Moving To Alaska: Day 9

Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada to Northern Rockies Lodge, Muncho Lake, British Columbia, Canada
Miles traveled: 384
Total miles traveled: 1546

Leaving Fort St. John we had two choices: drive 384 miles, an 8 hour drive, and stay at the Northern Rockies Lodge on Muncho Lake or drive 555 miles, a 12 hour drive, to Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, Canada and find a place to stay there. Obviously an 8 hour drive, plus stops, was much preferred than a 12 hour drive, plus stops, so we opted for staying at Muncho Lake. Of course all this was dependent on the Northern Rockies Lodge having a room or rooms available. If they had nothing then we would have no choice but to press on to Watson Lake.

Thankfully when when we called the Northern Rockies Lodge had a room available. One room, two full beds, one twin and a private bathroom. Good enough for the five of us. And so we set off toward Muncho Lake.

Between Fort St. John and Muncho Lake there was Fort Nelson and that's about all. Honestly other than beautiful views, scenic vistas, wildlife, and road construction there is nothing between the point A and point B. So we drove and drove and drove some more. We stopped in Fort Nelson for lunch, not necessary because we were hungry but more because there was a Subway there and we had NO idea if there would be any food again. Fortunately we were smart and had a cooler of meat, cheese and condiments as well as bread, chips and some desserts stowed in the car. As it turned out that would be our dinner that night because upon arriving at our destination we discovered food was outlandishly expensive and it would have cost a fortune to feed a family of five!

Scenic vista some where between Fort St. John and Muncho Lake.

Two things about his picture. First of all we followed the same car from Pullman to Fairbanks. What are the odds of that? ;-) Second see those trailers in front of Dan's car. They are hauling some sort of pre-fabricated building and we played leap frog with them almost all day. We would pass them, get ahead and then when we stopped to stretch they would pass us again we the would start all over again.

There was another guy in a red pick up that we must have seen four or five times. Same deal, we pass him, we pull off, he passes us and then we pass him again when we get back on the road. He actually pulled into Muncho Lake to get gas just moments after we got in line to check into our room. Needless to say mom and I had a good laugh about that one. And I bet you can't guess who we saw when we got to Tok. :-) We still chuckle about that every now and then!

Crossing a bride over some river some where. Real descriptive, right?

We had the cars packed in such a way that the boys could either ride together in Dan's car or we could separate them if need be. Dan was listening to the Eragon series on CD and Jonathan got really into the story so he never moved cars because that meant missing part of the story. Jason on the other hand was passed back and forth several times over the course of the journey. Somewhere between Fort St. John and Muncho Lake mom and I realized that Jason had been awfully quite, too quite, suspiciously quiet. I turned around and found this scene.

Jason has in his hands the entirety of a box of tissues that he must have pulled out one by one. He has also picked up a second box and was trying to figure out how to get it open. Oh what a laugh we had!

The Northern Rockies Lodge.

The hotel and the lake were super nice. Our room had a sliding back door that was on a trail leading down to the shore of Muncho Lake. The lake was beautiful. It had that same jade green color that most of the lakes and rivers in Canada had. The water was cold but the boys had a great time skipping rocks and throwing rocks into the water. It was a great place for them to have a little freedom after a long day in the car.

Jonathan skipping/throwing a rock into the lake.

Jason after throwing a rock into the lake.

Super cute pontoon plane that is used at the Northern Rockies Lodge. Jonathan said it looked like a little rat. He was pretty enamored of that plane. He wanted to take a ride but believe me that was WAY too expensive!

Exhausted we crawled into bed, went to sleep and we dreamed of Fairbanks.