Day 8!

For all of you that are using this as a geography lesson for your children (and husbands) here is the skinny on where we were today. We started in Valleyview, Alberta (about 215 miles northwest of Edmonton), we drove west 73 miles to Grande Prairie, then 79 miles west/northwest to Dawson Creek, British Columbia (B.C.) then 47 miles northwest to Fort St. John B.C. The trip was a total of about 200 miles. There were many other towns that we went through so here are the details.

We slept in again this morning since we were not going that far today and woke to an extra 3~4 inches of snow on the ground on top of the about 4~5 inches that was already there. We left our motel in Valleyview after a full hot free breakfast about 10:00.

We enjoyed a leisurely drive drive up Highway 43 toward Grande Prairie. It "flurried" as predicted most of the way there. Of course they say flurry but that flurry we had today would have closed schools in TN for at least a few days if not a week. Here are a couple of pics taken along the way: The first one is a frozen river covered in snow, the next is the snow blowing across the road at 20~30 kilometers (so the radio said). The farther north and west we go, the deeper the snow gets.

When we arrived in Grande Prairie we had to navigate through town, thank goodness for road signs:

We then traveled through a little town called Beaverlodge. Check out there welcome sign:

32 miles later we crossed into B.C. and suddenly gained an hour by also passing into the Pacific Time Zone.

We then passed an area where we were supposed to "Watch for deer", but we didn't see any here. We did see some later though and they had to leap across the field they were in because the snow was so deep. We also saw a Coyote cross the road in front of us on the highway. Sorry no pics of these. :-(

We then made it to Dawson Creek and the official start of the Alaskan Highway.

We then had to stop for gas and snacks just on the outside of Dawson Creek. Extra Foods, is kind of like a Food City or Kroger with a gas station, but instead of having a card that gives you discounts on gas, you earn $$$ toward food at the grocery every time you buy gas. I bought a 12 pack of Mtn. Dew for $1.27 (Canadian currency which is about $1.12 American) after my $$$ coupon. By the way, it is really hard to find Mtn. Dew in Canada. A lot of restaurants have Pepsi products as their drinks, but they do not have Mtn. Dew. It is really sad. The 12 pack I bought was one of only 6 packs on the shelf. There were lots and lots of every other kind of drink. I have yet to see Mello Yello anywhere (which is fine b/c I don't like Mello Yello).

We then descended down a 4 mile long 6~10% grade hill into a little town called Taylor. At the base of the hill was a bridge that had a metal grating bridge deck. In case you are confused, as we went across the bridge I looked out the window and down and could see through the bridge - SCARY!!!

We then ended for the day in Fort St. John at about 3:00 this afternoon. It has been dubbed the "Energetic City". There are lots of things to do here, might be fun to visit here between May and September when things are open and you can do more than sit in your hotel room and update a blogspot. There is a good 10-12 inches of snow on the ground here and still snowing.

I hope you have enjoyed today's blog, I know it is long but I thought since I had all this time this afternoon it would be fun to give a more play by play of the day. Tomorrow we plan to make it to Fort Nelson, B.C. which is about 236 miles away.