Cowboys and Aliens

I love cowboys and I love alien movies, so this one was a must see. I also love Harrison Ford AND Daniel Craig. Although some of the critics gave it really bad reviews, this critic gives is a 4.5 out of 5 Stars!

For all of your Daniel Craig lovers, wait until you see him in chaps. Worth the price of admission alone.
The aliens are pretty scary so if you're thinking of taking youngsters - don't. They scared me!

Loved the characters, loved the story line, loved the location shots, just about 15 minutes too long, so for that reason I knocked off 1/2 star. Loved the movie!

FMMF 2011

Just a few more shots of the festival. You are all invited to attend next year!

Frog Mountain Music Festival

Perfect weather for a festival. It was held at the Drury Farm about 20 minutes west of Whitehorse. The first music to be heard was our up-and-coming musicians, aged around 10 years of age, give or take a few years. And were they ever good!
Met up with lots of people. Above Lara, who put on the children's events - toss the frog on the lily pad, throw the bean bag through the wooden frogs mouth, colour pictures of frogs ... and met for the first time little Hunter. It is difficult to see but he does have frogs on his hat and shirt - so cute!

Royalty attended the festival as well. Above is Queen Caroline, who entertained the young ones for the better part of the day.

Brooke was instrumental in this festival taking place. She was working very hard all day and will be right into the wee hours of the morning. Her friends from New Zealand (but currently living in Qatar) were able to join in the festivities. And believe it or not SR was able to get off work to enjoy the day.

The music was under the big tent, so even if it rained, it would be enjoyable. No problems though, the day was hot and sunny.

Little Ella had her face painted and enjoyed a ride on grandad Don's shoulders.
There was something for everyone including delicious salad and elk burgers, right from the Drury's farm.

Home again, home again ...

Drove into the Yukon and although I know we have had more rain than a semi-arid climate is suppose to have, the rain stopped, the warmth came and I actually saw blue sky - something I have not seen since I left the Yukon. And for the first time in two weeks, I took off my coat. What a welcome home.

Alaska Highway - Day 2 , Continued

The plus side of leaving so early in the morning is that that is when the moose are active. I must have seen at least six moose, one of the viewings was 'moose perfect' ... a small lake with mountains in the background and a moose standing full side view at the edge of the lake. If it wasn't pouring with rain, and if I wasn't on a curve on a mountain road that had no shoulder to it, and if I was travelling a bit slower than 100 kilometers/hour, I would have taken a picture. As it is, you just have to believe me.



Found the bison on this trip. They were dotting the landscape. I even pulled over to take some photos for Kristin's friend Lauren (what a lovely name!). They didn't seem to mind the weather and were viewed for much of my drive. And it looks like there is no doubt the herd will survive as I saw many little ones (light brown in colour) in the group.


Now, I saw moose, bison, elk (wapiti), deer, and a surprising number of carcasses on the side of the road, but I didn't see bear. This surprised me as I viewed about a dozen on the drive south. Around 11 AM, the bear sitings began. So apparently, bear like to sleep in, especially on dull, rainy days. It was difficult to get a good photo of this guy as he always had his head down eating. When he did lift his head, the grasses were so tall you could hardly see him anyway. The vegetation shows just how much rain this area has had in the last while. (also, sorry for the split photo of the bear - this site is just adding the photos I choose however it wants to)


Every time I saw a bear I wished I could share the experience with Dawson, as he has not yet seen a bear in the wild. Maybe one day we can travel together and view the wildlife.

Alaska Highway - Day 2

The weather forecast for day two of my travels was thunder storms all day. So when I awoke at 5 AM and looked out the window, I saw an overcast sky but no rain - and the oversized loaded vehicles parked outside just starting to wake up. I was on the road within the hour. It was not long before I drove into the rain. The road north of Fort Nelson climbs quickly. You are soon at the top of a mountain. And with rain that means fog. And very dense fog it was. Luckily it lasted about 10 minutes. Then it was just rain, rain, rain, rain. The beauty of the land is diminished in this weather. I was glad I didn't have a first-time highway traveller with me. It would have been disappointing to them. Above is a photo of beautiful Muncho Lake. Travelling along this lake is a highlight for me. The road hugs the glacial waters for kilometers, reflecting the mountains and sky. As you can see, it was not so impressive on this day.

Saw a lot of motorcyclists. Felt sorry for them travelling in this weather. Also saw a lot - and I mean a lot - of bicyclists. I felt more sorry for them as not only are they pedaling the mountain roads, usually along the white line (as the shoulder of the road - if there even is a shoulder - is usually gravel), but they are being passed by semi's like the one above that spits up gravel and water galore.
I had about nine hours of rain. I thought of Noah and wondered if anyone has recently been commissioned to build an arc.

Up the Highway

Left my apartment this morning - forever. It will be odd when I visit Edmonton again that I will not be staying there.
Had quite the trip up the highway.
The fog was pretty thick just outside of Edmonton. Those rain clouds finally fell right down to earth.
Besides construction at Taylor BC (remember that show where the whole town was overweight and had to lose a bunch of weight? well that was Taylor). They are rebuilding the road and I had to wait about 1/2 hour to get through. With all the rain that they have had it is amazing that the slide area didn't hit the road as it looked very unstable as I drove by it.
Heard on the radio that Demmit (sp??) had torrential rains last night and the highway was opened but as water has covered the road the speed limit was 50 K. I didn't know where that town was but alas, not 10 minutes later, I was driving slowly through the water along the road.
I expect there truly is a mining boom up north. I has to pass a caravan of about 20 oversized vehicles and their pilot cars; then' on the odd occasion' I had to pass other oversized vehicles. They are carrying trailers for crew as well as massive plastic tanks and some cement things. Passing one is sometimes a challenge. Passing 20 altogether was a larger challenge.
Then the lightning started. I wondered if I should be driving in the lightning. It didn't really matter as there was no place to pull into anyway. I would either be driving in lightning or sitting in my car in lightning. So I drove and wondered.
I then passed through a swarm of some type of bug. They looked like helicopter bugs. I couldn't really tell what type of bug they were, but they were large (almost dragonfly size) and black and when they squished on the windshield they were black and red. And there were millions of them. I could say they blackened the sky but that would not be true. But there were an awful lot of them. It reminded me of the swarm of locusts that ate all the crops on the prairies.
Then the rains came. Fast and hard. The road became a river and it was almost impossible to see out the windshield. I have never seen all the cars pull over onto the side of the road just for rain. But they did today.
So, after a 11-1/2 hour drive, have made it half way home. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Going, Going, ...

And soon to be gone. New owners take possession on Friday. It's looking pretty empty today. My truck in packed and I still have room so off to Costco I go!

Jenn, Brent and Dawson are the new owners of SR's Lazee Boy couch as well as that bulky blue recliner. They seem to be very happy with their new pieces of furniture. Dawson has grown his hair and it looks great on him. He is a true Ball Player now and you can tell by hit t-shirt and cap, a true Ball Fan. We went to see Cars 2 in 3D last night. My very first 3D movie. It was fun.

Hard to see the rain in this picture, but it is there. Clearing out the apt is going well. So far a bible 2nd hand store was very pleased with the kitchen items and the condo board was very happy with their new desk. Tonight, Jenn and Brent will be very happy with their new couch and chair. So other than the lousy weather, there seems to be very happy people here!
Gas here is $1.089/litre. That makes me very happy. I wish I could take some of the cheap stuff up the highway with me.
Also visited Petco on the weekend and saw the huge turtle that comes in every Sunday to stroll around the large store for exercise. The turtles name is Franklin.
Still have lawyers and more furniture to dispose of but all in all, the move seems to be going smoothly.

Rain rain rain

Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain and did I say rain?

Half Way There

This bison crossed the road then immediately stuck its head down to eat and didn't bring it back up, so sorry Kristin, this is the only photo I took of a Bison, even tho I saw two of them. Interestingly, I didn't see the herd at its usual spot, so don't know if they moved themselves or if they were moved by humans or if they were all sleeping in the tall grass, but I doubt that was the case.

Saw 9 black bears and if I had eagle-eye Sue with me would probably have seen more. I was trying to keep track of all I saw to impress Joan as she does such a good job of documenting all the animals we see. I did see a moose as well and also a dead raven - the first dead raven I have ever seen.

At a pit stop in Watson Lake, took this pic of the Sign Post Forest. There are over 7,000 signs of people's cities/states/provinces/streets. Didn't wander through as I was on a mission.

One 11 hour drive under my belt and one 12 hour drive to look forward to tomorrow.

4th of July in Skagway

Besides all the cruise ship passengers, all the locals were on the streets, selling hotdogs, beer, and rubber ducky tickets. It was fun to see everyone enjoying themselves!

We watched the egg toss. Participants stood about 4 feet apart for the first toss. Each pair took one step back for the second toss. Each pair took one step back for the third toss ... and so one. Skagway holds the Guinness Book of World Records Title for this event!
The dogs get to lick up the misses afterwards.


Sorry these photos didn't come up in order but here is Kristin in Alaska! As you can see, the weather held and we had quite a decent day, although a jacket was required.

And guess who we met. No other than Sarah Palin!! with fish!! They even had a Sarah Palin shop, so if you want a plate with her photo on it, just let me know.

Heading to Skagway

Stopped in Carcross as we made our way to Skagway today. Lots of construction going on in this small town. Almost didn't recognize it. Above Kristin is standing on the new viewing deck at Bennett Lake. The roads are being re-routed and paved, there is a new Visitors Centre as well as a Tutshi Paddlewheeler structure (in remembrance of the boat that once was).

Loved this sign in Matthew Watson's General Store. We don't mince our words here in the Yukon!

Got to the US Customs and was surprised to see all those cameras mounted. Back in the old days, we would just breeze through saying we were from Whitehorse and perhaps, in the rare occasion, flashing our driver's licence. Now there are cameras galore taking your photo as you pass through customs. My my my, times have changed.