A Recap of the Rest of the Trip

Sorry that I haven't been the best about updating. I keep getting distracted with other things.

The trip from Dawson Creek to Watson Lake I commented on a bit, but didn't have the energy to write much more. The next time that I do this drive (whenever it is), I'm not going to make a reservation at a hotel. There's lots of little "towns" every 50 kilometres or so that mostly consist of a cafe of some sorts, a hotel/RV park, and a gas station - all connected to each other and owned by the same people. They appear to be open only in the summer (which would make sense) and they amuse me a great deal. Most of them have rules like "if you arrive after 9, just grab a key or a space and pay us in the morning", which I suppose makes sense - better than them having to have someone on duty all the time.

The place that I stayed in Watson Lake was very... quaint. It's called the Air Force Lodge, and to explain it, I have to get a little historical. The AlCan highway was originally built for military personnel during World War II, to get them up to Alaska because it was easier to leave from there to get to the Pacific Fight. So the Air Force Lodge was just that - a place for pilots to stay along the journey. The rooms are relatively good sized, but have no bathroom or shower. The guy who owns it amuses me a great deal, as he managed to pack a whole little history lesson into just getting me checked in.

The next day was a very easy day, as I could go 100 kmph nearly all the time, and it wasn't a long day to begin with. The town of Beaver Creek is right on the border (I crossed it 30 minutes after I left the next morning) and has a population of 80 people in the summer, 50 in the winter - the extra 30 people are who they hire to come live out there and work the hotels and restaurants. It's very quaint, and the hotel that I was at didn't have wireless internet. I couldn't even plug my laptop in, because the outlets were so old that they didn't have three prongs. I was staying in a hostel-type room, so there were two twin beds. Had someone else shown up that wanted a hostel room I would have had a roommate, but this appears to be the slow part of the season so it wasn't a concern. I just relaxed and read, which was good.

After that, I got to get back into the States. I was all prepared for a difficult border crossing because I have so much stuff, but once we established that I was moving for a job and it was all personal items, he just let me go through. After all, after I'm in Alaska, where am I going to go? Back to Canada? :P I think it may be more difficult to get back into the States when I move all my stuff back, whenever that is, simply because I'm going back into the Lower 48 with a lot more stuff, as opposed to a state with one border with another country (then again, maybe I can see Russia from my window!). So we'll see.

The drive through Alaska to Anchorage was definitely interesting. I know that I drove around a glacier, but I couldn't see it because I was in the clouds. Literally, I was driving through clouds. It was rather crazy, because it meant being up high and not being able to see tons. The bottoms of clouds amused me, though. It almost looked (when I was below them) that they were just sitting on a sheet of Plexiglass with flat bottoms, and then when I got closer they kind of have wisps that hang down, but they're very easy to see through. It also rained a lot on this day, which I was not impressed with.

Anchorage was fine. It's a city, but I got Qdoba and all was good. The hotel seemed so luxurious after the two nights I'd just had (I had a bathroom in my room!), which was nice before I headed down here. There is a mall there, but it's actually in the middle of the city, and I had no desire to fight with the one-way streets and all that just to get there and walk around. Perhaps another time when I'm up there for longer (and maybe with someone else).

The drive down the Kenai Peninsula was pretty impressive, but I didn't stop to take many pictures. At this point I just wanted to get to Homer, which I think is understandable. I'll be making the drive at other times, so I'll stop then and take pictures. I got into Homer fine, took some pictures of the view and then proceeded to the high school. But that's for another entry. :)