Whitehorse, YT - Tok, AK
Headed out of Whitehorse early; dawn usually appears well before 5am. Stopped in Haines Junction for some gas, and received a free coke with a gas purchase.
Our drive took us through the Kluane National Park which is home to the St. Elias Mountains - tallest in Canada. Kluane Lake was diverse and beautiful. One section of beach glittered with black sands and another section had tan pluff mud with marsh grasses. (Pluff mud is the marsh mud in usually tidal areas that smells to high heaven and you can easily sink to you knees in if not careful.)
Almost a month, but we are finally in Alaska. Thank goodness I can finally stop hearing about Canadian dollars and the confusion they bestow. Not naming any names....
We drove through the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge and saw beautiful trumpet swans on the lakes below. Unfortunately, I couldn't stop because of all of the road construction.
Road construction. A lot of road construction.
Once in Tok, we checked into Fast Eddy's motel which despite the name, I'm sure is the nicest in town. (We also passed Fast Eddy's Timber on the way into town.) to our surprise, the only grocery store in town is not named for Fast Eddy. Walking into the grocery store, I was struck by the realization of how much I take for granted. I go to the grocery store and have choices and choices of lettuces, kales, spinach, and a variety of greens and even more choices of these greens artfully blended together with cute names like "spring mix". Below is the entire selection of their greens. Many of their items are straight from Costco jumbo packages and sold individually with a large mark up. (This tub of peanut butter filled pretzels retails for about $7 at Costco. I should know, it's one of my favorites.)
We purchased our few necessities for our the next few days and headed back over to Fast Eddy's Restaurant for dinner. (Fast Eddy's Restaurant is also where you check in for Fast Eddy's motel.)
In case you were wondering, my hotel/motel standards have been tremendously challenged on this trip. I'm now okay with a room as long as it's clean and free of any strange odors or stains. (No, Trey, this does not mean we can now stay at the cheapest motels all of the time. Love you!)
Surprisingly enough, Fast Eddy's has good wifi and I was able to publish two more posts and edit photos tonight. I don't anticipate having internet at our next AirBnB, so I'll post more as soon as we have internet again.
The sun set around 10:15 and although I couldn't see it's entirety, it was gorgeous. (Mom is struggling with the long periods of daylight.)
- Day 27 stats: 385 miles, 1 state, 2 NPS, 20 Subarus.
- Running stats: 5,325 miles, 13 states, 26 NPS, 1,382 Subarus.