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3 Months in Baja: Guerrero Negro to Mulegé

By the time we left Guerrero Negro, we’d officially made it into Baja Sur and and had been in Baja for 21 memorable days.

That dotted line just above Guerrero Negro is the border of Baja California and Baja Sur. Since we snuck in the back entrance on the remote dirt road, we missed that border inspection and the cost of being sprayed for bugs there. Hopefully we didn’t have any hitchhikers!

Our next stop was Mulegé, which we’d been told by most other travelers was the best town in all of Baja. In fact, many people drive down as far as Mulegé and then just stay the entire winter there, usually just south of town somewhere along the Bahía de Concepción. We were excited to see it!

But first we passed through Santa Rosalía, a darling sleepy little town on the Sea of Cortez, a town unlike any other in Baja.

In the late 1800’s it was occupied by a French mining company who bought the rights to mine El Boleo copper mine there. The French influence can be seen throughout the town, from the remains of the mine, the wood architecture and the French bakery, Panadería El Boleo, that has been in constant operation since 1901 and is famous throughout the peninsula for its baguettes. I forgot to take a picture of it, but here some photos of the mining structures that were super neat.

Santa Rosalía’s other claim to fame is the Iglesia Santa Barbara de Santa Rosalía church, designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (who you may know best from another little project he built in Paris). The church is made almost entirely of iron, which was constructed in Europe and then shipped in sections to Santa Rosalía where it was reassembled.

I discreetly took a quick photo of the interior before I saw the sign that asked me not to take any. But the damage had already been done, so the illicit photo remains here for your benefit.

On our way into town we investigated the spot that we’d chosen from iOverlander before arriving, dubbed it “Playa Basura” (Garbage Beach) and decided not to stay there. The historic town is wonderful, but the beaches there are black and trashed, and I didn’t like the idea of the animals running around there. So Santa Rosalía became our first in-town boondocking spot in Baja! We parked next to the town square by the Mahatma Ghandi Library, and chose a single spot instead of the double-length spot that another traveler had reported getting double parked behind the morning after boondocking there.

We walked around town for a while, visited a ferreteria where we learned the Spanish word for hardware store, and looked for a new backup bomba de combustible to replace the old backup that the Turtle was now using as its primary bomba de combustible. No luck there, but we had fun drawing pictures with the helpful guy behind the counter.

For dinner, we had two options: the place that looked like it had incredible tacos but was blaring club music so loud we couldn’t even hear our conversation about why we didn’t want to go there, or the place with the crazy menu. We chose crazy menu and decided to try out a Mexican pizza for the first time. Aside from the confounding addition of candied maraschino cherries on my Hawaiian side, it was pretty good!

We slept great in the middle of town, and in the morning noted that every single long parking spot was double parked, so we were grateful for the tip from the other travelers on iOverlander. Then we went to Coffee Star for some Wifi and the best mango smoothie Andy has ever had.

After trying my very best to catch up on the blog, I had to give up when I realized that uploading a single photo took 12 minutes every time. I tried, guys! The trickle of Wifi throughout Baja is the reason I’m still playing catch-up here. (We’re currently in California, but I promise we’ll get to that soon!)

We abandoned plans to get work done and went next door to a taco stand that advertised “Tacos de Guisado” which was a new term for us. I Googled it and learned that Tacos de Guisado are a stewed meat breakfast and lunch taco, and that the stands open early and close usually by 2 or 3 p.m. It was just before their 2 p.m. closing time, so after the patient woman showed us each pot of mouthwatering meat since my dictionary didn’t know any of the words on the board, we ordered a sampling of them and sat out in the shade to eat.

And holy cow. Remember when I said we were on a search for the best tacos in Baja? We did it! It’s like a pot roast taco, which might sound weird but I assure you it’s scrumptious.

Our other favorite feature of Santa Rosalía was the pink drive-through Six! And when I say drive-through, I don’t mean they have a window. Cars can drive right through the middle! We loved it.

We left Santa Rosalía full and happy, and drove the short distance to Mulegé.

The town is quiet, clean and very friendly. We ran into Ransom and Casey, some friends we’d met on the whale tour in Ojo de Liebre, walked around town some, and then stopped by a well-hidden second-story bar for a beer.

Before the sun set we drove up to El Faro, a public beach at the lighthouse just north of town.

The first night was fairly quiet, and we enjoyed the spot very much. We walked down the beach to a little outdoor restaurant and had dinner and margaritas, then spent a pleasant night by the water.

The next day we walked around Mulegé, met Ransom and Casey for breakfast at a really cute cafe, explored the shops, did some laundry, and generally enjoyed everyone’s favorite town in Baja.

We camped on the beach at El Faro with Ransom and Casey and were adopted by the local beach dogs. When we parted ways we made plans to meet up again somewhere down the road.

We loved Mulegé, but we had a bit of a deadline. . . our friend Jason was flying into Loreto in a few days, so we made it a quick stop and promised to spend more time there on our way up north. We’d been saying that a lot, actually. We were never ready to leave when the time came, but Baja is a big peninsula and there is a lot to see! So far we’d made it about two thirds of the way down, and the best was yet to come.

3 Months in Baja: San Felipe to Bahía de los Ángeles

This is the story about all Andy’s dreams coming true.

Well, maybe not all of them, but a lot of them. And awesome ones.

We’d spent our first week in Baja enjoying the quiet beach site outside of San Felipe with our friends Gary and Kiki, who were also planning on heading south down the peninsula, and neighbors Stashik and Dorota who were on their way back up to their home in Canada. We’d gotten a lot of great advice from the group, like “get money from the ATM before you’re completely out of pesos, because nobody takes credit cards and the ATM’s regularly run out of cash” and “bring the meat you purchase at Calimax to the lady with the grill outside, who will BBQ it for free and even add potatoes and onions to the mix.” We heeded their advice—useful and delicious.

The other tip we got was “although it looks like a much longer route to Bahía de los Ángeles, go back up north via Mex 3 to Ensenada and then south again on Mex 1. . . definitely do not take the Mex 5.” The Mex 5 is a construction site of a highway—dirt roads, potholes, huge jutting rocks, steep grades, unmarked routes, and completely inappropriate for a 2WD van-house. People regularly pop tires, break axles, and puncture oil pans on that stretch of so-called road that ends at the intersection of Mex 1.

Followers of this blog will be unsurprised that we did not heed that particular piece of advice.

From San Felipe to Puertecitos the road is paved, but still quite torn up and punctuated by deep ruts and potholes. Then after Puertecitos the pavement ends and the 131 km of excitement begins. We jolted back and forth, side to side, our bobble heads bouncing around as we slowly lurched down the dusty road. The Turtle began to protest, making new sounds that prompted a few pull-overs, but resulting in nothing more serious than some photo ops.

Some of the construction areas were relatively flat and comfortable.

I took a video during a smoother part of the drive, when I was able to hold my phone without dropping it, and the quality was such that it wouldn’t make the viewer seasick.

(For the record, we had more than 12 km to go at that point. But tiny hand-painted signs on rocks can be misleading.)

Those of you familiar with this stretch of road will wonder if we stopped at Coco’s Corner, a super-popular tourist stop that even has a “historical place” icon on Google maps. Suffice it to say, that place may have been a great stop in its heyday but was a little depressing when we visited, with dusty undergarments covering the walls and a sullen Coco mumbling about the old days through a tiny window we had to crouch to see through. We didn’t stick around long, but upon our arrival we did meet a fun group of American travelers who were just departing, also on their way to Bahía de los Ángeles, and they invited us to watch the Super Bowl with them that Sunday. We got the location and said we’d be there!

After about six total brain-rattling hours, we finally made it to Mex 1 and cheered when we saw pavement! Andy just loves off-roading and seeing what our little Turtle is capable of, so he was very pleased that we made it without incident. The drive had taken even longer than we’d accounted for, so by the time we rolled into Bahía de los Ángeles, the sun was just beginning to set.

We found a nice little beach spot on iOverlander and parked by the water to watch the show.

Another van was parked there, and as the sun set we met its owner Lirón, a nice young guy from Israel who was also taking a few months to travel around Baja and then beyond. We made a camp fire, and talked about all the available shellfish in the area. Lirón had never tried any at all, so we all walked down to the water and harvested a bucket full of the biggest mussels any of us had ever seen!

We cleaned them, rigged up a little grill, and set them on the fire to cook.

Once they popped open, we took them off the grill, opened them up, and added either garlic butter or a tasty Thai chili paste mixture we whipped up in the Turtle.

The evening was warm, the beers were cold, the mussels were rich and delicious, and it was a really memorable travel experience with a new friend.

The next morning we parted ways with tentative plans to camp in same spot that night, and Andy and I drove back into Bahía to see the sights. The town is a super small coastal town with a population of about 800 and very little in the way of tourism. It’s a popular spot for fishing, snorkeling, and kayaking, and in our opinion was worth the drive out of the way to visit. We stopped at a restaurant for lunch and some wispy WiFi, and as we sat on the patio facing the main drag, Andy was delighted to see a number of “Baja Bugs” driving up and down the road. He chatted with a fellow named Richard, who was admiring the Turtle as Andy admired the bug he’d arrived in, and Andy learned that the very next day was the Bahía 200!

The Bahía 200 is an annual off-road race that runs on a portion of the Baja 1000 track, starting just south of Bahía de los Ángeles and consisting of a 4-lap course. All the drivers come to town the day before the race in order to attend the pre-race inspection and celebration the prior evening, which the entire population attends with much festivity. Andy reported this all to me, gesturing excitedly with wide eyes and a huge grin, hardly able to believe our luck and accidental great timing. We adjusted our plan to park in town in order to join the party and see all the cool off-road vehicles there.

Our travel guide told us a nearby restaurant also offered beachside RV parking, and as we hopped out of the Turtle to investigate, we ran into Lirón, who had just purchased some snorkel gear. As we talked about our new plan Andy noticed the yellow bug he’d been ogling outside the restaurant as he talked to Richard, and when he saw Richard himself we all walked over to say hello.

One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned in our years of travel has been that since most people are awesome, the more we go out of our way to meet new friends, the more our experiences take on new exciting flavors and expand in directions we never could have imagined. We’ve met so many incredible people throughout our travels who are now forever a part of our tales of adventure, and sometimes we wonder how much the experience would have paled in comparison without them.

Even with that lesson in our pockets, when we walked over to say hello to Richard and company, we weren’t prepared for the odyssey of fun we were about to embark upon with this wonderful bunch of wildlings:

Enter Bernadette, (Lirón you know already), Dave, Richard, Kathi and Kathleen.

This exceptional group of friends comes down from the Bay Area to Kathi and Kathleen’s place every year for the Bahía 200, and once we introduced ourselves they adopted all three of us into their circle, invited us to park both vans in their driveway for the evening, and asked if we wanted to accompany them to the race party that evening. Their generosity was overwhelming, and continued throughout the next few days.

They were cooking up a big dinner that evening and insisted we join.

Over dinner we got to know everyone better, enjoying their stories of the Baja races, in which all members of the group had been involved in some capacity or another. Dave, Richard, Kathi, and Kathleen have all actually raced in the Bahía 200 multiple times, and they related their experiences with broken racers, running head-on into cacti, taping parts back together, scorpions, being stranded in the desert, and so on. Andy was (literally at times) on the edge of his seat with joy, being surrounded by people who not only wanted to discuss off-road racing but who totally knew their stuff and were teaching him a bunch about it too!

After the meal we walked over to the town square for the party. Many in our group admired the racers. Others talked and watched the kids run up to Kathi to collect the stickers and sweets she saved up all year to give out at the event.

There was music, food stands, people of all ages, and of course, lots of off-road racers.

If that was all we’d done, we would have left happy. But the next day was the race, and the group invited us to spend the day with them there, too. I can’t remember what we decided.

Oh, that’s right, we went!

Andy didn’t stop smiling the entire time.

Dave and Andy were the cutest buddies you ever saw, and they talked racing and gears and equipment and miles per hour and suspension all day long. Also, beer.

Dave let Andy drool all over his Baja Bug throughout the day, and Andy asked me to make sure to get both angles of the bug so he could continue looking at it later.

Then the race began!

It was such an exciting and carefree day. Those in the group who had raced in previous years enjoyed the art of spectating, and we cheered heartily for every racer as they passed.

The backdrop wasn’t bad, either.

All day long Andy just kept grinning and disbelieving his good fortune in stumbling across this event—the right place, the right time, and the right people to enjoy it with.

After the races ended, Andy picked up a commemorative shirt that even had Kathi and Kathleen’s car from the previous year’s race on the back, and the racer friends signed it for him.

We went back to the girls’ house to cook some food, and it didn’t take Scout too long to make some new friends too. The local beach dogs all loved him and he soon became absorbed in the pack. His natural wild look really helped him fit right in.

We were already on Cloud Nine when Dave offered Andy a ride in his bug. Andy was so excited he immediately abandoned the guacamole he was making in the Turtle and nearly forgot to put his shoes on as he flew out the door.

They got strapped in, put the headsets on, and off they went!

As Andy was off realizing a lifetime dream, Scout was also reaching maximum joy as a beach dog. He loved the freedom, the friends and the water so much I’m surprised he came back with us at all.

Soon Andy and Dave returned, and judging from Andy’s smile and disheveled Muppet hair, I think they had fun.

They drove on the same raceway that is a part of the Bahía 200 and the Baja 1000, cruising at nearly 80 mph! Andy still hasn’t stopped talking about it.

Dave offered to take me on a run as well, so of course I had to see what all the hype was about.

I totally get it.

We blasted down the road at 80 mph but I felt like I was rocking in a hammock. Dave is an impressively super-skilled driver, and also intuitive enough to know I’m no adrenaline junkie so he took me on the smooth dirt road and not down the crazy bumps and curves that he and Andy went on. Thanks Dave!

After we returned, the boys got to talking about our route while the rest of us relaxed and gabbed on the patio and beach.

After another delicious dinner we got ready to head back to the town square for the announcement of the Bahía 200 winner and the closing ceremonies party.

Another great time was had by all.

The next day the group had to head back to the Bay Area to prepare for the upcoming work week. Kathi and Kathleen let us use their shower before we left, and I can’t tell you how much we appreciated that, ladies! From the moment we met you all were incredibly kind and so generously brought us right into your circle without asking for a thing in return. As we tell stories of our time in Baja, you guys always come up and have become a Best Memory of our travels. THANK YOU! We hope to see you all down the road.

After our much-needed showers, we headed over to the restaurant where we’d been told a Super Bowl party would be happening, and met up there with the group we’d run into at Coco’s Corner who had invited us. It was a beautiful spot on the beach with views of the nearby islands that make the Bahía de los Ángeles coastal views so unique.

The small hotel—Raquel and Larry’s—had a cute restaurant overlooking the bay, and a crowd of about 20 had gathered to watch the Super Bowl.

Just as the game started, the power went out and the motivated group came together to get it going again, driving into town for a new generator, running cords from various locations, and ducking into the kitchen to help troubleshoot the outage to the pizza oven. Andy was pleased that he was able to contribute a few extension cords and some electrical advice to the cause, and soon both the TV and the oven were back in action and we all enjoyed the resulting game and homemade pizzas.

The next morning we drove the short distance to a beach just outside of town called La Gringa. We spent a few days there, enjoying the rocky coast, the bird watching, the breezy hikes, and best of all, the clam-digging!

After a few days we decided to get back on the road. We had lunch at Guillermo’s on the patio, where the cat Bernadette had befriended and named Rosemary came by to visit and see if we might share any shrimp.

Andy was still flying high from all the dreams that had just come true, and over lunch we reviewed all the crazy things that had happened in the last few days. We got to test to Turtle’s mettle and drive on the most wicked roads we’d seen since the Dalton Highway, we collected shellfish right from the ocean and ate it fresh on the beach, we made loads of genuinely nice friends, got to watch a Baja off-road race just five steps from the track, and rode top speed in a Baja Bug!

When we got back to the Turtle, Gracie was reviewing the route we’d mapped out that morning. (She was big enough to not mention that we’d just been sharing shrimp with another cat.)

The plan was to continue down the slow and bumpy dirt road along the coastline instead of driving back west to meet up with the Mex 1, because apparently we’re gluttons for punishment. It’s as rugged—if not more—than the Mex 5, and it’s exceedingly washboarded, far less traveled, and has a longer distance between services.

I mean, what could go wrong?

Desert Magic

The desert is magical, and the desert is bizarre.

Between the rich January sun, the vivid colors blooming in every direction, and the fruit trees weighted down by citrus, we were feeling energized and enjoying the magical aspects of the region as we walked around Palm Desert. And though we were in no hurry to leave, we did have a lot of jobs to get done while we were in a bigger city to complete our pre-Baja checklist.

The more mundane jobs included getting my contacts prescription filled, shopping for supplies, doing laundry, cleaning sand out of all the corners of the Turtle, picking up our General Delivery mail at the post office, and trying out the Amazon Locker service. Ok, actually that part was pretty exciting. When you order your item, you get a code mailed to you to have scanned at the locker, and when you scan it, a drawer pops open with your package inside! We liked it.

The funny thing is that even those tasks seemed exciting while in the desert, since we were running around in the sunshine wearing flip flops and picking oranges off the trees as we walked around town. It was truly a memorable few days of errands, woven in with the fun things we got to experience in Palm Springs and Palm Desert.

We went to a polo match and sat in our chairs on the grass and cheered arbitrarily for various teams. Not only was it exciting to see the athleticism of both horses and riders as well as all the ladies’ fancy hats, but we also now know the word chukker. So it was a big day.

We had the best pupusas ever at Fernanda’s Restaurant, and even went back before leaving town to get more to go, and now that I write this I’m feeling very wistful just thinking of them. Deliciously light and savory, the cabbage slaw on top perfectly zesty, at first bite I knew they were the best I’ve ever had. (Uncles Kevin and Bob, if you are in Palm Desert, you must go try them and weigh in.)

On Jen and Ken’s recommendation, we also went to see Robolights. It’s an indescribable art installation in a local man’s back yard that is open during the holidays and that we just happened to catch while it was still going on. The artist has taken reclaimed materials and created sculptures and vignettes with toilets, telephones, mannequins, gas masks, microwaves and more along paths traversing his property. It’s simultaneously eerie, whimsical, disquieting, and beautiful. (If that makes no sense, then please refer to the part above where I said it’s indescribable and give me a few points for at least trying.)

After a few days combining errands and fun, we returned to our convenient and comfortable dispersed camping spot south of Joshua Tree National Park. That spot served us well during our entire southern California stay, especially where the animals were concerned. They had enough room there to play safely, so they could experience some freedom before we took them to unfamiliar territory where they’d be leashed much more often.

At one point I went up to the attic to take down some summer clothes and saw these darling little paw prints covering the entire roof.

Often when we’re sitting inside we can hear her stomping around on the roof and we pretend to complain about our loud upstairs neighbor. And usually if the vent is open, she shoves her face against the screen and meows at us, and we say we can’t take it anymore; we’re moving.

During our three-day BLM stay, two very awesome things happened.

The first was that we had a chillier day, so we stayed in reading books and when I made chili for dinner I decided to try out stovetop cornbread as well, which turned out great! Our oven is still currently being used for storage until we decide to sacrifice the extra space and get it fixed. So it’s always fun to figure out ways to prepare oven-y food on the stovetop.

The second awesome thing (and actually awesome, not like the last cornbread thing) happened as we prepared to leave on the third day. As we packed up, a guy in a white Toyota 4WD van pulled up to introduce himself. His name was Alex and we’ve been following each other on Instagram ever since he spotted the Turtle up in Yukon last summer, found our Blue Turtle Crossing account and messaged us! He’d just happened to be driving around checking out vans in the BLM spot while he waited for some friends to finish up their tour of Joshua Tree and he saw the Turtle. Small world, right?

He invited us to join them all at their campsite in Painted Canyon that evening, which we happily did. The wonderful spot took second seat next to how much we just loved meeting Alex, Andres and Desiree and getting to know them as we sat around the campfire that evening. It’s so exciting when overlanders come together to share vandwelling stories and travel experiences, since it’s such a unique lifestyle that being able to relate to new friends with a common mindset is refreshing. And they were all just a treat to meet.

You can follow them on Instagram here:

@roaming_northamerica

@papapitufo_follow_our_trip

They were all headed to Slab City, which is where we were headed as well, so we made plans to join them there the next day. You might recall that we travel slowly so we needed an extra day.

On our way, the bizarre parts of the desert began to reveal themselves. First we stopped at Bombay Beach on the edge of the Salton Sea, an enormous inland surface water body that is only about 100 years old and lies 228’ below sea level. Bombay Beach used to be a thriving resort town, but is now almost completely abandoned and looks like a post-apocalyptic movie set.

Equally as strange and fascinating was our final destination for the day, Slab City. This “town” sits on an abandoned military base and is comprised of vans and RV’s scattered in semi-organized clusters of visitors and full time residents, some of whom live there even through the 125-degree summers. Others stay there for just days or months at a time, and all travelers are welcome. Many of the residents have built fences, patios and artwork around their rigs made from reclaimed materials, and the town even has a music venue and café. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

We found our friends parked up above the town, and made our way through and around the streets to meet them up on the bluff just a short walk to Salvation Mountain.

Oh, did you think the bizarre part was over? It is not. Salvation Mountain is a total trip. It’s a 50-foot-high mountain made of adobe and covered in layers of paint that a man named Leonard Knight created to share his deeply felt message of God’s love to the world. It’s bright and beautiful and feels like walking on a cake in a children’s book. We’d seen pictures before we got there, and honestly the experience of walking the “yellow brick road” path of the mountain was much more impactful than I’d imagined it would be.

We got back to our little neighborhood and hung out for a bit before collecting wood for our evening fire. It was another great evening with the caravaners!

They planned to take off for Baja quite early the next morning, so we said our goodbyes that night. The next morning I saw a photo Alex had posted about them getting stuck in the sugar sand as they tried to depart, and I felt sorry that we hadn’t heard them so we could have come out to help. But they’d made it out, so it all worked out.

When we tried to leave later that morning, we weren’t so lucky.

The flour-soft sand swallowed our tires and no amount of digging and laying rocks under the tires would get that Turtle out. We worked for hours and hours, but every attempt ended in us being settled deeper in an ever-growing depression in the sand. A few people came and attempted to help free us, but to no avail. One guy tried to tow us out and got himself stuck in the sugar sand too, so once we’d dug him out he left us to our own devices. Unfortunately we didn’t have many. We weigh nearly 11,000 pounds and that sand really was like powdered sugar and gave us no traction whatsoever.

I called the nearest tow company to price the job, just so we’d know we have an option if nothing else worked. He quoted me $600 so we crossed that option off the list and decided that even if it meant digging the bluff down one shovelful at a time until we hit the firm dirt down below, we’d do that. Andy walked down into Slab City to find someone with a truck, and with a promise from one resident that he’d return the following morning we spent one more night in Slab City, wondering if we were destined to become residents as well.

The next day we began with about 100 fewer bruises than we’d have on our arms and legs by the end of the day. The man who’d promised to come help us did indeed bring his 4WD truck up to tow us out, but there was so much sugar sand between us and the hard dirt path that our tow strap wouldn’t reach. Another resident who had come up to see the action loaned us two lengths of chain and a thick rope. A couple riding bikes stopped to help, and between the husband’s hard work ethic and his wife’s cheerful attitude and no-nonsense management style, we were soon ready to give it a try.

The number of times that it didn’t work should have defeated the group to the point of giving up on us, but they stuck by it, digging and digging alongside us and trying again, until another local brought his truck up to contribute to the effort. One truck pulled the other truck who pulled the long rope which pulled the two lengths of chain which pulled the tow strap pulling the enormous blue Turtle which was being pushed by four of us, and suddenly we were inching our way out of the sand to firm ground.

HOORAY! The Turtle was mobile once again. We are so often humbled by the kindness of strangers; we could not have done it without a single one of them. We profusely thanked the group, and after talking for a bit we all departed the sandy bluff. I took some sugar sand with us as a souvenir, and in high spirits we drove to the other side of Slab City to see East Jesus, the art and sculpture garden created by the residents.

And once again we were back on the road, as if we hadn’t just been in a real pickle and then immediately afterward saw a wall of old TV’s carefully painted in the middle of an art field in the middle of next-to-nowhere.

The desert is magical, and the desert is bizarre.

Even More Parties: Spearfish, SD

As we meet new friends along our journey, most people are curious to know how far we’ve made it in the last two years living in the Turtle. And when they hear the answer, nearly all of them are surprised to discover how few states and provinces we’ve added to the list.

In case you’re wondering, here it is:

Oregon
Washington
Idaho
Montana
Wyoming
South Dakota
Colorado
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Utah
Arizona
Nevada
Alaska
Texas*
British Columbia
Alberta
Yukon

* I can’t decide if we should count Texas since we just crossed through the panhandle, which—on a side note—we learned is actually referred to as “West Texas”. Hm. Anyway, we were just there for a few days and never really got into the state so it feels like cheating to add it at this point. I’ll get back to you on that one.

Looking at the list, it seems like a lot of places to have spent time in two years, especially considering what my list would have looked like a few years ago living in Portland! But we’ve found that many full-time travelers move much more quickly than we do, and the fact that we haven’t even crossed over into the eastern half of the United States is perplexing to them. We’ve talked to people who drove from one coast to the other in a week! Which is perfectly fine—especially if your vehicle gets good gas mileage—but that’s just not our travel style. The Turtle is aptly named. We move slowly. And we like it that way!

First of all, there are just a staggering number of incredible and beautiful and strange things to discover in every area we go. The more slowly we move, the more things we get to experience. Some of our favorite places have been little surprise spots we’ve stumbled across and loved so much we just stayed. Secret lakes, rivers, overlooks and canyons that we’ve had all to ourselves, and that we could have easily just driven by if we hadn’t taken the time to turn off the beaten path to explore.

Secondly, we don’t get good gas mileage. I think you’re not surprised. So the less we drive, the less money we’re spending. We might as well stop to smell the roses so that we can prolong our trip.

And lastly, we haven’t made it far because we keep getting opportunities to hang out with family! There’s always something going on and now that we have the chance to be more present, we’ve really been enjoying family time as if we were neighbors. So as we’re driving around, if we hear of an upcoming event, we just head that way.

After spending a few weeks of fun visiting Andy’s family in Great Falls and then my family in Bozeman, the last of the family stops (for now) was a visit to Andy’s sister Maggie’s house in Spearfish, South Dakota. His mom Genie was getting knee surgery there, so we stopped by for moral support and to lend a hand where we could, and if a lot of fun was had together in the meantime, so be it.

Genie’s knee surgery was scheduled for birthday, so we celebrated ahead of time with a formal dinner. Andy prepared another fantastic feast, with his scrumptious stuffing and a second turkey.

Andy’s niece Ellie can plan a party like nobody I’ve ever met before, and she’d already picked out the perfect cake to make. (I’d advise saving the date for her to plan your party now; by the time she’s old enough to begin working, she’ll be booked for a lifetime already.) Maggie baked the cake and made the icing, I iced it, and Ellie and I piped the flowers. Her brother Will came home and soon he and Andy were even hard at work piping flowers too.

Maggie set a lovely table, and Andy’s turkey came out perfectly.

It was really shaping up to be a good party! Everyone got dressed up and we got a few photos to show that we do in fact clean up pretty well.

It was a lovely party!

Genie had her surgery, and it went well. As she recovered, we all enjoyed our time together.

Gracie and Scout played outside in the sunshine regularly.

Andy made some turkey noodle soup.

And it was delicious!

He also worked on this car part. Before meeting Andy I didn’t realize that an appropriate adjective for car parts could be “pretty”.

A few days later, it was Andy’s birthday! We surprised him with a Lego-themed party, which I’d been wanting to do for a few years now, but this location was ideal since Will and Ellie have extensive Lego collections and are also nice people who are wiling to share their Legos.

Ellie blew up exactly 70 balloons. And lived to tell the tale.

Since Andy is not fond of sweets, I made him his second-annual mashed potato and gravy birthday cake, which he deemed satisfactory under the authority of his Lego crown.

As everyone else in the group is normal and does like sweets, I also make a proper birthday cake for the rest of us. I planned a little surprise for Will during Andy’s surprise party, which was a challenge to remember which secrets to keep from whom, but somehow we pulled it off. When he came up to visit us in Alaska this last summer, we’d talked about having Baked Alaska at some point, but it never happened. So for the birthday cake, I tried making a Baked Alaska for the first time and was lucky enough that everything went according to plan and it turned out great. And tasted delicious too!

Second Party was a success.

Whose dog is this?

A few days later it was time for the third party of the trip—Thanksgiving dinner. Ellie brilliantly repurposed the sign she’d made for Andy’s birthday, and added the most impressive and charming little Lego turkey! Andy and I both assumed the other had helped her with it and laughed out loud when we learned that she did it completely on her own.

It was our third turkey feast in under a month, so we felt very spoiled and happy about it. Andy’s turkey roasting skills only improved each time, and the holiday dinner was his best showing yet! Once Thanksgiving day had passed, we’d gotten so accustomed to having parties that we kept the good times rolling with other activities, such as:

Face taping.

Bowling.

Hanging Christmas lights.

Festive drinks.

More fancy dinners. (Andy dry aged a steak and cooked it sous vide! Truly the best steak I’ve ever had. He’s something else.)

Recess.

Grocery shopping.

Perfecting more car parts. (Bonus points if you can identify the part.)

Pizza eating.

Christmas train maintenance.

General shenanigans.

We felt lucky to begin December with sunshine, but soon the cold weather did finally set in. It just so happened that our trip was coming to a close anyway, as Genie had recovered enough to return to Great Falls.

So as winter descended on Spearfish, we left in search of sunshine, and to add another state to our slowly growing list: California!

Jasper National Park and Banff, AB

Happy Halloween everyone!

If you’ve been in touch with us over the last month, you’ll know that despite what the blog might lead you to believe, we’re not in Canada anymore! We got back to the states about a month ago, and are currently visiting my family in Bozeman, Montana after a really fun few weeks in Great Falls visiting Andy’s family.

But so many people had told us how much we were going to love Jasper National Park and Banff, Alberta, and we really, really did. So I’ll catch up with a quick photo-heavy post to share the beauty! It was cold and overcast as we drove through, but that couldn’t stop the views.

Neither of us knew that the town of Jasper was right in the middle of the park, which was a fun surprise.

We stopped for pizza. . .

We stopped to watch this handsome fellow for a while. . .

And admired these sweet little deer until they hopped back into the forest.

The sun set before we made it through the park, so we stayed the night at the only spot that was still open for the winter on the south side of the park. The Columbia Icefields National Park Centre keeps the lower parking lot open for overnight campers, which was around $15 a night. A little spendy for a parking lot, but we really didn’t want to miss the views!

When we woke up the next morning, we discovered that we’d been parked right across the street from two glaciers!

The rest of the drive was so beautiful that the $15 camping fee seemed like a really good investment.

After exiting Jasper National Park, we were immediately in Banff National Park. Another gorgeous drive! One of my favorite things about this stretch of the highway was the wildlife bridges. There are fences all along the road to prevent animals from wandering out into traffic, so in order to allow safe crossing they built these tunnels covered by dirt and grass so the animals can access the whole park safely.

Soon we’d passed through Banff as well, and by mid-afternoon we were back in Montana.

When we got to Andy’s dad’s house, we were exhausted from three months of nonstop action. We slept like logs, relaxed, and visited with Andy’s dad and mom over some IPA’s and home-cooked meals, ate Howard’s pizza more than once, and slept some more . It was exactly what we’d been waiting for.

We also took some time to reorganize and assess the state of the Turtle. Andy looked in one of the compartments and found that it was filled with hunks of the Dalton Highway! Hilarious.

We got the famous vacuum sealer out and sealed things up for winter storage. . .

Andy fixed up our front brakes. . .

And then we slept some more!

Yukon Gold

The first thing I said as we drove back into Yukon was, “Wow, the skies are just as big as when we left!” Yes, it’s the same sky as everywhere else, but somehow in Yukon I was constantly aware of the magnitude above me more than other places. It’s beautiful.

It was an exciting time to be my camera, because I had that thing working full time during our drive through Canada. The fall colors were really beginning to explode, and I filled up the camera to capacity every day. I’m sure if Andy asked you to quote me on the trip it would be a three-way tie for, “That YELLOW!” “That RED!” and “That ORANGE!” And that’s only if gasps don’t count.

After spending a few weeks high up in wintery weather, the temperate fall was a welcome change. Scout and Gracie also got to spend more time outdoors, so everyone was enjoying Yukon to the fullest.

On our original trip through Yukon, Andy had mentioned wanting to pan for gold, and as we drove farther through the province, we realized we still hadn’t tried our hand at fortune-hunting yet. We found a nice spot to pull out by the river, took our pot lids, food scoops and a very excited doggy down to the water, and got to work.

It was a lot of fun and pretty exciting, even though we didn’t see any sparkly signs that we were in a good spot for panning. We wished we’d started sooner in the trip, because I could have panned for hours and hours in any river around.

Scout had other plans for our time outdoors and tried all his best methods to convince us to throw all the sticks he found by the river.

So on the walk back to the Turtle, we threw sticks, played hide and seek behind the trees, and then on the last leg Scout just bounded up and down the path with general Border Collie joy.

Farther down the road Andy wanted to check something under the hood, so we pulled over for a riverside picnic. Though the Yukon is so wide it looks like a lake!

We panned for gold again after lunch, but no luck. We did see a fresh bear paw print in the mud near us, so we decided to make it a quicker stop and get back on the road.

We could see some storms ahead, which made the light moody and surreal.

When the most spectacular rainbow poured out of the sky, we followed it for a full 15 minutes before it evaporated back into the air.

The storm moved all around in the distance, and when we stopped outside Taro for the evening, we could actually see the sheets of rain traveling east along the riverbank.

It never hit us directly, so we basked in the after-storm light and played outside until the sun went down.

Everyone had a successful day, I think.

We had to try one last gold panning session before we left, so we played outside for a bit before packing up.

As I put the panning implements in the Turtle, I laughed at how instantly messy it gets in there, between the toys we keep out to use later, the mud we inevitably and consistently track in, the rocks I can’t stop collecting and have no room for, the boots laying on the floor that we removed to change into “gold-panning shoes”, the travel pamphlets shoved into the front console, among the other regular chaos specific to Turtle life.

I decided to take a picture for posterity, since in 20 years we’ll want to remember the reality of our lives and not just the pretty pictures immediately post-clean-up. Right as I took out my camera, Scout came running to the door to see what I was up to, and the smile on his face and mud on his paws inadvertently made the photo complete: the reason we live this lifestyle, messy as it may be. At the end of the day, we all have that goofy smile on our faces.

There weren’t many gas stations around, so we stopped in Taro for a fill-up and an ogle at this awesome orange beast.

Then back onto beautiful Highway 4 toward Watson Lake, which we’d be passing through one more time on our way into British Columbia and Alberta. But first we had to stop at what was to become our Favorite Campsite Ever, a free pullout on postcard-worthy Finlayson Lake.

Due to the burn ban, we hadn’t been able to have a fire for months, and it seemed like fate that the ban had been lifted right as we came upon this site, complete with cut firewood scattered around for the taking.

We were sitting just a little elevated from the water, overlooking the lake. There was no one around except the two people flying sea planes nearby. It was crisp, cool and clear, and we were on cloud nine that we got to live there for a whole day.

It was such a perfect spot that I took a quick video of the fire so that in future years we can relive the moment.

If we didn’t have the winter weather nipping at our heels, we would have stayed for days. But that chill wasn’t far behind, so we moved on toward Watson Lake.

We thought it would be fun to go visit our signs at the Signpost Village, especially because it’s not too often these days that we’re somewhere familiar. There they were!

Then on we drove into the endless green and gold mountains and valleys of British Columbia.

We had a garbage bag to toss, so we pulled over at a viewpoint to use the waste bins, and accidentally stumbled across this vista.

And this was the view from the other side of the parking lot! Beautiful British Columbia, indeed.

And then to add even more icing to the British Columbia cake, we stopped at Liard Hot Springs and accidentally had the time of our lives. We’d read about it over and over while researching the area, but didn’t think much more of it than “Sure, we could stop at a hot springs; that sounds nice.”

It was wonderful. It’s a provincial park and not privately-run, so for starters it’s really affordable. The day use fee is just $5 per person, but the hot springs fee is waived if you’re camping, which is $26 a night. That’s actually a little on the spendy side for boondockers, but it’s also really nice to have water and garbages at your disposal now and then, in addition to the free hot springs. So we paid for our site, got settled and then went straight to the hot springs.

It’s a beautiful walk down the boardwalk to the springs, over the warm marsh that is very popular with the wildlife, especially during winter.

For a developed hot springs site, this one is surprisingly untouched in all the best ways.

There are bathrooms, changing rooms, and a deck, but other than those few comforts it’s just a lovely pond that’s a piping hot 110-120 degrees at the source and then cools the farther away it travels from there. So the upper pool stays super toasty, and the lower pool is a perfectly warm and slightly deeper swimming pool.

We loved it so much we spent a few hours there on our first trip before going back for dinner and some travel planning.

The Anti-Project always has other plans, but luckily she has a short attention span and was soon on the prowl for buggies while we got a little work done.

As we planned we decided we weren’t ready to leave the hot springs already, so we decided to stay another day, then went back for our night soak. Liard doesn’t have closing hours since it’s a natural springs, so we got to soak until late when we were ready for bed.

The next day was another sunny fall day, perfect for multiple trips to the hot springs.

That night as we splashed around the warm lower pool and visited with some other travelers, the Northern Lights came out in enormous green flickering bands that twisted and arched from one side of the sky to the other over our heads. We laid on our backs and floated in the steaming water, watching the lights and laughing out loud at how perfect it all was.

When we got back to the Turtle, it was late and we were all warm, cozy and ready to snuggle up. While we got ready for bed, Gracie crashed out under her own personal quilt that my niece Ava made for her before we could even make it up to the loft!

With plans to return as soon as possible—especially in the snowy winter months—we got everyone ready to move on.

Gracie’s preferred and self-appointed travel spot is in a clothes bin in the closet, which is kept open for her as we drive. Usually when it’s time to go she hears the engine start and hops into her spot, but if she doesn’t sometimes we have a conversation about it to give her a chance to get in before we start moving. And it’s adorable.

And with the huge skies of the Yukon in our rear view mirror, we set our sights on the road ahead.

On Top of the World: Deadhorse, AK + The Arctic Ocean + An Arctic Fox

Here is what you need to know about Deadhorse, AK. It’s a small town in northernmost Alaska near the Arctic Ocean with a population that is often listed at 25-50 permanent residents. The town’s primary function is to house the workers at the Prudhoe Bay oil field, which when including the temporary workers brings the population to around 3,000. In order to house the workers, “pre-fabricated modules” (cozy!) were shipped up and put on man-made gravel pads on top of the tundra, where the workers live for the duration of their employment.

Most people work 12-hour shifts daily for two weeks straight, and then have a week off. The town has a very small airport for transporting workers at no charge, so most people fly home and back in that week. Each work camp has its own building, with different amenities from camp to camp. Some have theaters or gyms or basketball courts, but these are all housed right in the work camp building.

It’s not as if anyone would want to pass the time outside their camp anyway; the mean annual temperature is 12 degrees Fahrenheit, and even the warmest month—July—sees an average temperature of only 47 degrees! Lows in the winter are generally below -40 degrees. It’s freakin’ cold up there. Almost every parking spot in town comes with a power cord.

What this means for tourists is that after being shaken around in your vehicle like dice in a Yahtzee cup for somewhere around 18 hours, there’s not a lot going on up there to do! Well, that’s not necessarily true, but the accomodations for tourists are limited to a gas station, general store, Napa store, a handful of buffet-style cafeterias for the workers that are open to the public during limited hours, and a hotel with a little snack shop and coffee counter inside. So we did all those things on our first full day there.

The white building up there is the hotel. It didn’t look any different than the housing, General Store, or gas station and the town really doesn’t waste good money on signage.

We also came across one of my favorite wildlife sightings to date: a little arctic fox! He was just the sweetest little thing and stayed close enough for us to watch him scamper around for about 5 minutes.

There is also a tour bus that you can book 24-hours in advance (to run a security check), which will take you past the security checkpoint and up to the Arctic Ocean! They charge $70 per person, but once you get that far, you really have to go all the way, right?

We thought so. So on our third day in Deadhorse, we took the early tour through the oil fields and saw the sights on our way to the beach. There were five others on our tour: a French couple who had flown in, and a couple from upstate New York and their tour guide who had driven them up in a tricked out Ford Escape set up by the tour company specifically for the Dalton Highway drive. Their guide jokingly asked if we’d remembered our swimsuits, to which I replied, “Actually, yes!” He laughed good-naturedly, as it was the first day of September, and said he’d be amazed if we went through with it. Challenge accepted!

The beach access we were able to explore was a nice long stretch that jutted out into the ocean. When we got there, our view was especially lovely under a hazy rainbow.

The guide volunteered to take pictures for us, and got a nice play-by-play of our walk out, and Andy’s sudden and shocking dive below the water.

What a beast! That boy knows how to have an adventure. I take longer than Andy does when it comes to decisions involving plunging my bare skin into frigid arctic water on a 30-degree day. But of course I eventually got the job done.

Ok . . . half done. But I’m telling you; it was so cold that not even my five layers on top could save me from that icy shock, or the subsequent half hour of numb legs and toes! It was awesome. We are very proud new members of the Polar Bear Club, and have a pure white rock from the beach as our memento of the day we took the plunge.

By the time we got back to the Turtle, we’d warmed up under the blanket Andy had brought along and felt ready to take on the Dalton Highway again. We decided to break the drive up into three days this time, because we wanted to check another National Park off our list by hiking into Gates of the Arctic.

We turned southward and said farewell to Deadhorse. We were so glad we made the trip, but are fairly certain we won’t be returning unless Andy will agree with my brilliant idea to build a summer home there. And so far he’s not budging. Oh well . . . goodbye, Deadhorse!

The Road to Alaska – Part 6: Anchorage, AK with Friends

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times (I may have actually said it a thousand times): one of the best things about Turtle Life is the flexibility and freedom to visit our friends and family. And during our time in Anchorage, we were lucky enough to be able to spend quality time with both friends and family!

First we spent a week with Andy’s longtime buddy Sam and his wife Sara. Sam is a professor and has the summer off, so we took full advantage of his schedule by having a full week of fun.

Andy and I had caught some salmon in Valdez and kept two to bring along, which Andy prepared in his famous marinade and Sam grilled up for us.

*A tip if you like delicious things: Sam also BBQ’s up frozen seasoned hashbrowns as a side dish, which were so good I just got jealous of myself when I saw this picture of the hashbrowns I was about to eat when I took the photo.

Sam took us on a field trip to the fish hatchery, where we saw loads of spawning salmon! Pictured are only two, so please just take my word for it that there were a bunch.

Sam, Sara, and their son Oliver took us for a crisp and refreshing rainy-day walk up to Portage Glacier.

We hadn’t seen snow in a while, so we had to take advantage of the wintery playground and make ourselves a slide. I paved the way with the classic bum slide, and Andy immediately took it to the next level, as he is wont to do.

On the way home, all our dreams came true when we spotted a moose grazing right by the road in town!

We were really beginning to believe the area moose were a rumor created by the Alaska Chamber of Commerce.

And luck was really on our side—or else the COC had gotten wind that we were on to them and planted that moose in two spots so we wouldn’t spread the conspiracy theory around—because a day later we saw another one!

This one was on a walk through a beautiful park on the way to the beach. She had been grazing on the trail blocking hikers, and the locals who warned us about her presence smiled curiously when I threw up my hands and cheered about a moose on the trail. Somehow they could tell right away that we weren’t from around there.

We stood up the hill from her to admire her moose-y cuteness, then walked on to the ocean since it’s weird to stare at a moose all day. And what a day for the beach!

Another highlight of the trip was the delivery we had waiting for us at Sam and Sara’s place! After catching so many fish in Haines and Valdez, we decided we should spring for a vacuum sealer so we can pack more of our fresh fish and berry picking surpluses into the freezer and keep them for even longer. I was super happy about our newest purchase, and Andy was even a little more so. (Sam and Sara, I’m aware that I’m grossly underselling Andy’s excitement about this purchase, but if I did his joy any justice everyone would think I was exaggerating.)

Well of course we had to test the thing out. An hour and 50 vacuum bags later, Andy had made it as far as testing out vacuum sealing tortilla chips just to see what would happen, and suddenly it was bedtime.

When we got back to the Turtle for the night, we found that someone had caused a little trouble back at home. The culprit still remains at large as we try to gather more conclusive evidence.

On Monday Sara was back at work, so Sam took Andy and me on a beautifully sunny and very fun walking tour of Anchorage.

I’ll have you know that we had way more than a week’s worth of fun that week. Sam and Andy are two peas in a pod, and it’s awesome to see your sweetheart having fun like the old days with his buddy.

Although we tried our best to convince Sam to blow off another week’s commitments to goof off with us some more, he somehow decided to take the responsible road. Go figure!

Before we moved onto the next leg of the Anchorage Adventure, we needed a little battery-recharge, at which point it became apparent which of our friends are helpful when it comes to naps . . .

And which aren’t so much.

Oh, and in case you’re still wondering what happened to the vacuum-sealed tortilla chips . . . they were all ground to corn crumbles, except for one, which stayed completely intact!

Weird and worth the suspense, right?

The Road to Alaska – Part 5: Yukon! Valdez! Gracie Cleans Her Tail!

Everything you’ve heard about the drive to Alaska is true.

Ok, wait.

I guess I don’t know what you’ve heard about the drive to Alaska. Let’s go with this instead: if you’ve heard that the drive to Alaska is mile after mile of astonishingly beautiful scenery that seems too enormous and perfect to exist in real life, then what you’ve heard is true.

Especially once you hit Yukon. I have so many photos of this drive that I promise you’re hoping I never show up at your house for a slide show. Because it would take longer to show you all the gorgeous scenery and tell the stories than it took to drive through it. But here are a few of my favorites.

Right??

If you make the drive, be sure to multiply your estimated drive time by 2 to account for all the stoping and staring you’ll be doing.

The beauty didn’t stop once we hit Alaska, of course. We went to Valdez, where we’d been told the best fishing awaited us. You’ll just have to believe me when I tell you that I caught a fish on my very first cast, and then caught two more before Andy had even finished attaching his lure! (In all fairness, he’d gallantly put mine on first, which is why I was fishing already. But it just goes to show you how good the fishing is in Valdez!) We estimate that we caught 25 fish—dollys and humpys. We kept two to bring with us and released the rest, not because we didn’t want them, but we just didn’t have any room left in the fridge after all the fish we caught in Haines. A fine problem to have, it’s true.

From Valdez, we took a very early ferry over to Whittier. As we drank our coffee and admired the ocean, the fog made the horizon completely disappear, which was lovely.

As the sun rose, a chubby little porcupine came out of the bushes and delighted everyone in the ferry line.

The Valdez-Whittier trip is about 4.5 hours, and so beautiful that even though it got chilly we stayed posted up on the deck under our blankets for most of the ride.

Once we arrived in Whittier, we drove straight on to Anchorage. We had so much fun visiting friends while we were there that I’ll make a separate post to cover all those adventures.

For now, I’ll make the title of the post accurate with the following pictures of Gracie cleaning her tail.

The Road to Alaska – Part 3: New Aiyansh, Stewart, & Hyder

Holy cow, you guys.

We knew before we began the drive through Canada to Alaska that it was going to be beautiful, but somehow we weren’t even prepared for how majestic this part of the world is!

Every new place we go, we just look at each other, wide-eyed, and laugh out loud in amazement that we’re getting to see all this.

One of my favorite spots yet was the next stop on our map after leaving Stewart. New Aiyansh, BC and the other neighboring villages of Nisga’a are so beautiful that I can’t possibly do it any justice with words. And believe me when I say that I’ve been trying! Even when we were there, both of us were more quiet than usual.

A volcano eruption in the 18th century left the area covered in lava rock, which now is blanketed in dozens of different varieties of moss, ferns and little succulents. And the pools of water scattered around the lava fields are a perfectly clear aquamarine color that felt like something out of a fairy tale.

The Drowned Forest was a favorite stop for me.

A neighboring village has a bouncy suspension bridge spanning the Nass River, so we crossed it and I quickly admired the view as I hurried to the other side. Andy, of course, loved it!

Vetter Falls was a rainforest wonderland, and we walked out as far as we could to see if we could spot the “phantom fish”—steelhead that get trapped at the falls and develop snake-like bodies with large heads—but they lived up to their name.

Andy tried very, very hard though. So you have to give him credit.

We stayed the night at a lake near Cranberry Junction, which had a name but will now just be known as “mosquito lake” in our memory. It was a gorgeous spot for a feeding frenzy though!

Although staying indoors to escape mosquitos has its advantages.

The next day, we drove to Stewart, BC, which took us five times as long as it would have had we not stopped every half mile to marvel at the mountains, glaciers, and waterfalls.

Right next door to Stewart is a little town called Hyder. . . Alaska! They’re minutes away from one another, and have a very similar vibe; they’re just separated by a border agent on the BC side.

A local tradition is to get “hyderized” at the Glacier Inn, so we did. A bracing shot of Everclear later, we had our official cards!

The next day, one of the locals we’d met found us and invited us out for a day of fishing on their boat! We had a phenomenal time, especially considering the weather was clear and sunny so we could venture out on the speed boat to explore, fish and pick wild blueberries.

There were other perks as well:

It was such a treat and we’re so grateful we got to join! Thanks again, Kim and David!

After we left the dock that evening, we drove up to the Salmon Glacier, the fifth largest glacier in Canada. Because the sun doesn’t set until 11 p.m. around here this time of year, we had plenty of time to drive up and stop for photos along the way.

We found a great lookout to stop for the night, and watched the sun set behind the mountains.

The view from our front yard when we woke up the next day was pretty incredible!

We even had friendly neighbors!

Scout and I took a little walk while Andy made coffee.

I love our morning coffee views these days.

We drove back down the mountain to Stewart, where we got our fishing licenses and headed out to the dock to see if we could catch a few crabs. We had great luck catching crabs, but for a little while it seemed like the only crabs in the water were females! We met a local who was also crabbing from the dock and enjoyed hanging out with him while we all released the ladies back into the ocean. By the time he had to go he’d caught a number of prawns, which he gifted to us. We were totally thrilled. I’ve never had fresh prawns before, so it was generous and very much appreciated! Thanks again, Tim! 🙂

Well, I have more tales to tell and I’m not nearly caught up all the way yet, but I just looked at the time and it’s almost grizzly bear feeding time here in Haines, and we want to see more bears!

Yes, I said more! Spoiler alert:

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