BOYA TO SKAGWAY

We were actually sad to leave Stewart as the kids had made good friends with Bernard and Alaska. The boys exchanged phone numbers (which I know they won’t be phoning) and full names for kid’s messenger and hope to meet up again. Maybe if we get to Michigan. Bernard’s Nana said they would have stayed a day longer if we were staying, but we had already planned to move on. I could see staying in a place another day just for the kids to have other company besides us. Nancy, Bernard’s Nana, told us that they had been traveling for 20 days and we were the first kids that they had run into for Bernard to play with. Hope we have better luck! Bernard you were so great, telling my boys about your 50 sheep, few cows and chickens. His parents sold their house in Arizona, bought a motorhome with their family of 5 and traveled across the states until they found this little town in Michigan with less than 300 people, then bought a 27 acre farm and made it home! Wow! What a story. 

Boya is a stunning lake with turquoise coloured water and it is an amazing Provincial Park. Cheap at $20 a night with clean pit toilets (yay for Natalie and Gibson- we are the most picky). The boys have rented kayaks and are out fishing on the lake. The only draw back is the wasps. They seem to be exceptional bad this year as Smithers and Stewart also had the same problem. 

We are planning on staying 4 nights here as we snagged a spot right on the lake and it’s just so darn beautiful. We will play some cribbage and crazy 8’s tonight to pass the time. 

It is finally sinking in that this is life right now…. I am trying to stop micro-managing things as there is no reason to. I don’t have to get people to school or a summer camp or work, etc. 

We have spent a few days looking ahead and figuring out our route up North. With children, the long hauls are not ideal and are they even really worth it? Just to say you did? Case and point is the Dempster highway and making it to Tuktoyaktuk. So we have decided not to pursue long drives just to see the landscape along the way.

While we were packing up the site, Wyatt said this location was one of his favourite spots as we did not go anywhere. We just stayed at the campsite and hung out.  We learned a new card game called golf, rented a canoe and hung out.

All 4 of us had lake showers on the 3rd day to get clean. They all remarked how refreshing it felt. Hmm.. I just felt cold, but I did jump in. It’s funny how the kids are not as inclined to see what we think they should see or experience, as much as they are to just hang out with us.

We had a rough night in Whitehorse that followed Boya Lake. We needed hot showers and some laundry facilities. To make a long story short, we had no internet for those days at Boya and so we were not able to pre-book anything. Where we thought we would stay, in Tagish, was really $200/night for a cabin with no facilities, which was not what we had hoped, so we made a detour to Whitehorse for the night. Thinking a bigger city would equal an easier time finding what we needed. UGH! No rooms available and what was available was was either close to $500 for less than 14 hours and a couple beds, or $230 for a hotel where the guy at the front counter gave me the room key (an actual key) and told me look at the room before I decided on it. Lets just say, that I tried to get an airbnb but to no avail, so our options were running out and it was 8pm. So I took the room, begrudgingly. I think if we did not need a hot shower, and also it being so late, I would have rather camped.  Next morning, 3 hrs to Skagway, Alaska.

What another beautiful drive. Like going to Stewart, it was truly stunning and I made Adam stop numerous times along the way. We saw the Carcross desert and the rest of the ever-changing landscape.  Adam and I decided 3-4 hours is about the length of time we can all tolerate being in the car together. 

We drove past/thru Skagway and made our way to Dyea (20 min away) where the Gold Rush Historical Park was located. Here we got a campsite right own the ocean/river.  I was excited to call this place home for 3 nights. 

The next morning we got up and headed to the town of Skagway to explore, however; on our way, a mouse decided to crawl out from under our hood and say hi through our windshield. SHIT!!!! I panicked, of course. Told Adam he needed to park pronto and deal with it.  Anyone who knows me knows I cannot handle bugs and rodents. Right, why am I camping? I don’t know! 

We explored the town of Skagway. It is truly an historical town, with everything built and restored to look like the gold rush era. The kids just wanted ice cream (single scoops for everyone and it was $29 US. Ouch! Next, we checked out the cruise ships which were cool, then hit up their local park and library. At the library the kids proceeded to get lego sets and do them. Oh, and of course we picked up a box of mice deterrent pouches. Upon coming home to our tent, the rain started…. And oh did it rain. Lug-a-loo was broken in!!  By the morning water was dripping on us, and when we went to get dressed we realized that water had come up from the ground and was in our tent. Our air mattresses and sleeping bags were wet. Another grumpy face. The weather seemed to lighten and I was thinking of going into Skagway to use the dryer to dry our stuff, but first coffee. Adam and I made breakfast and coffee. Okay now we could contemplate the day. The weather had improved drastically, and we ended up using some road barriers (for a blocked road) to hang our sleeping bags, sweaters and jackets. We ended up moving the whole tent to a neighbouring site, that was more level, and we put another tarp over for protection. 

The kids spent literally the whole day making a fire (we’re allowed in Alaska- it’s pretty wet and green here), chopping kindling and whittling sticks into more arrows, or spoons, or whatever they came up with. Once again, staying at the campsite and just camping is the kid’s favourite. Maybe next time I’ll just bring them to Okanagan South campground for a month! Ha ha! 

We are off to Haines tomorrow on the Alaskan Marine Ferry.

One month is officially done!  How did we do for budget??? For our first month…. $10,362. Dang, it was actually more like 9500, but I added all the extra costs we still incur while traveling: health insurances, life insurance, car insurance, internet and our phone plans.  

I’m actually think that I’m pretty happy with the outcome. We will see how the next month goes. We feel that we are going to head home after my course ( August 11-13) in Whitehorse is done. We will head down on the Alaska hwy and over into Alberta and back thru the Kootenays on our way home. No Haida Gwaii this time as we still can’t get a ferry until September. We are aiming to be home beginning of September and are excited for the motorhome…. You have no idea!