Merry Christmas in June!

We made a stop in at North Pole, Alaska. It had everything! We saw the pole, reindeer, and even hung out with Santa. Apparently he likes to go fishing out of Oceanside and knows the Miramar pyramid.

Making new friends

So we gotta tell you about our camping neighbors in Dawson. Espen and Malin are from Norway. They have a sweet custom built 2004 Nissan Patrol (Australian version) that they had shipped to Florida. They drove from there to Alaska and are now going head south all the way to South America. It's an amazing trip that they are doing and we were in awe of their stories so far.

Last night we dragged them out for some of the night life in Dawson, an we had a great time at the casino and the local bars.

Check out their website to see their adventures:
http://www.unurban.no/
We're excited to watch their adventures as they continue south!

One of the real delights of our trip so far has been meeting all of the cool and crazy people along the way. Yukon Dave in Whitehorse, Espen and Malin last night... And I still have to explain about Calgary Bob and Capt Mark, but that will be another post.

Who will we meet in Alaska??

Made it to Alaska!

The top of the world highway was awesome. The Canada side was not bad at
all, it was a nicely graded gravel road, but the US side was a not very
well maintained dirt road. We were doing a good 60mph in Canada and had to
drop down to 30-40ish once we crossed the border checkpoint. Anyway, we
made it!

The other photo is at Chicken, AK where we stopped for a tasty lunch.
That's basically the entire town right there in the photo.

We're in Delta Junction right now gassing up and on our way to Fairbanks!

Leaving Dawson

Time to drive the top of the world highway.

Last night was epic. Photo of the can-can show at Diamond Tooth Gertie's.

I'll tell you about the 'toe' later.

Dawson

Wow. Dawson is pretty cool. For you video game fans, its basically like
walking around in Blackwater from RDR but there are cars instead of horses.

Ben and I have stopped into the restaurant in the Downtown Hotel and then
plan to visit the local saloons and the see the show at Diamond Tooth
Gertie's casino. Should be a very interesting night!

We also met some awesome neighbors tonight at our campsite. We'll talk
about them more later but they are doing our dream road trip - the
Trans-America highway!

Made it to Dawson!

Just outside of town we took the detour to see Dredge #4, the largest
dredger in the north america... It was HUGE!! I can't imagine what it was
like when it was a rock eating and rock pooping monster.

And of course nothing I love better then abandoned vehicles in the middle
of nowhere!

Tonight we will explore Dawson

Road work in the Yukon

We're on highway 2 between Carmacks and Dawson. As usual around here, lots
of roadwork going on in the long gravel stretches. We waited here in the
middle of nowhere for about half an hour before the 'follow me' truck led
us down the road.

The plan for the rest of today is get in some fishing on our way to Dawson,
then roll into town to check out the crazy nightlife.

It's a quarter to midnight

And it's totally light out...

Crazy up here's.

Yukon needs beer lessons

Tried 2 different IPAs tonight. Worst ever.

Yukon Brewing Company Ice Fog IPA - deep amber color, no hops smell or
taste at all, tasted like a stale Killian's red
(Yukon Brewing Co's slogan is 'Beer worth freezing for')

Alexander Keith's IPA - pale yellow, kind of smells like poop, again no
hops at all. Nothing Ale about it, its like Heinekin stopped caring.

Ben tried...

Rickard's Red - probably the best we had, but not good. Way too sweet.

Kokanee (in the bottle) - A basic Canadian lager. It's actually good, and
delivers on what it advertises.

... Good thing we have Hale's Mongoose IPA from Seattle waiting for us at
camp!

Oh yeah... It's 11pm and totally light out. Sunset is no where in sight.

100 miles to Whitehorse

It's really nice out here. The scenery has been awesome to see as we roll
on by.

Its almost 8pm and its totally daylight out.

When we went to bed at the camp last night at 11:30 it was still totally
light out. It's crazy having these loooong days. I wouldn't want to be here
in the winter.

Signpost Forrest at Watson Lake, Yukon

We made it to the Yukon!! Our first stop was at the famous Signpost
Forrest. There are a TON of signs here. Just by chance, we found a Poway
sign!

So the original plan was to drive north from here and camp at Ross River.
However, the drive today has been a bit longer then expected and we've been
told the drive there takes six hours or longer thru a rough and tumble
road. So now we are thinking we'll head west toward Whitehorse and find a
place to camp near there.

So far roadtrip animal totals are:
5 bears
2 cariboo
5 mooses
2 dead mooses
and
1 HUGE herd of buffalo!

Just to reassure everyone, we are totally safe and everything is going
well!

Time to hit the road!

Lunch at Muncho Lake

Totally perfect lunchtime have sandwiches and a beer while sitting on a
dock at Muncho Lake.

Our makeshift bear box was succesful!

Successful at attracting some attention from somebody. Fortunately Jeff
was smart and put the duct-taped cooler on top of the food bin. They got
ahold of Jeff's bathroom bag, ate the strap off then gave up.

Camping was good though. Got one bite at the lake, but then the fish wised
up to our game. We are back on the road and still killing stowaway
mosquitos. Next stop Fort Nelson for some gas.

Oh and thanks for the radar detector scott! Working like a charm.

Chetwynd - the Chainsaw Sculpture Capital of the World

Stopped for a while in Chetwynd to make some sandwiches and check out the
chainsaw sculptures. We had our first roadside bear sighting today!

Passing thru the Canadian Rockies

Awesome drive thru BC so far as we travel north from Prince George.

Tim Horton's and Hale's Mongoose IPA helped us with a little channeling of Bob and Doug on our first night in Canada. Hey we earned it. We watched people run a long ways today.

Saying Howdy to Cariboo Sam

A quick stop in Cache Creek for lunch and gas.
Cell service has been a lot spottier then expected. We're not sure how
often we'll be able to update but we will try our best!

Take off, eh!

Hey you hosers! We're in Canada, eh!

Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon

Before hitting the road, we made a stop by Quest Field to see the finish
line of the marathon. Ben's friend Michele ran a half marathon, and she was
extra awesome and gave us a gas card for our trip! We celebrated with a
Seattle style cream cheese polish dog. Nom.

Next stop, WalMart in Marysville for some supplies, then to the Canadian
Border!

Packed and loaded

Got the jeep, and got it all packed! Here we go!
-Jeff

Made it San Francisco

I have a brief stop here at SFO before heading up to Seattle. So far
everything has been good, no delays at all.
-Jeff

North to Alaska

Go north, the rush is on!

Final preparations are in the works for tomorrow's departure. One more trip to the store and we're good (I think? ha). Camping, fishing, exploring, and beering tales to come soon.

Also, I'll be sure to take a picture of Russia while we're in Wasilla.

Getting close

Years in the making. Discussed over countless beers. It's finally here.

Ben and Jeff are DRIVING to ALASKA.

Here's our plan:

The entire trip is planned to take two weeks and will take us from Seattle, thru British Columbia and the Yukon Territory to as far north as Fairbanks. We got a rental Jeep all lined up and are just about packed and ready to go.

Tomorrow night I fly up to Seattle to meet up with Ben and we depart first thing Saturday morning.

Alaska Highway, here we come!