Alaska or Bust!!!

We made it!

We pulled into Eielson AFB around 1:30 this morning (determined not to spend another night in that tent). Eielson is just east of Fairbanks, Alaska.

For this blog entry, what is important is not point A or point B but the trip in between. And what a trip it was! Our tally as of yet is 14 bears, 2 bull moose, 2 coyotes, 2 wolves, and 1 snarly porcupine (he was a plump one) who was ready to take on our SUV-- he was backing up towards us and readying to take a swipe. Yes, I misinformed many--- they do NOT shoot their quills, they back up toward you and wait to swipe you with their prickly little tail (or so the internet told me).

Since the last entry we went through Banff NP, Jasper NP (both in Canada), Hyder, Alaska, and the Yukon Territory.

Banff and Jasper were beautiful. This was our second time there so we made it fast this time. We did spend some time at Moraine Lake. I love it there. The mountains are spectcular and the water really is that greenish-blue color. In the picture with all of us infront of the lake you can see the ending of an avalanche just left of center. I generally don't like strangers in my pics but the one with the canoe was striking.

In Hyder, Alaska we went to Tongass National Forest. They have an elevated boardwalk located right by a river that is packed with huge salmon. You just stand there and wait for the bears to come out and fish. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any fishing but we did see two grizzlies and one large black bear walking around.

We did loose a tire to the Alaskan roads last night. We were on a nice paved road when all of a sudden our tire went flat. There are four huge in the side wall of the tire. We have no idea what happened. We are working on getting it replaced. Our tires are under warranty on base, but we can't get one in Fairbanks for 7-10 days (we will be gone in three) and Anchorage says they can't get one for 3-4 weeks. So the bummer is that we are going to have to pay full price for a tire that would have been prorated. Oh well, we'll see how that goes.

For those of you who know about the paragraph that belongs right here about John loving the Yukon--- he deleted it, and no he is not a dork. =)

Thanks to CS Lewis (for writing it), modern technology (gotta love CDs), and Tara (for such a splendid idea) we have listened to "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" and we are currently on "The Silver Chair." I LOVE this series so much. Everyone should read them. I read "Screwtape Letters" earlier this summer and it was great as well. CS Lewis was brilliant and used by God. Right now I'm reading "Hinds Feet on High Places". We'll see how it goes.