We're finally here!!! We left Tok this morning after a wonderful breakfast at the cabins! Our drive today was about 7 hours. We were driving along a stretch in the mountains, and a huge female moose came stomping out of the woods right across the road! We couldn't get the camera out fast enough!! There were a couple of stretches of construction that held us up for awhile. We made it with only one crack in the windshield and only one dent in the hood! The car looks like someone colored it in white chalk since we haven't washed it since we left Anderson! The movers are coming at 8am on Friday morning to move us in and we are so excited!! We got into Anchorage and stopped for gas - $4.39 on base, and that's about 10 cents cheaper than off base! We also wore out a squeegie on my windshield - actually the whole car needs to be squeegied! We picked up Brant's truck at the POV - he's glad to finally have his baby back :) He's been without it for over a month now. We got on base and checked in - the apartment we are in is pretty nice. We are allowed 30 days to stay in the apartment so that we have time to find someplace to live if we need it, but we'll only be here until Friday morning. The weather is beautiful - about 67 degrees - it feels so nice outside! We drove around the base for a little bit. We found the hospital where Brant will be working - it's right inside one of the entrance gates, so he won't have to battle too much traffic in the mornings! We found the base exchange - we can buy groceries, clothes, etc. (they pretty much have everything that WalMart has) but a little cheaper. The base is beautiful - the mountains are in the backdrop, there is a lot of green spaces, and creeks with trails, etc. Brant has to report to the hospital tomorrow morning just to sign in and say he's here. I had to give him a haircut tonight as he's let his hair grow for the past month :) He refuses to get the "high and tight" haircut that they give at the barber shop here - haha. When he's done in the morning at the base hospital, we're going to go over to Providence Alaska Medical Center where I"ll be working to meet the people I'll be working with and check it out! We've got lots of errands to run tomorrow and things to get organized before Brant starts full time on Friday. Thankfully, I won't start work until the 25th, so I can put the house together next week :) We'll keep y'all updated!! Our cell phones work now too, but don't forget we're 4 hours behind EST :)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Day 14: Anchorage, AK
Day 13: Tok, Alaska
We made it back into the USA and Alaska today!! We are staying in Tok at the Burnt Paw and Cabins Outback - a place we found online. They have a cute little gift shop and about 10 cabins outback that they rent out for people traveling through. They also have Alaskan h
usky puppies for sale :) They were only $50, and I took this picture and showed it to Brant before we went
to bed so he could think about it, but it didn't work :( I don't know how you could resist that face?? We got into town and went to get some brochures and pamphlets at the visitors center. Then we went to the general store in town and I finally got some new sunglasses, so we won't have to pop the lenses back into my other ones everyday :) We had dinner at Fast Eddies - famous for their pizza. We were in the parking lot and there were these two big trucks that each had a four wheeler on them. On the four wheelers were two huge caribou heads. I guess they cut the meat up and were keeping the heads for trophies. We went back to the cabin and watched the olympics for awhile - USA and China women's gymnastics. It finally got dark about 11PM and we went to sleep :)
Day 12: Whitehorse, Yukon Territory
Today we drove about 5 hours to Whitehorse. We ate breakfast in the car consisting of strawberry with sprinkle pop tarts and an apple :) The place we stayed did not offer breakfast, and there were no restaurants in Watson Lake for breakfast. We stopped at the Sign Post Forest on our way out of town - 60,000+ signs and license plates that people have tacked up on big wooden poles over the years as they have traveled through. It didn't take us long to find one from Clemson :) We got to Whitehorse and were stayed at the Yukon Inn. We ate dinner at Klondike Rib and Salmon Barbeque - a new restaurant in town that was fantastic! We walked along the river for awhile and then headed back to the room to watch some of the olympics!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Snapfish Pictures
Ok, we got a little more than half of the pictures to download last night. They are all of the pictures partially through Banff and Jasper National Parks. We'll upload the rest when we have another internet chance :) We tried to send out emails with the link, but we think this will work if you click on it too...
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=225625392/a=140650859/t_=140650859
We hope you enjoy them!!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Day 11: Watson Lake, Yukon Territories
st at the h0tel, and set sail for our long 11.5 hour drive today to Watson Lake - it pretty much rained all day and was our first day of not having good weather. It was our first day officially of the Alaska Highway! The 'Mile 0" marker is in downtown Dawson Creek. We stopped at Laird hot springs around 4:30. We walked along this long boardwalk into the woods and ended up at the natural springs where there were lots of people enjoying the water! We got advice from the girls at the gate to start at the left and move right, as the water progresses from about 107 degrees to 127 degrees at the source! It was REALLY hot!! I only made it about 3/4 of the way down the pool, while Brant brave
d the scorching heat and made it all the way to the source and touched the rock. He said the trick was to go under water, as the water at the top was the hottest and got cooler towards the bottom. It was a nice break during the drive! We continued to Watson Lake and got here about 8PM. We are staying at the Air Force Lodge, and when we got there, the owner said the construction workers had knocked down some poles, and the lodge had had no power since 3PM and hopefully would be fixed soon! We hadn't had dinner, so we asked the owner Lodge where we were staying where a good place to eat was. He said "Whitehorse" - haha - which is about 5 hours from Watson Lake, and where we are headed tomorrow. So we asked him for somewhere decent - we ended up eating at a small little ice cream/sandwich shop in town - with no air conditioning! We met a guy there who was travelling through on his way to WA from Palmar, AK. He was 22 and had been in Palmar doing some contract work. He was by himself, so we invited him to sit and eat with us. We had a nice conversation with him and found out he was having car trouble and was going to sleep in his car tonight and have it fixed in the morning :( We went back to the lodge and the power came back about 9:30PM. We sat in the lobby for a little bit and met two other guys who were in the air force, travelling through and another guy who was a big game hunting guide - Brant was in heaven. He is actually still down there talking with them-I warned those guys that Brant would keep them up all night talking about hunting if they let him :) We are getting up tomorrow and driving about 5.5 hours to Whitehorse, which is suppose to be a neat town! Right now we are on Pacific time, and starting Tuesday, we will be 4 hours behind in Alaska. We are currently uploading all of our pictures onto a Snapfish link - it'll probably take all night to upload all 500, so hopefully by tomorrow morning, if the internet stays connected, it will be finished and we can share them with y'all!Day 10: Dawson Creek, BC
at come off of it, and the icefield is something like 120 square miles--fairly large. We got out for a hike after passing the icefields and saw a couple of waterfalls. We have some amazing pictures--but our internet has been either slow or non-existent in the last few places we've stayed and it takes forever to upload pictures to this blog. So we'll get pictures up asap after we get good internet. After coming down out of the mountains, Canada is like rolling hills of evergreens, usually until you get within reach of a town, then you see a bunch of farms, much like the plains and mountain west in America. So far we have seen almost every big game animal except a moose and a caribou. We saw a bear this morning in Banff, and mountain goats and big horn sheep yesterday in Glacier. We saw elk farms today with huge elk just sitting in the fence, hanging out. One last thing, it's too expensive to place/receive calls on our cell phones in Canada, so we won't be able to call until Tuesday when we get into Tok, Alaska. If you need to tell us something, send us a text message, we can send/receive those. Hopefully get pics up soon also!Day 9: Banff National Park
Today we left the US and crossed into Canada. We're staying in Banff National Park. Brant's friend Dallas who is currently working in AK and has made this drive before told us that Banff was more beautiful than Glacier, and we didn't really think that was possible - but it was! I think a lot of our pictures look fake they are so beautiful and perfect! Today was the first day that it really felt cold outside - it was probably only around 50 plus the wind. ( I know that's not cold to some of you, but to us Southerners it is!) We 
stayed downtown Banff at the Banff Aspen Lodge. We checked in and were unpacking some stuff and Brant and I both felt it was really warm in the room. We called the front desk to tell them we didn't think our air was working - "Ma'am, that's because we dont' have air conditioning!" Again! It was pretty warm, but luckily we had a fan :) We did some laundry, walked around the town, and ate dinner at Wild Bills. Brant really wanted a good steak, but we couldn't find a place that had less than a $40 steak! So, he settled for a 7 oz steak at Wild Bills that he 
said looked like a chicken finger - haha. We went to bed pretty early because we had a 10.5 hour drive to Dawson Creek, British Columbia the next day. We still don't have great service, so no pictures :( We are planning on going on a hike tomorrow in Banff or Jasper.
Day 8: Glacier National Park
We left Great Falls this morning and headed towards Glacier National Park - it was a short day - only took us about 3 hours to get there :) We had breakfast at the Whistle Stop in the park - famous for their omelets and french toast. We both had the huckleberry french toast - which was more like a funnel cake :) We stopped for lunch awhile later in a really small town with only two resturants. We
ate at the Panter Cafe and learned that they called tater tots "gems." We stayed at the Glacier Park Lodge which was an old old lodge with NO air conditioning! Brant really liked the huge douglas fir trunks that were used to build the lodge. We got there early enough to go on a hike up to Hidden Lake which was amazing!! It was pretty warm and funny because we were hiking across snow! After hiking, we went back to the lodge and ate dinner at the lodge dining hall. We had a table by the window that overlooked the sunset over the mountains. We went to bed early as we are leaving early tomorrow to drive to Banff National Park! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT :)
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Day 7: Great Falls, MT
topping on the road and driving 25mph. But, we enjoyed the scenery, and again, got lots of cool pictures :) We stopped at Old Faithful. We got there just in time and only had to wait about 15 minutes for the show to begin! We thought it was cool to see but both agreed that it wasn't worth going way out of your way to visit. We crossed into Montana and continued up to Great Falls where we planned to stay tonight. Brant said the drive today through Montana has been his favorite part of the trip so far - it was fly fisherman's heaven. Lots of blue skies and open fields. We got to the air force base to check in, and they told us they had to evacuate the base hotel because they were notified today that the whole hotel needed to be reserved for emergency military purposes. They had tried to get in touch with us earlier, but we did not have phone service for most of the day. So, luckily we hadn't checked in and gotten settled yet because all of those people had to pack up and move out! They helped us find another hotel close to downtown for the night that gave us a military discount :) We went to dinner downtown and drove down main street. This is one of the bases Brant thought he might like to be stationed at after Anchorage, so we wanted to check out the area. It is currently 10:30 here, and we are exhausted and hitting the hay! We will leave tomorrow for a short day - YAY! - 3-3.5 hours to Glacier National Park! Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Day 7:Jackson Hole, WY
on, we passed through the small tow
n of Lander, right in the center of the state--a real nice small, country town. Maybe they need a dentist and a physical therapist. ;) The countryside of Wyoming is miles and miles of of either grassland or grass/shrub, with rolling hills and mountains with that same brushy cover as the backdrop. Occasionally you'll pass through the hills and where they dynamited the hill to pave the highway, and you can see the "red rock" on the inside of the mountain. The wind can get real bad here, and they set up big wooden windbreaks to slow it down. We also passed a bunch of windmills that are used to generate electricity. After several hours 
of driving, we finally start to see trees collecting on the mountainsides. We slowly start climbing elevation and off in the distance are the mighty Tetons. The mountains there are much higher and are the "rocky" type that you think of when you think of the Rockies. Gorgeous. So we arrive in Jackson, WY in time for dinner at a wild game restaurant named The Gun Barrell, where we got bison and elk steaks--delicious. Jackson's a great town--a little touristy--but still has the Wyoming cowboy feel to it. We'll definitely be ba
ck. Our internet connection here isn't too good and isn't uploading our pictures :( When we get to a place with good internet connection, we'll post all of our pictures on Snapfish! We're getting up early tomorrow morning to have breakfast at Bubba's, then heading to Malmstrom AFB in Montana.Monday, August 4, 2008
Day 6: Cheyenne, WY
We left Custer State Park this morning about 10:30. We drove the scenic "Needles Highway" and then stopped by Mount Rushmore for a little bit. It was a chilly morning - in the mid 50's with misting rain! We then drove through the Black Hills, Wind Cave National Park, and through the Buffalo Gap National Grassland - we took lots of pictures today! I feel asleep while Brant was driving, and when I woke up we were about to cross into Wyoming. Brant said there hadn't been an exit for about 20 miles and we had about 1/4 tank of gas left. There was a rest area with a bunch of bikers, so we stopped to ask how far the next gas station was - 47 miles to the town of Lusk, WY! We did make it - but probably rolled in there on fumes! There was nothing - not a thing - between that rest area and the next town. The guy in the gas station told us that the best food in to
wn was at the Silverdollar Bar. It was pretty much me, Brant, and the bikers at this place. I went to the bathroom and came back and one of them was asking Brant for directions somwhere - guess he blended in with the scenery with his cowboy boots and belt :) We got back on the road and headed to Cheyenne, WY with plenty of gas! We got there about 6:30 and went to the Old Downtown area. The highlight of my day wa 
Day 5: Custer State Park, SD
We left Mitchell and drove to Custer State Park. The landscape was amazing! We stopped to drive the Badland's Scenic Loop - about 23 miles. We weren't really sure what the Badlands were - neither of us had ever been there - we were amazed!! We got around and did a little climbing, but drove most of the way. We saw signs for about 200 miles for the 'Wall Drug' in Rapid City, SD. So, after driving through the Badlands, we stopped to see what the fuss was! It was a really big old drug store that had a restaurant, souvenier store, and homemade ice cream and doughnut shoppe. We stopped to eat dinner there and then headed to the Park. We got to the park about 8PM and were rounding a corner and just about destroyed a pack of buffalo!!! Brant almost cussed - haha! They we
re unbelievable - they were right next to the car and blocking the road. We made it to the park, and spent the night in the State Game Lodge. We took a run this morning along one of the trails and are now headed for Mount Rushmore! We hope we get internet in the next few days! We're staying in Cheyenne, WY tonight :)
Day 4: Mitchell, SD
We're catching up on the blog because we haven't had internet for a few days! I picked up Brant at the airport on Saturday and we headed to Mitchell, SD. We stopped in Kansas City for lunch at the Smokehouse because Brant heard that Kansas City had great BBQ - and it was! We got to Mitchell about 8PM and were greeted by the whole Vermeulen gang! Seth's grandma, who we were staying with, had made a big dinner and they were all waiting on us to eat. We got to hang out with everyone Saturday night and then toured the town of Mitchell on Sunday before we left. It's a really small town with lots of farmers and not much else, but it's really cool. We did 
stop by to see the famous "corn palace" and Cabela's. Brant was a good boy at Cabela's and we were only there about 10 minutes and left empty handed! A couple of Seth's uncles are farmers, so we stopped by their houses to check out their land and animals. Brant enjoyed the land, and i enjoyed the animals :) I was really excited because one of his uncles told us to come by and see his baby pigs. So, in my mind, I was going to get to hold this cute little baby pink pig - not the case! He was taking us around the barn to the pigs, and I almost couldn't round the corner because it smelled so bad! And the baby's were not pink, and they weighed about 100lbs 
and they were covered in mud! We had a great time in Mitchell and left on Sunday to drive to Custer State Park, SD! It was a beautiful 5 hour drive through South Dakota!!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Day 3: Holt Summit, Missouri
Yesterday morning, I left Ft. Campbell and headed to MO to stay with our friends Travis and Amy. Travis is a friend of mine and Brant's, but I had never met his wife Amy. On Monday, I called Travis to let him know I would still be coming on Friday and I'd call Amy when I was on my way to give her a heads up. So, as I was leaving KY, I gave her a call. She kind of sounded surprised when I told her that I was on my way and would be there around 5. Then proceded to tell me that they were at the hospital because Travis had to have his appendix removed! I offered to stay somewhere else, but they insisted that I still come stay with them. I got to their house and they had just gotten home from the hospital about an hour before. Amy was very sweet and had made dinner for us! We talked for awhile at the table until Travis was about to faceplant into his food from taking pain medication - haha. He went to bed about 6:30 for the rest of the night, so Amy and I got to know each other and had a nice time talking. She worked in Glacier National Park one summer and had lots of fun pictures that she shared with me, and gave me some good places f
or us to stay when we get there. She told me later that night that Travis told her awhile ago that I would be there on August 1st, but forgot to remind her this week that I would be there on Friday - so I was kind of a surprise :) They have a really nice condo that overlooks the state capital and faces the west, so they have really cool sunsets from their back porch! We hit the hay early as we both had had a long day! I left this morning about 8am and am on my way to pick up Brant at the airport in Kansas City. Amy sent me on my way with a bag of chocolate chip cookies and a few blueberry muffins - thanks Amy!! I got here a little early, so I found a Mickey D's to get the internet! I think we have finally reached the land of "No Sweet Tea!". haha. After I pick up Brant, we are driving about 6 hours to Mitchell, South Dakota to stay with our friend Seth's family!! Brant is excited as he's been there several times with Seth to go pheasant hunting. Hopefully we will stay on track with the schedule, as I think I'll have to drag Brant out of the Cabela's there!!Friday, August 1, 2008
Day 2: Fort Campbell, KY
Yesterday, I left Knoxville and drove 3 hours to Fort Campbell to say with our friends the Kitson's. Jake was 2 years ahead of Brant in dental school at UAB and is doing kind of the same thing Brant is doing with the military except he's with the Army. Jake is with a special forces unit and will be depoloyed to Afghanistan this February for a few months. Jake is married to Erika who is a stay at home mom with their two cuties - Madison and Jacob. I got to their house a little after lunch time and the kids were about to go down for a nap. Erika and I got to spend a nice afternoon chatting about military life, kids, and moving. It was really nice to be able to talk to her since she's been through everything Brant and I are about to go through (not the kids part :) haha) When the kids woke up from their nap, I got to play with them for awhile - which I LOVED! Brant warned Jake and Erika efore I got there to keep an eye on me because I might try to smuggle one of their kids into my bag! Jake got home from work and they cooked a wonderful steak dinner which was a treat since we'll be eating out on the road for the next few weeks! We had a little time to hang out after dinner with the kids before they hit the sack and we weren't very far behind! I left their house this morning and am headed to Misour
ri to stay with Travis and Amy! I am currently at a McDonald's in West City, Illinois because they have FREE WiFi!!! Yay!! Brant graduated from COT this morning and is on his way back to Anderson. He's flying out of Greenville early tomorrow morning and I'm picking him up in Kansas City at 11:30 - can't wait!! Thanks Jake and Erica!!! 