.  The houses are built up on pilings so that when the ground heaves in the spring, the houses are not harmed.  They also have rather large decks on them too, as does ours.  Hmmmm....perhaps a bit of a challenge to keep clear in the winter?  We shall see. We have a good and sturdy set of stairs that lead to our deck.  One thing we forgot to bring with us and will need to buy is a couple of snow shovels.

When you enter our house, there is a rather large mud room, with room for hanging coats plus some big hooks.  I plan on putting some of our plastic shelving out there with bins for hats, mittens, and scarves, and for boots and shoes.  After you open the door, you walk into the eat-in kitchen which has laminate tiles in it.  The kitchen is much bigger than the one we had in London, which is nice, because I always felt like we were bursting out of it.  The house came with a large kitchen table and 6 chairs, so that's handy, especially while we're waiting for our stuff to arrive from London. The living room is a large rectangle, and it has a wood stove in the back corner of it.  There are two hallways leading off the living room, one toward the boys' room and the bathroom, and the other to Charlotte's room, our room, and a back, un-insulated storage room with a deep freezer. Charlotte loves her new room, and she is super excited to spread her stuff all over it, and make it her own.  The boys' are pleased with their room, too.  Greg's and my room will be lovely when we can put our own bedroom set in it.  For now, it's just empty and cold.

We turned up the heat, and started a fire tonight, but we are still cold.  It's probably around zero tonight, but tomorrow it is supposed to be as high as 16C. The thing I noticed as soon as we got off the plane, though, was the wind, which is always blowing in off the Arctic Ocean, which is not exactly warm.  For all of our friends and family in Southern Ontario who are currently under a heat advisory, we are all sleeping cuddled together in socks and sweatshirts over our pyjamas trying to get our house warm.  If the house doesn't warm up by the time Greg and I head to bed, we are going to pull everyone's mattresses to the floor and move them out in front of the wood fire and huddle together.  The house appears to be a bit warmer than it was a few hours ago when we arrived.

Greg got a brief tour of the town from Maureen Pokiak, our landlady, mother to the woman whose house we are renting, and who graciously picked us up from the airport.  She is also Chair of the Education Council here in town.  Anyway, she gave Greg a brief tour of the town and dropped him off at the nearest grocery store (there are two) and he walked home with a few groceries for supper tonight.  Typically, we had pizza, but up here it's got to be frozen pizza because there are no restaurants.  The kids were a bit disappointed when nobody banged down our door trying to meet the kids today, but by the time we arrived in town it was close to supper and it was getting cold.  I imagine there will be some kids around tomorrow.

Greg and I are going to be heading over to the school tomorrow.  I have pretty much decided that I am not interested in the Grade 7/8 position.  I think it would put too much strain on Greg's and my relationship as well as James.  I think James would be able to handle his father as his teacher just fine, but when you add me to the equation, it falls apart.  It IS a great opportunity, but I think for the benefit of my family, I will happily serve as supply teacher for the school.  I am, however, going to be filling in for the Grade 7/8 position until it is filled, hopefully soon.

In the meantime, the children will have the opportunity to enjoy the school, play out in the playground, meet friends, and get to know their community while Greg and I are preparing for the beginning of the school year.

So, here we are.  We finally made it.  A new chapter is about to begin......

Holding Pattern.....

Inuvik, Northwest Territories - +11C and Rainy

It was a cold and blustery day in Inuvik today.  It rained all day, and we thought of how people would be trying to navigate the Dempster Highway today and shivered with dread and fear.  We were so lucky!  We had St. Christopher and God and all our prayer army rooting for us! Anyway, it was a lovely day to stay inside and relax, which we all did quite well.

The kids watched TV, and found some fun shows that they had never seen before as well as some old favourites. They read, and they played on their screens. They went outside for a little while during a dry spell, but after 30 minutes it was pouring rain again and they came inside.  We sent Greg out to get food for lunch and dinner, and we cooked in the hotel again.

I am in price shock!  Already some things are noticeably more expensive and we haven't even jumped the plane to Tuk yet.  I just about had heart failure when I saw an 8-pack of Chef Boyardee Ravioli in a can for $27.99!!  At home, one of those would be about 1.99, so an 8-pack would be $16, so when you allow for shipping to get it up here...everybody has to make a profit. It makes me grateful for the flour, sugar, rice, pasta, dried fruit and veggies, potatoes, onions, pancake mix, peanut butter, jam, salad dressings, toiletry items, lunch items like nutrigrain bars and granola bars, toilet paper, paper towel, and loads of other things we have brought up and are sending across in the van on the barge.  A lot of the grocery store we were in sells Kirkland products, which are from Costco, so the owner of this store goes south to the nearest Costco and buys like crazy or has it all shipped up regularly.  A case of water was $24.99!!  At home we were picking up a case of 24 bottles of water for $1.99!  Like I was saying to some of you, the cost of an item is based on its weight.  Whatever is heavier will cost more to ship.  Also, whatever is most useful will also cost more, like milk, bread and eggs.  The milk you can get up here has changed a lot since we were last in the remote north.  This milk you buy on the shelf and is sealed in large juice box containers.  You can get the whole range of milk, from skim to whole, and it has a long shelf life.  This is the kind of milk I remember buying in Mexico for the boys when they were babies.  I think it's ultra-pasteurized or something like that.  Anyway, anything is better than powdered milk!! That stuff is disgusting!

I did some major re-organization today.  For traveling purposes in the van, as we picked up groceries we put them in these big duffle bags to keep them from spilling all over the van.  Well, now that we are about to fly to Tuk, I had to make sure that we have in two large duffle bags the following: a basic kitchen which includes a frying pan, a pot, a Dutch oven, a spatula, a wooden spoon, a can opener, 5 sets of cutlery, 5 plastic plates, bowls and cups, a mixing bowl, a cookie sheet, a 9x13 glass pyrex baking dish, and a 2-cup measuring cup, as well as some dish soap, tea towels and a cloth.  That should cover the kitchen.  I also had to make sure we had some towels, a shower curtain and rings and basic toiletries for the bathroom.  I also made sure we had 5 afghans and a pillow each as well as a set of pyjamas and a change of clothes, plus some laundry soap to bring.  Sometimes in the north you will be traveling with your allowable number of bags that are within the acceptable weight limit, and out of the blue you will have to reduce your limit that will fly with you at that moment and have the remainder of your bags come up on a later flight that day or even the next day in some cases, depending on what else is going up in the belly of that airplane that is considered freight.  This means that of the accepted 5 bags of no more than 50 lb each plus one personal item, we could be told that we need to bring less.  I have our most basic belongings in the two big duffle bags and the rest can come up whenever. At least I know we have clothes, pyjamas, can eat, and can bathe and sleep comfortably.  The rest will work itself out.  This is life in the north.  If I am told go ahead with what you have, then that is great!  But like Uncle Bill said about the van up the Demspter, "Prepare for the worst.".

There are apparently three flights daily to Tuk from Inuvik on weekdays: approx. 9am, 3pm, and 6 pm.  The 9 am one is booked, so we'll see what happens for the others. We have our belongings all ready to go, so we are in a holding pattern now until it's time to leave for the airport.  In the meantime, everyone is sleeping in.  The only thing left to do is wash the dirt off the van, fill it up with gas, load our groceries on it, and take it to the secure port parking lot for the barge to pick it up in a few days.  After that, we make our way to the airport and off to Tuk we go.....whenever.

The Dempster Highway.....

Day #13 - Eagle Plains, Yukon to Inuvik, Northwest Territories (360 km)

WE MADE IT!!  We survived the Dempster Highway and we did not puncture a tire, further crack our windshield, or harm a single hair on our heads.  We were ultra glad that we had our spare tires loaded on the roof, as well as loads of other 'just in case supplies'.  Uncle Bill was right. You never can be too careful, because as soon as you have it and are prepared for it to happen, it won't.  The weather was on our side as was the traffic, although there was definitely more vehicles today than yesterday.

The Wilson Children 

Greg and I hangin' out at the Arctic Circle
(for want of anything better to do....)

A few kilometres down the road from the hotel this morning we passed a major milestone in our journey - the official marker for the Arctic Circle, and like any good tourists, we stopped and took some photos.

A little while later, we passed by the sign to say that we had officially entered the Northwest Territories, but we were met by major resistance from the peanut gallery when we tried to get them out of the van to pose again.  "Seriously? Not again!!  We just got back in!".  Pick your battles right?  If I have this right, we have travelled through Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, the Yukon, Alaska, and the Northwest Territories in the last thirteen days. Whew!  By the way, while you are looking at this picture, here's a little trivia question for you. Which license plate in the world is the only one that is NOT rectangular? It's the Northwest Territories' plate!  It is, I kid you not, in the shape of a polar bear!  Greg has to renew his plates by November, so I'll take a pic of our van with its snazzy new plates on it then. Besides, it will give you a reason to keep reading my blog.

As we carried on down the Dempster, we continued to see more stunning views as we drove through mountain passes and narrow valleys. I was particularly charmed by the fireweed and beautiful 'autumn' colours of the scrub, which spread as far as the eye could see.  Autumn is my favourite time of year in Ontario, and I will certainly miss the leaves changing this year, but these colours and the sheer expanse of space they covered were pretty incredible too! The other thing that amazed me is that while you were looking at something closer, there were always those mountains in the background!  Incredible!

Where the heck did the road go?

Our van squished on to ferry #1.

 After a few hours of driving further down the Dempster Highway, out of the clear blue sky the road just disappeared!  One minute we were bombing along the road, and the next, there was a river in the way.  The ferry boat picked us up and took us 10 minutes across the Peel River, and then dropped us off on the other side.  We saw Fort McPherson, although we didn't turn in to actually see the town. We were getting quite anxious to get to Inuvik, so we continued on. After a while, we approached the second ferry which took us across the McKenzie River this time.

After a while, Greg and I began to get excited!  According to our Mileposts book, the kilometres were ticking down and we knew that eventually we'd turn a corner and see Inuvik.  The roads were in great shape, and we began to see cyclists from town out enjoying the day, and people on day excursions fishing and hiking.  Our excitement grew even higher!  Just when I thought I'd burst if I had to wait much longer (and that is both literally and figuratively on behalf of my bladder) we felt an odd bump and then......silence.  This was a silence we had not heard for 720 kilometres, and it was.....paved road!!! We cheered and yelled and laughed and carried on like crazy all the way into town.  I'm sure the people of Inuvik think the Wilsons are crazy (which we are, thus the blog) but we were just so overjoyed that we arrived safe and sound without a single mishap along the way. Thank God!!

Once we arrived in Inuvik and checked into our hotel, Greg immediately laid down for a well-deserved nap while I began the 'organization process' which shall be the subject of tomorrow's blog, and the kids went out exploring.  There is a baseball diamond right behind our hotel and there was a big game going on, which James couldn't resist.  He went down there and chatted it up with the locals, who, as we told him, would not be shy about approaching him and asking him who he was, where he was from, etc.  He came back in after about ninety minutes out there and chattered happily to me about what he had learned from them about Tuk and how nice they all were.  There are a few guys his age who have asked if he would befriend them on Facebook, which pleased James too, since he is new to Facebook.  (For any of you who would like to befriend him, go through mine and send him a friend request.)  Charlotte was out talking to girls her age, too, and they wound up chatting and comparing the music they like.  Charlotte was most relieved to know that the girls up here like Katie Perry too.

Our hotel has a full kitchen in it, so we went to the grocery store and after thirteen days on the road, we enjoyed our first home-cooked meal!  We told the kids they had better get used to life without restaurants because there were none in Tuk.  We all agreed that after the last few weeks, it would be a while before anyone missed having one!

Dempster Virgins No More!!

Day #11 – Whitehorse, YK – Eagle Plains, YK (with a side trip to Dawson, YK) over 800 km.!!

I am typing my blog today from Eagle Plains, Yukon, the halfway point between the beginning of the Dempster Highway and Inuvik, which is where the road (for the time being) ends. It is currently 10:38 pm and it is twilight. It was a long day of driving, but the end of the road is only about 350 kilometres away. Then we leave our van in in the paddock by the port, and on August 28^th, the van will be transported via barge up the McKenzie River to Tuk, which is a trip of about 24 hours. We can expect to pick up our van on the 29^th. Cool, huh? As for the Wilsons, we get to spend tomorrow night in Inuvik, and when there is room in a plane that will fit all five of us, we will be flown to Tuk, either Sunday or Monday.

The kids have been absolutely amazing on this trip. We have raised them to spend long periods of time on road trips, and they are used to it, but even a journey like this – after eleven days on the road they haven't batted an eyelid. We make sure they have a chance to stretch their legs and run around as best we can. Today they had a chance to run around in a beautiful green space right by the Klondike River in Dawson City, Yukon. They played for an hour while Greg and I walked around and read all the placards about the Gold Rush which were situated all up and down the river in a really nice park like setting. Charlotte had to use the bathroom, so we stopped at a campsite where there were outhouses and the kids ran around for a few minutes there, too. You really had to run there in order not to get bitten by the black flies and the mosquitoes!

There has only been one “I'm bored!” exclamation (can you guess who it was from?), which was quickly alleviated. Although they have been playing on their iPads a fair bit, they have also been reading like crazy too. Charlotte has read all of her Wayside Stories books and is looking for something else to read, Patrick is partway through Tom Sawyer, and James is mid-way through Harry Potter #4. Greg and I have been reading our Mileposts Book, which documents all the northern highway routes through the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Alaska km by km. It documents every rest stop, every creek/river you pass over, cautions you about particular animals which are known to be in certain areas, talks about camping, fishing, and the history of everything you see along the way. It is an amazing book. Our poor kids have not watched a single movie on our state of the art Video Entertainment System (as Chrysler so calls it) in the van because Greg didn't put the movies in the van when I asked him. Rather, he placed them elsewhere at his parents' house, and promptly forgot them. By the time we realized that they weren't in the van, it was too late to turn around. Oh well! We have also been listening to a lot of music, and can all agree on several albums and genres of music. Occasionally we accommodate a particular request, but most of the time the kids are just happy with something on in the background. (Bottom pic of Patrick...he had his own little den in the very back, and he loved it!)

Me on the marge of Lake Laberge....

We began our drive today with a 5 km stop off the highway to 

Lake Laberge,Yukon.

Some of you may know the poem, “The Cremation of Sam McGee” and this is the lake where it takes place. “There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.....” What a great poem! Now we have actually been on “the marge of Lake Laberge” and can add that to our list of cool stuff we have seen.

It must be a northern thing that you are not allowed to control the thermostat in your room. It was boiling hot in our hotel room again last night, uncomfortably so, and when we complained to the front desk they gave us a fan. The fan was cheap and didn't have much power to it, so nobody benefited. It was a long night for me, so that means that yet again, I was pretty sleepy this morning. At least everyone else slept well. I don't remember much after Sam McGee, and woke up as we were approaching Dawson City.

Dawson City is the center of the Gold Rush. It was neat to see Skagway, Alaska, which is where people disembarked from the steamships which brought them up the Pacific Ocean, and then they began to hike from Skagway up through a passage in the mountains,

Downtown Dawson City, YK

The Klondike River

camping along the way. After 3 to 5 days, they would reach the lake, where they had to build boats that would float them up the lakes, down the Yukon River, and into Whitehorse. At this point, they could board the paddle boats that would take them up the Klondike River to Dawson City. Now that we've been to Dawson, we have seen both ends of the Gold Rush, and it was incredible. Both cities are designed to look like they did during the Gold Rush, complete with the wooden boardwalks along the front of the stores, and the wooden facades on the buildings to make them look they did in 1898. Skagway looks slightly neater and more urban, while Dawson City looks pretty rustic.  Incidentally, our server at Sourdough Joe's Restaurant in Dawson City was from London, and the other server was from near Chatham.  Go figure!

Gulp. Breathe. Drive.

Good beginning.

Avoid potholes!

After having lunch and stretching our legs in Dawson City, we began our trip up the Dempster Highway. Greg and I exchanged a look, and then hit the road. All I can say is I have never been on a road like this in my life. Driving the mountains through northern British Columbia and to Alaska were pretty incredible, overwhelming at times, but this?! Driving through these mountain passes and down through the valleys was....well..... epic. Kids use this word as a trendy catch phrase, but I use it in the purest form of the word. It took us just about 5 hours to go the first 369 km of the  road, which had some parts where the potholes were pretty bad, but otherwise, they were in good condition. We passed very little traffic, and only one or two transport trucks. Mostly we passed or were passed by enormous half tonne pick up trucks with extended cabs and cargo areas. There were also the pick up trucks that carry the camper on them too, plus a few motorhomes. I definitely wouldn't want to be driving one of those up this road!

 The landscapes were simply amazing, unlike anything we have ever seen before. I think the adjective I would use to describe this kind of landscape would be 'edgy'. The minerals colour the rocks along the banks various shades of orange, red, yellow and green, and the rivers all had an urgent rush to them. The mountains were bizarre; tall hills of broken rock and shale and then out of nowhere there would be giant rocks protruding from the tops or out the sides. Some of the mountains were almost icy blue and others were covered in trees and scrub almost to the top. Every mountain was unique.

 There are various kinds of scrub type bushes all over in shades of yellow, orange and burgundy and the trees are mostly black spruce and poplar. We drove through parts where the trees were still tall burnt strips after a forest fire ripped through the area in 1991. I had no idea it took a forest this long to regenerate post-fire, or at least it does up here. There were lakes we passed that were so still you could see the reflection of the mountains in them with blue skies and fluffy white clouds tinged with grey. Just like the last few days, sometimes it would rain but only for a few minutes. There had definitely been rain earlier in the day, thus the puddle-filled potholes. Greg is an excellent driver, and navigated them incredibly well for a first time Dempster driver! (Please see my FB album called 'The Dempster Highway' for all our scenery pics)

Well, I have been working at this blog for a few hours now, with time off for picnicking and getting kids ready for bed. It is now 12:23 a.m. PDT and you can still see the last traces of twilight in the sky. Amazing. Onward to Inuvik tomorrow.

Playing Hookie

An Extra Day in Whitehorse, YK

When Greg woke up this morning he had a pinched nerve in his neck.  I was having gas pain and neither of us could even fathom the idea of driving to Dawson today.  Ugh.  We were grouchy as we checked out of our hotel and tired because it seems to be a hotel policy up there that all thermostats are controlled by the hotel, which means they run on high!  It was SO hot last night and even though we could open our window, it was still terrible.  We did our grocery shopping and other necessary shopping, and then, drudgingly, dragged ourselves to the van. After a moment or two sitting in the Canadian Tire parking lot, we decided we just couldn't face another day on the road and a little hooky was in order. (No, not nookie...remember this is a family blog....)

Steve's plane.

At first we wondered if our poor moods and disgruntled behaviour were due to the heat in the rooms, and then, as we drove by the airport in Whitehorse, we saw an enormous Government of Canada plane which we knew was unusual.  After double checking online we realized that Steve, our illustrious Prime Minister of Canada, was doing his annual courtesy journey to the North, and had spent the night in Whitehorse in order to tour the college this morning and announce some funding to a new program to create jobs in the north.  (That would explain the lack of availability of hotel rooms last night in Whitehorse!).  Later on in the day, we saw Steve's plane take off and head for parts east.  Apparently the Conservative Party was hosting a soiree for over 3,000 people from the area in an 'undisclosed location'.  People were supposed to meet at an old abandoned gas station and they would be shuttled to the soiree from there.  That sounds way too fishy to me!  Would you get all dressed up for a political fundraiser and then drive out to an old abandoned gas station to wait for some kind of transit to take you to God knows where?  I wouldn't do it even if it were another political party leader for whom I have more respect!  Enough ranting about politics for now.  Suffice to say we saw Steve's airplane.  It was cool.

Greg called around and made sure that we could change our rooms and adjusted our arrival time in Tuk from Friday to Saturday.  The woman who is in charge of booking flights for all new hires at the school doesn't book them until we arrive in Inuvik anyway.  It could be that we won't arrive in Inuvik until Monday but that would be okay, too.  We heard from our mover, and our 2,600 lbs will be delivered via chartered airplane next Thursday, so the fewer days we are there without our stuff the better.

Anyway, we spent the day playing hookie in a park by the Yukon river.  The kids ran around and played outside all day, Greg laid on the grass and slept and I worked on some long range Brownie plans for Charlotte and myself.  She is going to be a 2nd Year Brownie as a Lone, which is girl who doesn't have a unit of her own for meetings due to distance or health.  Since I am a qualified Guider with the Girl Guides of Canada, we have been given permission for me to be Char's leader and she my Brownie.  I was working out what she had left to work on based on her service record which I received from her previous Brown Owl and my dear friend Julie, and I have her on track to finish the program (and ALL the badges, which is her goal) by the end of April.  Let's see what we can accomplish!

We also had the chance to meet with Rebecca, the woman whose house we are renting while she is in Whitehorse going to school to be a teacher.  It was very neat to meet her, her kids and friend Millie and chat a while in the park, and she gave us lots of great advice about driving the Dempster Highway and its current conditions, as well as some other last minute information.  We are both every excited for each other - each beginning new chapters in our lives! Incidentally, her husband is working in construction on the permanent road that is going to link Inuvik to Tuk.

Now that our day of relaxation has come to an end, we are feeling much better.  We also did a little exploring and went to a cavern with a pedestrian bridge spanning the gap with walking trails

The Yukon River

Charlotte and Greg exploring

throughout.  The boys and I took the easy one and saw the Yukon river turning a corner and then rushing down and through the cavern.  The water was just a lovely shade of forest green...it looked so lovely and clean!  Greg and Charlotte crossed the bridge and headed out on the paths on the other side of the cavern and they did some exploring.  They had a great time and came back energized.  I enjoyed hanging with the boys and watching them throw rocks down into the cavern.
Downriver, there is a hydroelectric dam that is used to power a great deal of Whitehorse's electricity.  We saw the dam later, too.  It was neat seeing people out on the river waterskiing, boating and enjoying the day.  Locals have been telling us that this was the nicest day of the whole summer!  It most certainly was, too, for here we are above the 60th parallel in shorts and t-shirts, enjoying the greenery, the breeze, the sun and the clear blue skies.  We all got some sun and we all feel much better for it, too.

Hi James!

 It's going to be a l-o-n-g time before we are able to play hookie again, and so today was an extra special treat.  For those of you who are following our trip, we are headed to Dawson tomorrow, and hope to arrive in time for lunch, and then it's onto the Dempster Highway we go!  Tomorrow night we are staying in Eagle Plains, which is approximately the halfway point of the Dempster.  The population of Eagle Plains is 5, based on the family who own and operate the hotel.  Thanks to my Aunt Jean, we understand that there is a reputable restaurant there and so we will be able to look forward to a great meal in the middle of....well.......nowhere.  That's a relief!

There will probably be no internet for us tomorrow night either, or if there is, it may not be very good. This means that you can look for the next blog when we arrive in Inuvik.  So.....take a deep breath and pray for us!!  The drive up the Dempster Highway is one that Greg and I have been the most worried about, and when I type to you next we will have been up all 700 kms of it, for better or for worse!  We have been told to take it at 70 km/hr, avoid the potholes and slow down when we see a transport barreling down the road.  Even though they don't slow down, if we do that decreases the chances of a projectile doing more damage to our window.  I think a family rosary in St. Christopher's name will be in order tomorrow upon our entry!  Thanks to Elaine, Greg's great friend from the Sault, who loaned us her father's St. Christopher medal to keep us safe on our journey.

See you on the other side! xo xo xo xo xo

The most amazing detour EVER!!!

Day #9 - Muncho Lake, BC to Whitehorse, Yukon (with the most incredible detour in between!!!)
(700 km)

When we woke up this morning in the middle of the mountains, it was as though we had been swallowed by clouds.  Charlotte loved it! "If I open my mouth will the clouds taste like cotton candy, Mommy?" she asked. It was chilly and rainy and the clouds were hanging pretty low. I don't know if it was fog, because we were so high up in elevation that fog almost doesn't seem to make any sense.   Anyway, like yesterday, we drove in and out of rain all day, but it was worth it.

We began the morning with muffins and fruit in the van, and while we were munching away we came across this site:

 and this one.....

 and finally this one!

We counted over 50 bison in this herd, and there they were hanging out on both sides of the Alaska Highway, relaxing.  Some were even laying on the side of the road.  We stopped and took several photos, only a few of which are seen here, and there were a few other vehicles coming from the opposite direction who stopped too.  They acted as though we weren't even there!  It was definitely a great start to the morning!

Black Bear, Black Bear what do you see?
"I see 5 crazy Wilsons, that's what I see!"

As we descended and ascended the mountains yet again, today we noticed that there were some birch trees intermixed with the spruce and it made for a more textured appearance in the forestland surrounding the base of the mountains.  We were also quite surprised to see this adorable black bear eating along the side of the highway too. Patrick has been dying to see a bear, so he was very happy and thrilled when we told him, "Patrick, get your iPad. Here's your bear!".  Again, more happy snapping from the backseat and a huge smile on our Patrick's face.  Greg and I both agreed that if this isn't experiential learning, something in which we truly believe, then what is? Our kids have been exposed to more experiences in the last week and a bit than a lot of kids get to see and live in a lifetime.  I hope that one day they will look back on this time and appreciate it.

So, as we drove along, I got very sleepy.  There was no way to control the heat in our room last night and we all roasted.  We had a sliding door leading to the parking lot, but with all the active wildlife, I didn't want to risk leaving it open.  When I went to sleep, I had a nightmare about a bear getting into our room and attacking us, and when I woke up all hot and scared, I didn't dare open that patio door!  Suffice to say, it was a miserable night and none of us slept well. I slept on and off for a good part of the day, which upset me because I was missing 'stuff'.  Sometimes, your body just has to power down, and that's what happened to me today.  I did, however, see the Yukon marker.

On our way to Skegway, Alaska...a few kms from the border

OMG!!!!

The highlight of our day happened when we were about an hour outside of Whitehorse. When Greg approaches me with a map and a serious expression on his face, I know that we are in for an adventure, and this was truly the adventure of a lifetime! We decided to detour from the road into Whitehorse, and go into...wait for it.....Skagway, Alaska!! It was only two hours to Skagway from our turn off on the Alaska Highway, and who knows if we'll ever have the chance again when the weather is good? It took one second before we knew we had to go for it!   The mountains went from being rather tame and romantic to rugged and extreme almost straight away, and we just kept saying to each other, "Is this for real?  Are we really seeing this?  Is this actually happening?".  The tears I shed from the overwhelming beauty of the landscapes and the tingles up my spine from the lofty vistas we found ourselves kept me more than awake for this part of the day! (I will put together an album for those who are my friends on FB, and if you aren't my friend and would like to see them, send me a friend request.  If you are reading this and we aren't FB friends, we should be! Look for me..Jennifer Graham Wilson).

Yummy pizza in Skagway, Alaska

Downtown Skagway, Alaska....with a stunning view!

 We had dinner at the Red Onion Inn and Brothel House, which apparently has been in operation since the days of the Gold Rush, when all the men were arriving by boat at Skagway and then hiking via the Chilkoot Trail up to the Yukon in 1849.  The Red Onion restaurant is still in operation, as is the bar, but the brothel part upstairs in the original building is now a museum which you can tour if you you are of age. The servers were all young girls dressed in brilliant green sleeveless satin petticoats with black corsets tied over them, and garters up their legs. The tours sounded enticing and funny but this is a family blog, so.... moving along.  We toured the town of Skagway, which is set up like an old mining town in the Old West days, went down to the port where the Norwegian Pearl was anchored and took a look at the Pacific Ocean, knowing that in a few days the Arctic Ocean will be at our front door. Two oceans in a matter of days?  How cool is that?

We also met two of the nicest Border Guards you would ever want to meet, and geez, is it any wonder that they are happy? If I had to look out at their views every day, even in the wintertime, I'd be happy too!  On the way into Alaska, the U.S. Border Guard was fascinated to hear our story of how we lived in London, Ontario but are en route to our new home in the NWT.  She was amazed that we pulled up stakes and our driving ourselves across our country to see the sights and experience what Canada has to offer.  She also laughed when we told her that we were so close to Alaska, we couldn't pass up the chance to pop in and see what it was all about.  Coming home, the Canadian Border Guard was telling us what it was like to be a Border Guard at that particular crossing, and how they all live in a lodge right behind the border crossing (which we saw) and how they all live together and work together.  They drive 90 minutes into Whitehorse to get their groceries and do their errands. This guy was also interested in our story and asked the kids a bunch of questions too, and they were happy to talk to him.  I know that he was checking out our story, but the more we told him the more fascinated he became.  He only said good-bye to us when he saw a car coming up behind us, and by then we had been chatting with him for about 10 minutes.  It was pretty cool!  How often are you detained at a border crossing because you're chatting it up with the authorities?


Another interesting thing that happened today while we were flying under the radar of no cellular phone service (which was oddly freeing) was that we found an email and phone message from the secretary of the school in Tuk asking me if I would take the other Grade 7/8 class at the school.  The teacher who was coming to teach it resigned because his wife was having trouble getting a visa.  So, I have been asked to supply teach right from the beginning of the year and to apply for the job as well.  Greg and I would be the two Grade 7/8 teachers.  We could team teach, or we could do some things together and some lessons, subjects, etc. apart.  We are discussing the idea of that, and whether or not it would be a good idea, considering that we are married.  It could be too much for us, or it could be amazing.  We have decided that I will apply for the job, and that by the time I have had my interview, we will know whether or not we think our marriage can handle it, and I can make the decision then.  I am drawn to little kids, but maybe this is an opportunity I should take to get the experience?  On the other hand, I know that I will be getting loads of experience supplying in the school, and that could be all different grades. Hmmmm...... it's definitely some more food for thought.

This brings us to the end of an other amazing, fascinating, and incredible day along our journey.  After all the blackness and negativity of the last few years, struggling to make ends meet while working on our education and trying to improve ourselves, and coming to terms with the fact that we needed to leave Ontario in order to get ourselves into the situation we both want our family to be in for the rest of our kids' childhood, adolescence, and beyond....into our retirement.  We are grateful for all of the blessings coming our way now, even the rock chips on the windshield of life.

The view!! The vistas!! The scenery!! Oh my!!

Day # 8 – Fort St. John, BC to Muncho Lake Provincial Park, BC  (620 kms)

Today's blog is not being posted until we reach Whitehorse because we are staying in a 'resort' in the middle of the mountains in Northern British Columbia.  You get 20 MB of WIFI for free and then you pay pay pay, which we are not doing.  

Our first (and hopefully last) encounter
with a rock on the windshield!

Today felt like a week unto itself with all the experiences we had, the good the bad and the incredible.  We got the first chip in our windshield today....a tiny little chip the size of a sandfly, which we laughed about.  It was a good thing we had purchased the clear nail polish that was recommended by to us to seal the cracks in the windshield to prevent them from spreading.  About half an hour later, I got the scare of a lifetime when a transport truck passed us in the mountains in a construction zone going well over the reduced speed limit, and a rock the size of my fist hit the windshield on my side in the lower right corner!  We pulled over and yanked out the nail polish....again.  Sigh.  After I stopped shaking, we put it behind us, but I don't like seeing the nasty smashed glass...not a very nice reminder of what was otherwise an amazing day.

 Words cannot describe the views of the Rocky Mountains we saw today.  There were rivers where the water was so clear it had a green tinge to it with a swift current.  We saw rolling hills filled with tall spruce trees, and jagged rocky cliffs.  We saw low lying clouds swallowing up the peaks of mountains that could go on forever, and then all of a sudden, we had driven so high those peaks didn't seem so high after all.  On the low side of things, we drove through valleys with roads right up against the shores of lakes on one side and against the mountain on the other side.

Everywhere we looked we were blown away by another view and another and another!! I went from smiling like a mad woman to crying with the beauty and wonder of it all!  The colours were another thing we couldn't get over.  All the shades of green in the trees, and the shades of blue for water and the skies, the browns and grey colours of the mountains. I wish we were all more 'outdoorsy', because the hiking, fishing, camping and sporting here would be incredible.

Sometimes it rained, and not just a light mist. There were localized downpours all day. and just when we'd start to think about pulling off the highway because the rain was so heavy, we would drive out of it.  It was so strange, because you could actually see the line on the road where it went from soaking wet to nothing.  And we'd all look at each other and exclaim, "Did that rain even happen?" because it was beautiful and sunny!  There were moments when I seriously thought that Mother Nature was bipolar today!

We were also blown away by the wild animals we saw

along the road, just minding their own business.  We purchased this great book about driving in the North and it told us to look out for specific animals during different mile makers along the Alaska Highway, and wow, was it ever bang on!  We saw elk grazing along the side of the road and they didn't even bat an eye when we drove up alongside them and took their picture from a few feet away! We saw long-horned sheep that reacted the same way.

It rained on and off throughout our trip today, and at one point we saw two full rainbows, one inside the other.  The beauty of it all was overwhelming, and we felt privileged to be able to drive through this area of Canada.  At one point, we all got out of the van and were just staring dumbfounded at these rainbows!  Charlotte remarked very sagely that it looked the rainbows ended just behind the first layer of trees, and maybe we could finally reach the gold there.  Patrick had his iPad out and he was snapping photos like mad.  He exclaimed shrilly, "I don't know which way to look first and what pictures to take! It's so beautiful all around me!".  His words really captured how I felt most of today.  These sights are not just photos to capture on film...they are memories for my heart and food for the soul.

There are sections of the Alaska Highway where truckers have to pull off and add chains to their tires in order to give them extra grip as they ascend some of the steep grades on their way through the mountains, and, when they reach the bottom, there are spots for them to pull off and remove the chains.  It is like this throughout the Alaska Highway. The other thing you see from time to time is a Greyhound bus pulling a trailer.  It's kind of funny when you're in the middle of the mountains and you come upon one, but we followed this one in the picture for a while before it was safe to pass it.  It was on its way to Whitehorse, which is our scheduled stop tomorrow night, so the passengers have a long way to go.  I feel bad for them, too, because they can't take pictures from either side of the vehicle or stop at any of the lookout sites.  Bummer.  Thank goodness for Greg, who equally loves to stop on the road in the middle of the mountains when nobody else is around to capture a 'perfect' photo. We thought we would try the 'through the wet windshield' look for this photo, and Greg got as close as he dared considering the road conditions at the time.

We are staying at the Northern Rockies Lodge tonight, which is a mom and pop operation.  We had a chuckle when we saw that we were staying in the 'Bush Pilot's Room', and opened the door to find two queen sized beds and one twin sized bed crammed into the room.  It is well-worn, and the floor is all linoleum tiled, but it's clean and it's better than camping any day of the week.  The kids were a little unsure at first, generally because we are Marriott Rewards members and earn points when we stay in their chain of hotels.  This means we try to do so as much as possible.  Last year, with all the traveling Greg did for his job he racked up enough points and nights away to become a platinum member, which means you get treated like royalty when you arrive at one of their hotels.  It's lovely!  This means that the kids are used to the Marriott quality hotel.

We figured that the place would not have much to offer in terms of food and if they did, it would be expensive, and we were correct.  When we stopped in Fort Nelson for lunch today we had a bigger lunch than usual, and then went to the IGA and picked up fruit and sandwiches for dinner, which we ate  while watching TV together in our tiny bed-filled room.  Afterward everybody had a shower, they all jumped into bed voluntarily and that was it!  As I type this there are four snoring Wilsons all around me, and I intend to make it five shortly.

I was thinking as we drove through the mountains and we took photo after photo of God's beauty all around us that God Himself must have been our personal tour guide today.  Some of the photos show roads that are so twisted, you would think that you'd have to be pretty crazy to be following this road through these mountains, and yet here we are.  I saw turns today that were so sharp, you didn't know what was behind the corner as you turned, and yet we turned to face whatever was there.  I saw raindrops the size of my fist fall from clouds that were literally all around us and yet still we soldiered on. We saw a rainbow so beautiful it made me ache to look at it, and yet only the privileged few who were brave enough to travel this mountain pass saw it. We saw angry waters raging and bubbling along through creek and river beds that were now shadows of their former selves, and yet they continued to flow, not matter how big and important or small and lowly they were.  We saw wild animals that looked at us with gentle, trusting eyes and continued on their way rather than bolt with outright fear.  I am in awe of everything I saw today and my heart is full of gratitude for the lessons I learned along the way.

I admit that the rock to the windshield scared me to death.  It made me realize what can happen in a blink of an eye, and afterward, I felt small and vulnerable.  Only three more days until our drive up the Dempster Highway toward Inuvik.  Maybe this is a test run to get us used to it?  Either way, as we face the challenges of the coming days and weeks ahead, we are going to be brave together.

Whaddaya' know?! It's the Alaska Highway!

Day #7 - Edmonton, Alberta to Fort St. John, British Columbia (690 km)

I can't believe we've been on the road a whole week now! We have put a lot of miles behind us and seen a lot of sights since we left Parry Sound in a flurry of emotion and good-byes.  Now here we are in British Columbia, headed directly north.

As we left Alberta, we saw field after field of hay and farms.  We had been remarking how it felt like we were driving what we used to call 'the back route' cross country from London up to Barrie when we didn't want to tackle Toronto traffic on our way to visit Gramma and Grampa Wilson in Parry Sound, and then all of a sudden, we rounded a corner and then, WOAH!  There was forest galore and hills and rock!  We went from farmland to rocky forests in the span of about two minutes!

At first I thought it was going to rain, but it was smoke.

A cloud behind the sun shows just how thick the smoke
actually is!

Every evening and again in the morning we have been checking the weather for our current location and that day's destination. We have discovered a new and terrifying weather condition called 'local smoke'.  This means that there is smoke in the air from the forest fires raging through British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.  There was some smoke in the air as we travelled to Edmonton, but it was just enough that made it look a little overcast, and even then, the blue sky and the sun popped through from time to time.  Today, however, as we approached B.C. and the sun began to sink lower in the sky, the smoke became obvious.  We showed the kids and talked about forest fires, and of course, they were worried about the fires being near by, especially after having seen the movie "Planes - Fire and Rescue" a few weeks ago.  After lots of reassurance, they settled down, but they kept commenting on the smoke until the sun set.  When we arrived at our hotel in Fort St. John, you could smell the smoke in the air.

Charlotte spent the day today alternating between colouring her Build-A-Bear box and reading, James spent the van time reading, and Patrick alternated between reading and sleeping.  We also listened to a lot of Weird Al's new album, 'Mandatory Fun', which is swiftly becoming a family favourite.  We have a lot of Weird Al music, but this new one is fantastic.  I am amazed at how quickly the kids learn the words to the songs.  I have to sit there with the CD leaflet, which has all the words on it, in order to sing along.  I drove for a few hours this afternoon and it was nice chatting with the kids and singing together, more good memories for this Mom's heart!

Here we go!!!

Today we also began our trip up the Alaska Highway, another momentous occasion.  This is something I never in my life thought I would be doing, and yet here I am.  Greg and I just look at each other, smile and squeeze hands.  I feel like I could hear the pages turning rapidly in our new chapter of life, and it was both comforting and unnerving at the same time. By comforting I mean that we were all together and happy and safe and even having fun, and unnerving because with every kilometre our decision becomes more and more of a reality. Luckily, there are big signs and great milestone markers for documentation purposes of these momentous occasions.  I wonder sometimes if these things were designed for bloggers and scrapbookers!  Here is a picture of the Wilson crew (minus Greg, who was behind the camera) and our van sporting two of our all-season radials on the roof about to enter the Alaska Highway.  Woo hoo!! (You will remember that Greg had the tires and oil done on the van this morning.)

Mile Zero of the Alaska Highway
in Dawson Creek, B.C.

 When we arrived in Fort St. John this evening, the kids were asking questions about what we were going to be seeing in the next few days.  They got a little quiet when we started talking about driving through British Columbia, Yukon Territory, and finally, the Northwest Territories.  James kind of summed it all up by saying, "Wow.  We're really doing this.  This is kind of epic!".  He is 100% correct in many ways!

There has been something comforting about traveling across Canada.  It doesn't matter whether or not you are in a major city or a smaller town, you can count on the fact that you will see particular banks, grocery stores, big box stores, a Walmart and/or Target, an empty retail space that used to hold a Zeller's, a Shopper's Drug Mart, Canadian Tire and Gas Bar, and familiar gas stations.  Everything is familiar and different at the same time.  Things are beginning to change, now.  The brands of hotels, gas stations, restaurants, and grocery stores among other businesses, are changing.  Apparently these are just chains of businesses found typically in Northwestern towns.

Well, as the sun sets on another day of my family's journey toward Tuktoyaktuk, I am feeling more at peace with our decisions and the last part of our trip.  Your prayers and words of encouragement bring us much comfort and we thank you.

,