We have been driving like mad the last couple days, back down the Alaskan Highway. We are seeing the seasons go in reverse...because as we move south, the trees get greener and the weather gets warmer. We stopped at some of the same stops as before, like Toad Creek, the town of 60 people with the 4000 hats. We met and played with the entire school (10 kids) and the kids were 'insta-friends.' I was talking with the oldest kid in town (grade 6) and he told me "we're pretty much all related in this town. If they aren't your brother or sister, they're your cousin." Hilarious. I also had a chance to talk with one of the moms about life in a small, isolated town. I asked her what you do for groceries (the closest grocery store is 2.5 hrs away) and she said they go once a month, but fresh food is hard to come by in the winter. Seems so foreign to me.
We also explored some new places, like Whirlpool Canyon and Bijoux Falls. These were great spots to hike and rock climb and explore and beautiful places to take pictures. And we stopped at Powder King ski resort to see what it was like. It is the most ghetto ski resort I've ever seen. I took some pictures of the 'base of the mountain, prime location' cottages looked like. If you can even call them cottages. Most were just shacks built around an old school bus or trailer. It was hilarious. It seemed so counter-culture to the 'richy-rich' attitude that tends to prevail among skiers.
Finally, we arrived in Prince George. After so many long days on the road, we decided to take a day to just hang out and play. We spent our morning at the Exploration Centre-a really cool science centre that was geared towards kids. I love the museums that are hands-on and interactive. This one had a beaver dam that the kids could crawl into (like a little fort) and inside was where the turtle tank was. So inside their fort, they could watch the turtle swim around. Very neat. It also had a sandbox filled with dinosaur toys complete with tunnel right underneath where the dinosaur skeletons were.
After that adventure, we had a healthy lunch at Costco (hot dogs and poutine) and then we went to a pet store. The pet store would have been another great success, except we popped a tire on the way there. So we had to take a detour on our 'play-day' and head to the shop. This coincided with nap time just perfectly, so while the little ones slept, we got a new tire on. Worked out just fine, and we were thankful that we had that incident here in Prince George rather than in Toad River.
We then went to a ghetto hotel to use their water slides. Other than the couple (with a combined weight of over 550 lbs.) that was getting it on in the hot tub, it was pretty awesome. Even Soren went down the water slide. Once. After that, he was not interested. Annika went down about 40 times.
All in all, a great time was had by all in Prince George.
Today marks the three week point in our trip. Kind of crazy how fast time is going.
I like the slide show at the end with comments! Thats a new feature. I sadly have to go as Sadie just crapped her pants but I enjoyed the update!
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