We woke up this morning feeling very refreshed and relaxed. We only had about a 3 hour drive to our next destination so we were in no rush. The Northern Rockies Lodge and surrounding area was just as pretty in the morning as it had been at dusk last night so we took another walk around and worked up an appetite for breakfast. We missed the breakfast buffet in the dining room(that's OK because it was $14 per person) so we just made our selves some PB&Js which were quite good. We had to deal with our first bit of car trouble this morning...thankfully it wasn't on our car! A woman approached Chelsea literally as we were getting into the car to pull away and asked 'could your um boy....um husb...um..um... partner help me change my tire?' Of course we helped her, but it really turned out to be quite an ordeal. She was driving a newer ram pickup, which I have changed a tire on before so it was no sweat getting the spare down and the car jacked up. The problem arose after I took the lug nuts off, the wheel was frozen on! It literally would not budge. I did as much yanking on it as I felt comfortable doing, knowing that it was up on a scissor jack on ice. We employed the help of a trucker that was in the parking lot. He got his hammer and whacked on the wheel a whole bunch and it still wouldn't budge(he dented the wheel quite a lot, but the owner didn't seem to mind). Then the trucker had an AH-HA moment and ran back to his truck. He returned with a butane torch and set it to the wheel. We were very lucky he had this tool because it took about 2 solid minutes of flame to wheel to heat the metal enough so that we could get the wheel off. After that it was just a couple more minutes and then we were all on our separate ways.
Our big adventure today was the Liard River hot springs (the #1 most recommended destination of previous AlCan travelers we had talked to). Their recommendation did not disappoint. The hot springs really were phenomenal, and such a nice contrast to sitting in a car driving all day. The springs are about a 1/4 mile walk from the parking lot. There were signs telling of the unique micro ecosystem that the springs create and all of the different plants and animals that thrive in it. When we got to the springs there were a couple of other people there, but they left after a short while. The water was crystal clear and quite interesting to be in. It was only about 3-4 feet deep and the top of the water was probably twenty degrees hotter than the bottom. The pool ranges in temperature from about 115* F at the hot end near the source of the heat to about 85*F as it begins to flow away. There would also be waves of heat that were almost unbearable, followed by cooler temps which felt really nice. When we were done with the pools we made ourselves some sandwiches and had lunch. It was a very nice and well deserved relaxation time.
As we have gotten into the Northern Rockies we have been seeing more and more signs warning us of all kinds of wildlife. We have seen signs for moose, buffalo, sheep, and even horses(pretty weird). Well today we were finally treated to our first view! As we pulled around a curve and began to descend a hill we both saw in the distance and large brown spot against the pure white snow. As we got closer it appeared to be larger and larger, but we still couldn't quite make out the object. Not until we were about 100 yards away did we both yell out "buffalo!" We were so excited to finally see something, and it was quite a magnificent creature. It was huge, and just laying down near the road.
Little did we know that this was not the only buffalo that we would we seeing, but it was fun to finally see something. (Chelsea's "job" has been wildlife look out) By the end of the day's drive, we probably saw 150 of the 250 buffalo living in BC.
We got to our destination of Watson Lake at about 4:30 and made the rounds again. Things here are also a bit pricier, but there's not much you can do when you're in the middle of nowhere. We found ourselves a nice little motel with cool cabins. On recommendation from the motel staff we had dinner at Bee Jays cafe. It was in a truck stop, so we were a little skeptical at first sight, but we went for it. We had our first taste of Poutine(a Canadian dish of french fries covered in cheese and gravy) and some burgers. It was all really good. Then we headed to the Sign Forest. It is a collection of wood posts with all kinds of signs on them. (it was started by an American GI who, while building the highway, posted a sign stating the mileage back to his home town in Illinois) There are now over 70,000 signs in the sign forest. We wanted to go look around, but we were not properly equipped since there was a good 2 feet of snow throughout. So we decided we are going to visit it in the morning on our way out of town with some better snow gear. We also took the front license plate off of Falcor (I think well be alright with out it) cleaned it up and tagged it with our names and mileage from Seattle to Anchorage. It was a very nice relaxing day which is good, because the rest of our days are going to be long hauls.
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