It's been interesting to tell people over the last few months what we have planned for the next year or so of our lives. When we tell people that we are moving our family of six into a travel trailer and driving with no real destination until we can't stand being away from Alaska any more there are two general reactions. 1) "that's so cool!" or 2) "that's crazy!". Most days my own reaction to our plan to take the ultimate field trip is that it is such a cool, unique opportunity that we just can't pass up, but I confess that during the planning process and the expedited beginning of our journey I had more than one day when I wondered if we are, in fact, certifiable. I'm still not certain, but I am certain of this -- if it's crazy then it's the good kind of crazy.
So, John started terminal leave on the 20th and we pulled out of the Anderson driveway (so many humble thank yous to the sweet family who allowed us to completely crash their space and their lives as they traversed their own transitions) in North Pole, AK on the 23rd and we arrived in Seattle late last night. Here are the highlights in photos (I'll save the lowlights for another day!):
Our Alaska friends will quickly recognize that this was taken at The Knotty Shop, and quickly chuckle when I tell you that it took us two hours to get there! There were so many delays the first day that we ended up stopping 90 miles short of our intended goal for the day. By the time we got to a hotel in Tok, the kids were so tired that this is how they slept...
And this is the beautiful weather we pulled out into the next day.
One foot in Alaska and one foot in Canada. It's (not) surprisingly difficult to pull your foot to the right.
Most of your probably aren't surprised to find out that a lot of our trip looked like this. There was calcium spraying going on for incredibly long distances of Yukon highway.
We saw tons of wildlife, but these goats were the only thing that my camera was ready for. There were easily 70 of these things hanging out in the road just past Destruction Bay, YT.
(And also, nothing ever scares me so badly as when everything is quiet in the car and John sees a wild animal. He goes from 0 to 100 in no time. I'm sure that he's had a more delayed reaction when I've been choking on food :))
We played the 'what do you see in the clouds' game a lot. The odd cloud formations are one of my favorite things about the far north.
We stopped in the beautiful village of Teslin to stretch our legs (and get a quick lesson in salmon migration management in the Yukon).
The scenery was beautiful.
And when I looked in my rear view mirror and saw this, I knew definitely that if this is indeed crazy, it's the good kind. (And then I quickly told this child to put their hand back in the car!)
Our kids loved seeing the First Nations totem gardens.
One of my favorite things about Canada was that they have left tons of old Anglican and Orthodox churches to age in place. The buildings had beautiful character and I love thinking about believers gathering there to worship.
This kid. C'mon.
Originally, we planned on camping from Smithers, BC down to Seattle, but we hit a bunch of rain. The kids were disappointed, but John found a hotel with a triple bunk bed and a pool, so all disappointments were quickly forgotten.
Roadschool chores.
Gunnar won the prize for Best Quote While in Canada. He likes to read every road sign and after seeing one that he obviously could not decipher he said "Dad, did you see that sign? Look out ahead for flying cars".
Everywhere we stopped for a restroom and running break was gorgeous. Everyone was really excited to find this working water pump at one rest stop.
Pants Free Lunch!
Another old church. So beautiful.
We stopped on a random road to check out this river and all of the salmon that were huddling together to get through the rapids.
On our last day in BC we stopped for lunch and school at this beautiful lake in the Fraser Canyon. There was a man panning for gold in the lake and he and John struck up a conversation, which led to the man showing the kids some fools gold and a bunch of other cool rocks (that he knew the names for, though I still don't) that he had found while driving through BC from Alberta.
We closed out Canada with a dinner visit with my little sister and my sweet nieces and new nephew in White Rock. I hadn't seen them in five and a half years, so it was wonderful to talk to the girls and hear what is going on in their lives now and what they are aspiring to as young women.
(And here's what happens when you try to take a picture of seven children from six months to thirteen with two cameras at once...)
We got hung up at the Peace Arch Crossing (and if I were still inclined to soapbox politics and criminal justice in public forum this whole post might have been about border crossing procedures), so we didn't get into our hotel in SeaTac until midnight, but we made it back to America and spent today doing school and laundry and just not being in the car.
This kid took a nap in the middle of all of the ruckus.
We have a couple of things up our sleeve for the kids in Seattle tomorrow, and then we are heading East to hang out with McBeans and get ready for the next leg of our adventure.
We have been so blessed over the last few months to be covered in prayer for easy transition and safe travels. A million thank yous to all of you who have been praying for us! I promise I'll make an effort to keep this updated with pictures and info about where we are and where we are headed. And lots of pictures :)
Pants Free Lunch!
Another old church. So beautiful.
We stopped on a random road to check out this river and all of the salmon that were huddling together to get through the rapids.
On our last day in BC we stopped for lunch and school at this beautiful lake in the Fraser Canyon. There was a man panning for gold in the lake and he and John struck up a conversation, which led to the man showing the kids some fools gold and a bunch of other cool rocks (that he knew the names for, though I still don't) that he had found while driving through BC from Alberta.
We closed out Canada with a dinner visit with my little sister and my sweet nieces and new nephew in White Rock. I hadn't seen them in five and a half years, so it was wonderful to talk to the girls and hear what is going on in their lives now and what they are aspiring to as young women.
(And here's what happens when you try to take a picture of seven children from six months to thirteen with two cameras at once...)
We got hung up at the Peace Arch Crossing (and if I were still inclined to soapbox politics and criminal justice in public forum this whole post might have been about border crossing procedures), so we didn't get into our hotel in SeaTac until midnight, but we made it back to America and spent today doing school and laundry and just not being in the car.
This kid took a nap in the middle of all of the ruckus.
We have a couple of things up our sleeve for the kids in Seattle tomorrow, and then we are heading East to hang out with McBeans and get ready for the next leg of our adventure.
We have been so blessed over the last few months to be covered in prayer for easy transition and safe travels. A million thank yous to all of you who have been praying for us! I promise I'll make an effort to keep this updated with pictures and info about where we are and where we are headed. And lots of pictures :)
