Wednesday (6/28) was a travel day. We left Watson Lake in the morning and headed further along the Alaska Highway. The weather was warm, so we opted to stay where we could get electricity and run our A/C rather than finding a nicer, but more primitive campground. We drove to Teslin and stopped for the night.
The RV Park we picked for Wednesday night was similar to many along the Alaska Highway: RV hookups in a field with more gravel than trees, conveniently located next to a fuel station / restaurant / gift shop combination. We set up “camp” and walked over to check out the “wildlife museum”, which included large animal taxidermy displays attached to an even larger gift shop. Laurie purchased some interesting jewelry while I was busy making a fool of myself.
Up to this point on the trip, we’d been pleasantly surprised by the lack of mosquitos. The web site for The Yukon Motel and Lakeside RV Park where we stayed, claimed it was a “mosquito controlled” area. Ha! These people obviously have a great sense of humor. We immediately noticed WAY more mosquitos than anywhere else so far on our trip. In the evening, the wind died down and a light rain began to fall, bringing out even more of the bugs. Just as we tried to fall asleep, we started noticing some of the mosquitos had figured out how to get inside of our RV. It was a long night. I had to sleep in my specially treated anti-bug hoodie. Laurie and Lucy were not bothered by the mosquitos nearly as much as they were bothered by my complaining.
We drove from Teslin to Whitehorse, YT on Thursday (6/29) morning. Whitehorse is one of the largest towns along the Alaska Highway, so we stopped to buy some supplies. I spent a small fortune on additional mosquito defense tools.
The road from Whitehorse to Haines Junction got a bit rough in a few stretches, requiring a little slower travel. We didn’t see any wildlife, but the views improved as the rolling hills turned into mountains. The fireweed was in bloom and brightened the ditches with large patches of purple. We stopped for a visit to the outstanding Haines Junction Visitor Center and enjoyed learning about the adjacent Kluane National Park. We stayed at yet another RV Park/gas station for the night (Haines Juntion Fas Gas RV Park). Lucy and I took a walk into town to marvel at the beautiful mountain backdrop. Another travel day is planned for Friday (6/30) as we hope to cross the border into Alaska by Saturday (7/1).
Those mountain views are incredible!
Welcome home to the USA. I have never seen a picture like this one, that makes Alaska look small, in comparison to the three territories in Northern Canada. I remember learning that Alaska is the biggest state in the USA and is about three times the size of France. The Yukon Territory (YT) is particularly huge. As Canadians, we are so happy to have seen the pictures of you visiting parts of our country, where Kelly and I have never been.