Days 2-7

Well, I had such great intentions of blogging every night that we had internet access. We had access for the first 3 or 4 days, but the laptop cord quit on the second day. We didn't get another one until Friday, and then didn't have access. Most of the trip was pretty uneventful through the states. We did have colder weather than we expected and got snowed on in Montana just before entering Canada. We saw more antelope than we could count all the way from Colorado through Montana.

There are some benefits to making this drive this time of the year. There is very little traffic, so we aren't getting stuck behind cars we can't pass and when there is road construction we didn't have to wait very long. It wasn't major construction anyway given the time of year. The downside of traveling the Alaska Highway this time of year is that the "season" hasn't started yet. Many places are not open! Visitor's centers, lodges, rv parks, etc. close for the winter and most do not open until May. From the looks of some we saw, I don't know how they will be open by May. They are covered with snow. We got lucky last night.......we wanted to stay in Pink Mountain, but it was not suitable (the mud from snow melt was too thick and even though they advertise open all year, they didn't keep up the rv spots.) The next place wasn't even open....everything boarded up and covered with snow. So, we drove an extra 3 hours to the next big town. There was one place open and they had plowed a big whopping 3 spots. They really weren't supposed to be open yet though, so we were grateful. They have over 100 rv spots, but you couldn't tell by looking out at the place, because all you could see was snow. We got to Watson Lake today around 3:30ish and didn't really want to stop yet, but the guy told us there was nothing open any further. So far, we haven't yet found anything open for tomorrow within 500 miles of here.

We saw an abundance of bison today and I took lots of pictures. Pictures will have to wait to be blogged though, because I'm not familiar enough with the laptop for it to not be an all night process.

One thing I do want to make sure and remember about today. We drove through an area that had been damaged by fire almost 15 years ago. There were still burned trees standing amongst the new trees. Emma and Matthew asked question after question about the fire and the trees. They were quite concerned about the welfare of the trees and Matthew especially wanted to understand how the fire started. It was one of those situations that as a parent you get yourself into wishing you had never said anything in the beginning and each answer you try to provide just seems to drag it on and on. I was getting very exasperated and wanted Matthew to give up trying to understand how the fire started. Finally, I said, "I don't know Matthew. Why is the sky blue?" Without missing a beat, Emma replies, "Because it's not raining Mommy."