Potholes, BIG things & pure awesomness

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Life again had its way with changing things on us. Originally we just let Google maps choose how we ended up in Grande Prairie, but after talking to our friend Paul he smartly suggested we get to GP via Jasper national park. And what a trip it was!

It’s kind of sad to say that in both our 27 years we have not really experienced this amazing place. The views were stunning and the drive was calm and peaceful. Both BJ and I loved checking out Athabasca falls…. What a show! We seem to have great timing with beating any rushes, and made it to the falls before all the good view points were stuffed with other tourists. Although I suppose that we can be classified among them now.

We also took the scenic route to Alaska to get to GP. A very nice drive, not quite as stunning as Jasper. Fewer mountains and more forest, but still gorgeous to see. If you ever head up this way and have the time I would highly recommend this route.

After a night well spent in GP I woke up to a bad headache, so BJ took the wheel for the beginning of our day. At Beaver Lodge Alberta we were excited to encounter one of our first BIG THINGS of the trip. The WORLDS LARGEST BEAVER!!!! No one can pass through here without stopping and taking the obligatory photo op… okay, most people can pass through here and skip that, but not BJ and I. A great BIG thing to add to our collection. (You will be seeing lots of these from us along the way!!)

Along the route to Fort Nelson we stopped in Dawson Creek to visit mile 0 of the Alaska Highway. We may not be completing the whole highway, but we had to check that off the bucket list, who knows we might just finish it the years to come.

From Dawson Creek it was a straight shot to Fort Nelson, a busy road with lots of big rigs keeping us company on the sometime potholed roads. Now, by potholes I mean GREAT BIG EAT YOUR CAR potholes…. Okay, not quite. I was driving along minding my own business when BANG! Hit a pothole. And perhaps the problem was minding my own business. I had a minor panic attack, was sure we blew a tire, pulled to the side of the road at the bottom of the hill-freaking out… and BJ checked and- No Flat… repeat that…. No Flat! Okay, so I over reacted, but better a scare then the real thing.

The last great happening of the day was BJ spotting a Momma black bear and her two cubs. AWESOME!!!!!!! Simply awesome! They were happily munching on grasses by the road and we were able to stop and grab some photos. Can’t really complain for day two.

We left Fort Nelson and made our way to Toad River. They have a really large hat collection! Pretty cool stuff. Stopped into the Liard natural hot springs. Wow was that extremely nice! The further up you go in it the hotter it got! Way too hot to handle. From there we headed to Watson Lake, YT. On the way here we spotted some more bears and buffalo!

The past 3 days have been pretty fantastic so far!

I think this bodes well for day four and forward.

Happy travels everyone!
Love BJ & Erin

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