Its been hard to find time to blog! Every day on this trip has been so interesting and exciting and tiring! Each morning we wake early (because we've crossed 3 time zones since leaving Michigan) and we're going until well into the evening, with lots of driving and sightseeing along the way. Tonight, we're at Dawson's Peak Resort, just outside of Teslin, Yukon Territory.

What an incredible trip! I should pick up where I left off, although today has been an amazing day!

After the marathon on Saturday, we spent another night with Judy and Elroy, my cousins in Hoyt Lakes. Then we were on the road by 8:30 Sunday morning. We drove through the iron range towns - Virginia, Hibbing (home of Bob Dylan) - really a very beautiful and interesting area! We stopped at a very neat coffee shop in Grand Rapids, Minnesota (home of Judy Garland), then continued on to Bemidji - or rather, Wilton, which is a small town just west of Bemidji. We had a long day of driving ahead of us, but I couldn't drive thru town without stopping to see my aunts.

My aunt Mavis is my mom's older sister. 86 years young and such a big-hearted woman. Jim says he always remembers her and my mom visiting us just after Walt was born. Mavis would hold Walt out in front of her with 2 hands, lifting him up and down for what seemed hours without getting tired arms! Walt would always calm down and fall asleep when she did that. It was so cool having both Mom and Mavis visiting us during that time - between the 2 of them, we were well-fed, well-rested, the house was spotless, the laundry was done and we were so pampered! They took good care of us. Anyhow, Mavis is doing great. Still lives on her farm (altho doesn't farm anymore) in the house she has lived in for forever. She has beautiful white hair and is very active at the senior center in Bemidji.

We also stopped in to see my aunt Evelyn. Evelyn married my mom's brother, Boyce, who died in World War II. She raised 3 sons, pretty much alone because she and Boyce were apart for much of their short marriage. Her middle son is Elroy, who we stayed with in Hoyt Lakes. Evelyn lives right in the tiny town of Wilton (a few miles from Mavis) and used to be the post-mistress for the town (when it had its own post office). Evelyn is 91 years young and looks fantastic - you'd never guess she is 91! She has written in her journal every day, pretty much all of her adult life. She has been a source of historical information for the historical society and public television.

After our quick visits, we got on US-2 and zipped along to North Dakota and then swung north into Manitoba. We had dinner in Winnipeg and then continued west. We had planned to stop in Yorkton, SK but ended up stopping about 50 miles short of there, dog-tired! Our motel was very nice and we had a fantastic breakfast the next morning before continuing on our way. I can't say a whole lot about Manitoba and Saskatchewan, except that they are very flat - flatter than Nebraska and Iowa! And quite sparsely populated. But everywhere we stopped, the food was fantastic and the people were so very friendly!

Monday night we drove into Edmonton and immediately headed for a brew pub. It had been quite a few very long days of driving and we were ready to let up and kick back for the evening. We had a great meal and beer at a local brew pub and then got a room at a downtown hotel. The place wasn't much to write home about, but the price was right and we just wanted to sleep!

Tuesday morning, we stopped at Tim Horton's for breakfast, hit the grocery store (stocking up on cherries, carrots and snow peas - our favorite road trip snacks!!!) and hit the road. We got to Dawson City around noon and wandered around town, took pictures at the "Alaskan Highway Mile 0 Milepost". We wandered into a few thrift stores - didn't have space for anything, but it felt good to walk around. We did buy a cribbage board and a deck of cards at the Salvation Army. (The cribbage board has no pegs, but Jim found that Tootsie Pop sticks are the perfect size, so he fashioned pegs out of them!)

Tuesday night found us in Fort Nelson. We had a wonderful (altho expensive) room at the Lakeside Inn. It had an in-room jacuzzi, a fireplace and a king-sized bed - along with free breakfast in the morning and free cookies in the lobby. It was withing walking distance of quite a few places, so we were able to walk to dinner.

I'm going to post this blog so that I don't lose it. More coming...