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!