June 10, 2012

6/8/12 WATSON LAKE, YUKON

6/8/12  WATSON LAKE, YUKON
A 12 pack of bottled water $10.25 (ironically called Gold Water).
Miracle Whip (650 ml = that’s a large bottle) $5.99.
A load of laundry is $2.50 to wash and $2.50 to dry.
As we were packing up at Liard River HotSprings two bison came down the street in front of our camp site.  They are such majestic creatures.  It was amazing to see them go from site to site grazing.  I got plenty of pictures, but haven’t had fast enough wifi to post them on the blog.

Our trip to Watson Lake was incredible!  We saw Bison alongside the road, then bears.  Many bears.   First a couple of black bears but we passed to quickly to get a good look.  Then we came upon a mama grizzly and her two cubs!  They were amazing.  We pulled over and watched them for a good long while, taking many pictures.  The mama grazed on flowers while the young cubs played.   They were so stinking cute!  And right on the side of the road, very close to us.  They put on a show for us.  After a while they crossed the street on went  down the hill side.  On down the road we came upon a black bear on the side of the road.  We pulled over and took pictures.  At one point he was so close to my side of the truck I rolled up the window a bit, because I’m a scaredy cat like that.  This is a day I will never forget. 

We arrived in Watson Lake to find out Alaska Highway 1 has been washed out on up the road a little ways.  They have it closed off.  Another highway, the Campbell highway that heads more North is also washed out & closed.  And the only other road out of here is the one we came in on and guess what?  It washed out behind us and is now closed also.  I didn’t think we got that much rain, but apparently they did upstream, and along with the snow melt it was too much.  Looks like we’ll be Spending several days here in Watson Lake.  There is not much to do here. 

6/9/12  Saturday - We visited the information center today and watched an 18 minute film about the Klondike and construction of the Alaska Highway which was pretty interesting.  Then we visited the Northern Lights Center and watched a film in a domed theatre setting about the aurora borealis.  That was pretty neat and interesting as well.  This afternoon we went on a hike by Lucy Lake not far from town.  The weather today is in the 70’s, absolutely beautiful.  I need to do laundry as we have not done any since traveling, 6 weeks now?  Yikes, I may need to buy more undies if we keep this up.  I’m down to my dirty clothes and dirtier clothes.  I wanted to do laundry today but the laundry mat was full and I wanted to enjoy the beautiful weather.  The prediction is we’ll get one more day of this nice weather and then more rain.  I’ll wash do laundry on a rainy day and enjoy this sunshine while I can. 

There are so many rv’s and truckers stuck in this little town, it’s an awful sight.  Rv parks are full, people are parked all along the road, in every parking lot and pull out along the road.  This certainly is an unexpected delay.  Hopefully they’ll get the road fixed very soon and we’ll be on our way.  Luckily we don’t have anything pressing to get to, other than my brother Wes might fly into Anchorage the 2nd weekend in July.  We initially planned to be in Anchorage a week before he arrives.  We have some time to play with but will certainly be there when he is if he does indeed make the trip.

This town has one grocery store and not much else.  A nice place to stay a night or two with full hook ups to top off the electrical system.  We are squeezed into our sites like sardines. There are no accommodations left in Watson Lake. Word has it the road from Muncho Lake has opened up one lane of traffic so more folks are funneling into Watson Lake and nowhere to go. 

6/10/12 Sunday – WATSON LAKE, YUKON
Diesel in Liard Hotsprings, Canada $7.49/gal.
We are all still stranded in Watson Lake, the word is they will have the road open in 48 hours, at least that long.  Today we took a drive out to Watson Lake’s small private airport. We heard there was an interesting museum and it is located by Lake (Watson Lake).  The museum actually is the airport.  It’s tiny but very interesting, photos on the walls with narratives next to them.  We drove out to the provincial camp ground just outside of town to check it out.  It was very nice, forested with lots of space between sites, but extremely buggy.  Mosquito’s swarmed our truck so bad we didn’t even want to get out.  The road into the campground was 1 ½ miles down a rough road.  I think we’ll stay in town where we are now.  Norm went to the office and extended our stay two more nights. The owner has a list of 42 people that want in here.  Boy, everyone is sure antsy to get out of here.  I’m sitting in the laundry room now washing my dirty and dirtier clothes.  Norm is doing maintenance on the truck and mopping the RV floors.  Geez, I wish they had a movie theatre here, or a restaurant, or anything! 

Wifi is to slow to post pictures.  "(




 

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