Alaska to Oregon Roadtrip!

Wednesday September 10th 2014

After spending an incredible three months in the amazing state of Alaska, Jesse and I hit the road again. If I had it my way, we wouldn't have gone back to school till Winter term and spent a couple months going through Canada because there truly is THAT much to see. After saying our "see ya later's" at ARC and Gwins's we began making our way to Anchorage.

We had lunch at Moose's Tooth; where Jesse worked while he lived in Anchorage years ago. Mikey (who Jesse worked with at ARC) and his little princess came to lunch with us as well as Erik from the OP back at OIT. We then headed north to Hatchers Pass :)

Independence Mine (3,500ft elevation)

After making it this high up my clutch smelt horrible! I was so scared that it was going out and we were going to have car troubles before we even left town. But after getting to our camp that night and letting it cool down, we didn't smell it again thankfully:)

What is now called Independence Mine was once two mines: The Alaska Free Gold (Martin) Mine on Skyscraper Mountain, and Independence Mine on Granite Mountain. In 1938 the two were bought together under one company, the Alaska-Pacific Consolidated Mining Company (APC). With a block of 83 mining claims, APC became the largest producer in the Willow Creek Mining District. The claims covered more than 1,350 acres and included 27 structures. In its peak year, 1941, APC employed 204 men, blasted nearly a dozen miles of tunnels, and produced 34,416 ounces of gold worth $1,204,560; today $17,208,000. Twenty-two families lived in nearby Boomtown, with eight children attending the Territorial School in the new bunkhouse. 

By 1942, the United States had entered World War II, and the War Production Board designated gold mining as nonessential to the war effort. Gold mining throughout the United States came to a halt, but Independence Mine continued to operate because of the presence of sheelite. Sheelite occurs in some of the quartz veins along with gold, and was a source of tungsten, a strategic metal. But because Independence Mine's scheelite production was low, the exemption was short-lived. In 1943, Independence Mine was ordered to close. 

Washing our dishes in the river :)

We camped inside Hatchers Pass and it was suppose to rain so we set up a shelter. Luckily it never rained though :)

Dinner every night generally consisted of rice, sometimes meat, some canned fruit and wine.

The view from our campsite in Hatchers Pass.

I always thought wine in a box was cheap but the Bota box is amazing! It is delicious and so nice when traveling.

Thursday September 11th, 2014

Day two of the roadtrip, we left Hatchers Pass and drove back into Anchorage to do some shopping before leaving the last big city we would be in for the next week.

There was a little sign on the highway that said "Next Exit Glass Lake" so we pulled off the road for a mini adventure. This is the lake it brought us to. 

♥

Water fountain in the park of Glass Lake

After leaving Anchorage we headed towards Girdwood where we had dinner at the Double Musky, a world class restaurant. It was dark when we finished dinner and began driving to Portage Glacier to find a camping spot for the night. It was storming like crazy, which made setting up the tent difficult. We put a tarp over the tent and the majority of what I remember from that night was the tarp flapping against the tent ALL night long making it creepy and hard to sleep. I was so relived when that night was over:) 

Friday September 12th, 2014 

This morning we had to make it to Whittier by 10:30am where we were getting on the ferry at 11:30am to Valdez.

There is a two mile tunnel that costs $12 to go through to get to Whittier. It is a one lane tunnel, that even a train goes through. Each direction is open at once and for 20 minutes at a time. All I could think while going through this is "If the girl on our side mis-communicates with the person on the other side, we will be SOL." Haha

The ferry we drove onto.

It was extremely nice on the boat. Jesse and I watched a movie during the 3 1/2 hour ride.

I was hoping that taking the ferry would give us the opportunity to see a different part of Alaska that you can't see from the road. However, the weather didn't allow for that unfortunately.. 

I tried taking a picture to show how big the swells were but it doesn't really show much. For about 30 minutes of the trip the boat was rocking so much from side to side. Thank God neither Jesse nor I get sea sick! It was pretty rough.

It was fun being able to watch the boat move through the ocean:)

On the back dock on the ferry.

We made it to Valdez!

Again I was excited to see another part of Alaska but it was pretty fogged in and rainy. Still beautiful but couldn't see far.

Waterfalls along the road on our way out of Valdez.

Thompson Pass 2,800 feet elevation

Grizzly Campground. The last place we camped at in Alaska:(

That night, the Northern Lights were suppose to be active so Jesse and I stayed up super late watching for them. Though they never showed (while we were awake at least), it became an amazing star gazing night ♥

Saturday, September 13th, 2014

We saw Trumpeter Swans on the lake in the morning at Grizzly Campground. One of the most peaceful beautiful places ever!

The colors were just breath taking! Fall was in full blast in Alaska at the time. Which made it pretty cool to go from Fall to Summer once we got back in Oregon and then Fall again :)

The last few photos of being in Alaska.

Back in CANADA! 

These mountains were so cool looking! Jesse and I thought it looked like trees painted onto the mountains.

I remember taking this photo towards the end of our third day on the road.

And then this happened. 

Our goal when beginning this roadtrip was to not drive in the dark because we knew moose were very active at the time. When we got to the place we we're going to camp at, there was a giant sign that said:

No tent camping

Bears are active

So, we got back on the road. The sun was going down and we kept looking for more campgrounds but there were none right off the road. We passed a couple that were down a road 25-40 miles off the path... By the time it got completely dark we were only about 25-30 miles outside of Whitehorse city in the Yukon so we decided to keep driving (not that there was much of a choice).

We came up on a heard of elk in the middle of the road but thankfully we saw their eyes so we slowed down before we got to them. At that point we we're pretty freaked out at how hard it was to see them and began talking about how we needed to keep an extra eye out for animals. I was watching the sides of the roads like crazy (side note: my biggest fear all summer in Alaska, besides getting eaten by a bear, was hitting a moose in my car. I could just picture taking out it's legs and it's body coming straight through my windshield and crushing us...) Anyways, low and behold not more than three minutes after having that conversation with Jesse a GIANT moose came out of no where! It came running out of a ditch on the left side of the road in front of us maybe 60-80 feet. Which when driving 50-60 mph that's nothing! All I can remember is saying 'MOOSE!!!" pointing at it and screaming bloody murder. Jesse hit the breaks and pulled as far to the right of the road as we could. Next thing I remember is hearing the loudest crashing metal sound I have ever heard and then looking over at Jesse after he stopped the car realizing we were still alive and completely in tact. I was shaking uncontrollably as I grabbed Jesse's (in shock) face, saying "Oh my God, we're alive! We're okay!" over and over again. When we got out of the car the moose was gone. I looked at the drivers side of my car, expecting it to be completely crushed and there was practically nothing for what I was thinking I would see. I then walked back to the passenger side of the car and said to Jesse "Lets just make it into town". My car was still running and we were only 15 miles outside of Whitehorse. His face went white and he said "BIKES!" Through all the commotion I didn't even realize that the entire bike rack with the bikes was gone! We ran back about 40 feet and the bikes were still on the rack sitting upright in the ditch. Not a scratch or dent to either of them. 

A few different cars stopped to help us and one couple put the rack with bikes in the back of their truck to get us into town where there was light because looking at it Jesse was almost certain he would be able to put the rack back on the car. 

He did it! He had to bend some pieces here and there but they were able to go back on the car! Which was a miracle because I have no idea what we would have done with them had the bike rack been completely broken. 

After calling in my insurance claim and getting the rack on the car it was almost midnight so we found a campground in Whitehorse and stayed there for the night. 

Sunday September 14th, 2014

This was the little camp spot we found. Not bad for being right in town :)

Unfortunantly it was Saturday night that it happened so we were stuck in Whitehorse all day Sunday till places opened up on Monday.

Dealing with my insurance company in the middle of the Yukon Canada was the biggest pain ever! I don't have much positive to say about that so I won't go into details but we ended up getting a rental and leaving my car for the toe truck to get because my insurance company made it sound like they were going to have an adjuster come out Monday morning.

Though the accident through us off track of our roadtrip agenda, Whitehorse was the most beautiful place to be stuck in :) Jesse and I walked around the town and found a cute little cafe where we got coffee and ate at.

The Canadian Walmart... 

This is where we ended up camping at the second night in Whitehorse. Tahkini Hot Springs Campground. 

Where of course there was a hot spring. Exactly what we needed after the night before. It was so nice and relaxing to soak in for a while. Though it totally sucked having a broken windshield and no mirror, we couldn't have possibly had a better time waiting around for things to be figured out :)

Tahkini Hot Springs Campground

I know this is still a processed food but it tasted equivalent to steak after eating rice for days on end. Not to mention our red neck wine glass. Lol. It's the little things ;) 

Monday September 15th, 2014 

The next morning we found out that my insurance company doesn't even have an adjuster in or near Whitehorse and that they were going to tow my car to some town in Alberta Canada that was almost 1,400 miles away!!! That was the closest place they had an adjusted at. I told them no way! So we called around to mechanic shops in Whitehorse to see if we could at least put a new windshield in but everyone had to order it in which would take two-three weeks. Needless to say we said forget it, got our car back, reloaded it and hit the Alaska Highway again continuing our roadtrip back to Oregon. Meanwhile my dad set up a place in Tacoma Washington to get things fixed at when we got there.

This is the signpost forest in Watson Lake Yukon. There are 72,000 signs and counting! We didn't have a sign to leave, though it was cool to walk through.

OREGON!

We camped at Watson Lake Campground but had dinner in town before going out to the campground so it was dark when we got to it. It had just closed for the season the night before so it was free (according to the lady at the info center in town) but that also meant that there was practically no one else out there. It was a bit creepy. After we set up camp and were sitting around the fire we heard a little kid yelling but from a distance "Mom.." At first I was so relieved because I thought that meant that there was another family in the campground also. But then the little kid continued to yell it... Not like a scream but like a little kid calling out softly... It very quickly became creepy and suddenly I was not so relieved and it continued for a couple hours. We never found out what it was, but it was by far the scariest night on the trip. Not including the moosident!

Tuesday September 16th, 2014

The next morning we walked to the lake that was glass and sat on the dock for a while just enjoying beauty, peace and quiet ♥

Back on the road again!

We saw sooooo many buffalo on this road. Just in one herd alone there were 53 and we saw multiple herds. 

The buffalo were right off the side on the road, some on the road. We got so close I might have been able to touch one if I stuck my hand out the window. 

This is Smith River Falls. We had to take a side road to get to it but so worth it!

We we're able to walk down right next to the falls.

But this was the trail.... Or cliff... :)

Our next stop that day was Liard Hot Springs. A place many Alaskan friends told us we could not miss on the way back and I am so happy we didn't! This was the mile long path in a swampy area to get to the hot springs.

One of both Jesse and I's favorite parts of the roadtrip!

That was boiling water at the end. Jesse made it half way there but I couldn't even put my foot in it.

Caribou :)

A lodge we stopped at with thoughts of staying at just so I could charge my camera batteries, but we decided against it.

Instead we stayed here at Strawberry Flats Campground in British Columbia right on the lake with a gorgeous view of the mountains! Not to mention this campground was also closed for the season so it was free to stay at.

My handsome♥♥♥

Wednesday September 17th. 2014

A mamma moose and her baby off the side of the road. Thank goodness we saw them from a ways away.. Talk about PTSD ;) But really.. 

The scenery through the Canadian Rockies was just incredible! Like nothing I could ever explain or these pictures could ever show. 

But then we hit this road... Highway 97 which was so appropriate because that's exactly the road it reminded us of between Eugene and Klamath. It was straight and more straight for hourrrrrs!

We ended up having to drive in the dark again this night due to campgrounds being closed for the season and gates being closed. I was a nervous wreck while on the road. We we're driving slow but still, after knowing how alert we were the night we hit the moose and yet we still hit it, put a totally new perspective in my mind. It happened so fast it made me realized you can't always just break if something runs in front of you... Anyways, we were able to get behind a semi which had killer bright lights, making us a little more comfortable to be driving till we made it to an open campground in Prince George. That was a 660 mile day. So long! 

Thursday September 18th, 2014

That black figure is a black bear with a little cub running behind her :) They were real close to the road but ran when we stopped the car.

This was the Sea to Sky highway. Thankfully we went Sky to Sea but holly cow the grade on some of the roads were 18 percent! It was crazy steep. 

We finally made it to Whistler where we decided to treat ourselves. Instead of camping we stayed in Whistler Village at a lodge within walking/riding distance to the bike lift.

Friday September 19th, 2014

The bottom of Whistler Mountain!!! Wooo hooo!!! :)

Looking down on the village from the lift.

After riding we spent time swimming in the pool and soaking in the hot tub. It was a perfect day!

That evening we went out walking around the shops in the village.

I had never been to the Spaghetti Factory before this night and I can't believe what I was missing out on! It was delicious and great prices!

Spumoni Ice cream... I didn't know this even existed. AMAZING.

Saturday September 20th, 2014

Day two at Whistler. We rode the mountain again.. Of course :)

We saw a bear walking down into the park, while we were on the lift on our way up to the top.. Then as we were riding down through the park we rode right past him. I came around a corner and was going so fast I didn't even realize he was there till I was passing him but if I would have had my hand out I could have pet him, he was that close. It freaked me out but happened so fast it was pretty cool to be that close :)

We sat in the hot tub again that day after riding and then went to an amazing sushi dinner. 

The Olympic Rings!

Our lodge the last night there. I LOVE this picture!

Sunday September 21st, 2014

Walking in the park before we left whistler. We then made our way through Vancoover British Columbia and down into Tacoma Washington where we were staying with one of my best friends MEGAN!

Monday September 22nd, 2014 

Monday morning dad had set up a place for me to get my windshield fixed at but when I brought my car to them they saw rust under the seal and said they couldn't put the new one in till it was fixed. Which they couldn't do. I would have had to take it to another place then back to them. So we we're going to have to wait till Eugene to get it fixed. I was waiting to hear from the guy who was going to put in my new mirror but it was ordered in and never got to him that day. We ended up not getting it fixed in Washington either. Even with all the bad news on my car that day, I was thankful we got to spend all day with Megan and Tony! We went shopping, went to crispy creme and got the fresh donuts which pretty much melt in your mouth. So amazing! Then we ended the day with a sushi dinner before Jesse and I got on I5 for our last 250 stretch to my parents house! :)

This roadtrip defiantly went down in the Megan and Jesse Adventure book!

♥♥♥