DAY 5

We had kind of a boring day. We woke up really early again and headed out. We were really excited to have a fountain drink from Mc Donald's. The first we've had in the Yukon.
We drove and drove...it was a really long day. we actually made it across the border. We were very serious, we didn't laugh and answered very politely

Becky got pulled over in Tok...he let us go without a ticket. Becky was really mad that I was trying to take a picture then she finally took my camera and took this picture for me. We laughed afterward and we followed the speed limits.

We planned to stay in Tok but due to the time zone and the difference and us waking up early we made it to Tok by 11:30am. There is nothing in Tok, a few places to stay and a few resturaunts. In our typical fashion we were looking at the map and saw we could take one turn and head to Anchorage or another turn to go towards Fairbanks. Becky jokingly asked me if I wanted to go to Fairbanks, and I said sure! That is how we ended up here in Fairbanks. It is just like the time Becky asked if I wanted to ride my bike to Mesquite from St. George, and just like the time I asked Becky if we could ride just a few miles longer and we ended up by the Deer Creek Resevior. Actually, the truth is I got a little cold feet and was scared to go to Anchorage and start my "new life" so we ran away for a little bit.

We were both excited to get cellphone service again!

Tomorrow we are going to stop and visit one of my mission companions, Sister Verhagen (Kristi) and see Mount Mckinley (the tallest mountain in North America) Then we will make our way to Wasilla where Bill lives. We are not in a big hurry and it is only a 4-5 hour drive.

I love you all I will try to call soon!

DAY 4

We woke up this morning and started getting ready to go when Becky said “Sarah did you know it is 5:45 am?” My phone that I used for our alarm doesn’t have service and it didn’t change with the time zone…so this morning we had a really REALLY early start. After a hardy continental breakfast we began yet another LONG day of driving. We found an appropriate song to start out our day “ I’m back in the saddle again, out where a friend is a friend—driving the car once more…yeppy-ty-ei-ei…we’ll drive away, back in the saddle again” Oh our butts hurt more today than yesterday.

We have had troubles reading the French gas pumps…and we’re certain the Candians are all watching talking to each other about the dumb American women traveling by themselves.

So I got an email from Jed (our interactive tour guide) he told us of a few ‘must-see’ points of interest. Mama Beck and I were both extremely intrigued by something he wrote about a Muncho Lake. He said “Muncho Lake is really beautiful, I don’t know what is in it but it is really cool.” We were really excited and anticipating this beautiful sight with some mysterious “something” in this lake. When Lake Muncho came around into view we laughed because it was completely frozen still with thick white ice, then covered with about a foot of new snow. We still got out and tried to see what was lying under the ice. Becky tried to fall in when she stepped out on to it. We both jumped with the loud cracking sound of the ice breaking. By the way ALL of the lakes are still frozen! Oh and it is copper oxide leaching that makes Lake Muncho so spectacular…when it’s not frozen….again thanks to Becky’s useless trivia!


The next “must-see” that Jed told us about we were a little skeptical…but it turned out to be one of our favorite stops. The Liard Hot Springs was just off the Alaskan Highway…we had a short walk and as you can see in the pictures it was awesome! The water was perfect…except for in some spots it was boiling lava hot, it burned my butt checks when Becky tried to take my picture at the grotto area. The water was so clear, but smelly! It was really beautiful! We stayed there for a long time and really had to force ourselves to get out and back to the car. We did see a couple from Utah there at the hot springs. I got a sweet view of his blaring white butt cheeks as he was changing his clothes! The sulfur smell remains with us still hours later. My poor car!


The wildlife continues to amaze us. We saw our first Moose Butt! A few Reindeer...they must be on vacation from Santa’s workshop ;) Tell Bevan & Wyatt I saw Dancer, Dasher, Vixon, Comet, Cupid, Donor, Blitzen, Prancer…haven’t seen Rodolph yet! We also saw some sheep in the road, luckily Beck has been married to a PH “professional hunter” so she easily classified the wild sheep as I was taking photos. I think she called them brown sheep. LOL—after she classified them explaining the difference between the four different kinds of big horn sheep and why they were different and the areas the live in…also how much a hunting permit costs…finally after about ten minutes she admitted to having a plethora of useless knowledge, and I laughed saying “sorry I wasn’t really paying attention anyways what were they called?...brown sheep? Rock sheep?” She quickly corrected me “No” (lol…I just had to ask becky again what they were called) “NO, Stone sheep!!! NOT STONED-- stone sheep!” Yeah that’s pretty much how our twelve hour conversations go! Shortly afterwards we saw herds and herds of buffalo

We saw a cow and calf on the side of the road. The calf couldn’t have been more than a week old…it was so cute! It was still all wobbly and awkward. That was another ten-minute delay.

This part of the road is really bad…as warned by our tour-guide. We about lost our car in a few potholes and the frost heaves are fun when you hit them at 100!

We were planning on making it to Anchorage tomorrow…but then decide after starring at a buffalo for 20 minutes, sitting in a hot spring for a couple hours…and just because we love being on the road we are going to take two more days. We are going to stay in Whitehorse tonight, then go all the way to Tok Alaska tomorrow and finally by Thursday we plan on making it to Anchorage!


PS Jed… Mama Beck says the delivery charges are going up…by the mile!

DAY 3

HOW TO GET TO ALASKA:

First get up really early and drive until your butt can't take it any longer, and you just can't possibly stay in a car any longer! Then get up the next morning and drive again until you can't stand sitting on your butt in a car...then again get up and drive as far as you can. Repeat several time!
This was really cool to see some young bulls fighting on the side of the road. The wildlife is incredible! But nothing beats the bear in the road that we saw yesterday!
Just after we left Jasper after a while the snow hit! It was a blizzard for a while! It really slowed us down, but afterwards it was beautiful and we haven't seen more than a few flurries.
This was the only car we saw for a couple hours...it was just miles and miles of this scene (minus the vehicle in front of us)
We arrived in Fort Nelson and Becky surprised me with the honeymoon suite!! YEAH!! ;) it have a fireplace and the jacuzzi right in the ROOM! I love Becky! I am looking forward to a nice relaxing--romantic night in with Becky ;)

They didn't have any other rooms available and the only other option was the Ramada Inn...we did a drive by and the Ramada was just behind this building but didn't look much better. There was a man sitting at the desk with a skinny sunken face, big straggly white beard and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth... we both just laughed and drove back to the "honeymoon suite"

I have been thinking there are a few things you all should know before you set out on your adventure to Alaska.
1. Buy a GPS system--You will find out the GPS system is incredibly helpful, but doesn't work in Canada...nor does it recognize Alaska as part of the United States.
2. Then buy a milepost this will walk you through the trip mile by mile to Alaska.
3. Next buy a few maps, USA, Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, and finally Alaska because you won't be able to read the milepost (well... Becky and I can't)
4. Don't laugh AT ALL when you go across the border.
5. Canadian border control have no sense of humor.
6. Watch out for the Elk
7. Keep an eye out bears in the middle of the road.
8. Don't buy audio books at a truck stop WOW
9. LDS BYU devotionals on Podcast can be entertain and uplifting after the audiobook you got at the truck stop again WOW!
10. By Day 3 you really run out of things to talk about.
11. By Day 3 the drive your butt really hurts.

I'm sure I'll have more to share that is all I could come up with right now.
Well Becky and I are kind of taking it easy...but we left really early this morning and made it to Fort Nelson in British Columbia. We really didn't have a very exciting day...just the audiobook thing we tried out, but it was just a long day. If you are wondering I don't get phone service up here and it is roaming charges. So tell mom and dad to check my blog for me! So they know I am okay. I know atleast Hilpy is reading! Love you all! Talk to you as soon as I get out of Canada and in service areas!

DAY 2

We started our day at the border, what a disaster! First of all I was driving and the Canadian man at the booth was really unpleasant. He had no patience for Becky and my sense of humor. When he asked if we had been arrested I said no, then turned to becky and asked “have you?” she hit me and started laughing saying “NO!” the Canadian quickly asked if that was funny…then sent us to the immigration office. He didn’t like me so much because I started to pull away before he was finished talking to me. Luckily the guy inside was very friendly and had a wonderful sense of humor. He really got a kick out of our story. We think he may have been a mormon or one of the three Nephites to help us across the border (does anyone know if the three Nephites all stay together? Or could one just be chilling at border control?—well because forsure the one in the booth was NOT a Nephite!) We think he was Mormon because he tried to send us to the LDS church up the road to repent before entering Canada. We all laughed and luckily he sent us across the border.
However…across the border is a whole different story. First off getting out of the parking lot was a real challenge for me. Then I don’t even want to talk about our down town Calgary experience. Oh did I mention the GPS doesn’t speak Canadian/French? The annoying woman voice must have a grudge against the Mounties.

Still we made it clear to Banff. Which was BEAUTIFUL! We spent the day there just looking at the scenery HUGE mountains! It was snowing flurries and reminded me of a much more beautiful Park City…but still indescribable. We visited the Castle in Banff--a huge hotel that some guy built almost a hundred years ago!
I think car should be in a commercial ;)


6:44pm Becky was driving on the road to Jasper just past Lake Louis. I had this laptop out reading to her…when all of a sudden she slams on the brakes and says “Bear! Bear! Bear!” I looked up to see a HUGE brown grizzly-looking bear stopped dead in his tracks just as surprised to see Becky as we were to see him. We squealed—me with fear and Becky with delight I grabbed her hands and she is again yelling at me to get my camera. Mean while the bear just sits looking at us then quickly moves to the side of the road, not ten feet away –and Becky is rolling down her window leaning out ;) trying to lure him closer ;) just kidding she just rolled down the window to take a better photo. We were sitting right in the middle of the road when a jeep coming the opposite direction starts coming our way—luckily the bear was still there the guys in the Jeep were super stoked also to see the bear…and even got out to try and get a closer picture. We were so excited and it was my first sighting of a REAL life wild grizzly!!




We are having so much fun! We are in Jasper and just slowly making our way north! I love you all! Miss you!

DAY 1

Becky and I left this morning to start my drive to Alaska. We left an hour after our scheduled time and after topping off the tank of gas and getting a 32 oz Dr. Pepper we headed off into the horizon. Time passed very quickly but the scenery through Utah and Idaho we less than desirable. We entertained ourselves by talking and laughing about our lack of planning...Becky's mom let us borrow her GPS--although it kept us entertained but was really annoying if we got off course "Missed U-Turn, turn now...Missed U-Turned, turn right, turn right" repeatedly. We wished it were a sexy man voice not a annoying bossy woman voice. However, we are grateful for it.
We still us the combination of two mile post books, one atlas, a map and the GPS. Idaho was not very exciting the best was this Budwiser silos that just came out of nowhere.

The other exciting scene was this creature mowing the lawn when we stopped for lunch just outside of Pocatello. It had a cigerate and greenish gray beard, with a long pony-tail. Becky and I were so distracted by the wildlife in Idaho we forgot to fill up on gas....

We got to the middle of ...um...nowhere before we realized and the GPS said we had 17 miles to get to the nearest gas station. We laughed and prayed that we would make it and not make another careless mistake further along the way.
Just after Butte...we had a vision of Christ coming from the East...Becky said "am I imagining things? or is that Christ?" When I looked to the east there above the small town on the rocky mountain edge stood a brillant white odd looking Christ statue. The statue was interesting and a little creepy and only got creepier as we got closer. It was huge!!! As big as the statue of liberty ;) Becky bets it was paper mache...I think it was a natural formation of the rock that the town painted white! Maybe it was the ancient book of mormon civilations? And beneth it lies the Golden plates! We don't know, but laughed about the possibilities.
Twelve hours in a car can make it a girl go a little crazy! I had plenty of snacks, a random book on tape that Beck and I picked up at one of our stops...about wolves...or something LARGE and Wolf-like...we can only listen to a little at a time before we go crazy!

Finally we arrived in Shelby a cute little town the sun was setting and it was beautiful! We are staying in a Comfort Inn...we tried the hot tub for a little while but the jets were turned on so high that it almost beat us up! It felt good! Well Goodnight folks! We are hoping to see Banff tomorrow--we may go skiing (well Becky wants to go, I'll stay in the lodge relaxing ;) ) Love you All!

Farewell Zoobies

So BYU Approved housing has monthly cleaning checks, each of the tenants has to sign up for a cleaning assignment, then on a Saturday morning they have this nasty old woman come into your apartment and determine if it is up to their standards. So to check out of the apartment I had to re clean my assigned duty, which was the bathroom...but the manager was even worse than the nasty old woman and she demanded that I clean the bathroom over and over again! The bath tub had this nasty filmy stuff on it but I scrubbed and scrubbed...I put pure bleach in it and let it set for hours, then scrubbed again and again--to no avail!!! The manager who checked me out (who is just way too old to be doing this job--come on Alta let's get some one who knows how to use a computer) she wanted me to clean it again, I did! She still wasn't completely satisfied with my cleaning skills! I kept scrubbing and cussing under my breath at how lame BYU housing is and feeling so excited that I was leaving for alaska!

I am not going to miss the midnight curfew, the infinious chasity line, or any of the crazy zoobies who like to sing opera or hymns while loudly playing the piano late Sunday night. Farewell zoobies! God be with you until we meet again!

Tijuana

I wish that I had more time to write everyday...I hope when I am done with my finals (tomorrow!! Yeah!) and I am finished with work (tomorrow is my last day! Double Yeah!!!) I will have time to blog about all the crazy things going on in my life...like this picture of me and a mustache, about my short weekend with Jed in town, my job, packing...me trying to sell everything I can to make enough money to fund my journey to Alaska, and the fact that Becky and I have really no idea what we are doing and have just glanced briefly at a map--we maybe in Tijuana before we even realize what happened. ;) Good thing I have a disguise to help me blend in!! I am almost out of here!!! And not nearly as scared as perhaps I should be!

To My Family

This is a tribute to my family!

A few months ago Hilpy called me to tell me she had actually got us tickets to the sold out Kenny Chesney concert (annual tradition) she was so excited! I was hesitant to tell her that I was going to move to Alaska. It was only a few hours later and the whole family was mad at me...I am not sure if it was because they had spent the time and money to get me a Kenny Chesney ticket or because I was leaving. All of them have their concerns but they are all jealous! In all honesty our family is very close, we may not be hanging out every night with each other but we are all friends and we love each other. My best friends are my siblings. I love talking to them and getting their advice. We have so much fun and laugh a lot when we are together, as you can see in our pictures.

The hardest part of me moving to Alaska is being away from my family. I know everyone is worried about me chasing some boy with out an "eternal commitment" to a "foriegn land" but I really appreciate everyone's concerns and even though they are not completely sold on the idea they are all incredibly supportive. Annette and Heather have already applied for a passport in preparation to come drive home with me "when this all goes in the hole"...that is very comforting! I hope though, they won't have to use it.

I love you guys!!!

Alta Apartment 312

An old friend once told me "A good friend should make the good times seem twice as good and the bad times half as bad". My roommates have been such an inspiration to me and have stood by me through all the ups and downs this year. I moved in a year ago with these roommates into a basement apartment. We spent the majority of the summer trying to identify and localize the putrid, stale...no worse than stale, rotting, decaying odor...which we finally discovered radiated from the cesspool under our leaking sink. The management claimed to fix it, yet other problems surfaced, at night we could here water leaking in the air conditioning vents. The windows' seals were not tight and each morning the sprinklers pelted our window which often leaked into the room. We found thick black mold growing up the corners of our walls! All of us finally moved to the third floor, where we now only occasionally have unidentified odors (nine times out of ten it is Whitney's chicken or other rotting food in the fridge). I love these girls and have become better friends with them than anyone I have ever lived with.


This is a picture of my two favorite roommates, that is probably not very nice to say. Chelsea on the far right is my room roommate, and Jen or as we like to call her Juan-e-fer, is from Payson so clearly there is something special that makes them stand out above the rest. We spend a lot of time together and poor Chelsea has had to deal with phone calls in the middle of the night, me venting about stress at work, not to mention me just keeping her up late talking about boys, politics and my personal philosophy of life. I have to thank Juan-e-fer for helping me perfect my Mexican and Russian accents, with out her this would have been impossible, also pointless. Thanks girls! Keep in touch!