Unfamiliar Territory

We are more than half way through our trip to Alaska. It's beginning to set in that we are actually moving to the far north. I think part of me must still think that it's just a really long vacation. As we left the "lower 48" we drove through snow in Montana. It was beautiful scenery. I'll get alot more snow where we are heading. Probably too much for my taste but I'll learn to love it, just wait!


Our last look at the United States.



I have only ever left the United States once in my life when we went into a border town from Arizona to Mexico for a day. I think I was 8 yrs old. I don't even remember it being a big deal that we left the country. This time I felt a little nervous, what if they didn't let us in? What would we do??? Luckily we made it through without any problems, except the customs guard asked Jon what his occupation was. Jon replied, "vehicle operator." Guard asks, "what does that entail?"...hmm lets think about that for just a minute. A vehicle operator must, I don't know, OPERATE VEHICLES, as in drive them. Does it sound that weird to say that Jon operates vehicles? Maybe I'm a little too accustomed to military lingo.

There are two temples in Alberta. This one is in Cardston Alberta. It was just a little side trip off of our route so we stopped by to take a look. The temple grounds were covered in snow so we could only walk right in front of the entrance that had been shoveled clean. Did you know that this was the 6th temple dedicated? It was dedicated in 1923. There's your history fact for the day! I didn't realize that the other temple is in Edmonton, which is where we were staying for two nights. I forgot to get the directions before we left though so we will have to try and see that temple another time, maybe when we move back.

This is the beginning of the Alaska Highway. It's world famous as the sign says. We will travel on this highway for almost the rest of our trip. Mile Zero is in Dawson Creek, British Columbia.

Here is where we have been so far:

1. Started out in Las Vegas, Nevada

2. San Diego, California

3. Anaheim, California

4. Fallon, Nevada

5. Pocatello, Idaho

6. Idaho Falls, Idaho

7. Shelby, Montana

8. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

9. Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada

We still have 4 more days of traveling:

10. Liard River, British Columbia, Canada

11. Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada

12. Tok, Alaska

13. Anchorage, Alaska

Crazy huh? In all we are driving 4302 miles, give or take a few. One thing that is kind of cool is that we have gone from the very southern most border of the western United States, to the northern border of the western continental United States. I doubt we'll make it to the northern border of Alaska, we aren't that crazy. I still think we've been on quite the journey. Who would have thought that I would ever end up in Alaska. I wonder where we will end up next time....