Wednesday, September 05

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Day 12

We got up and started at 8 am headed for Alaska.  Took a small ferry across the Yukon River then started driving the Top of the World Highway (TWH).  The road was mainly crushed rock and some parts are called washboard (it looked and felt like driving over a washboard.)These parts we hated since they would rattle our teeth.  Beside the rattles, some of the road was very narrow with signs posted saying the road had soft shoulders. We tried to take some pictures of the drop offs but not sure if you can appreciate how scary it looked. (sometimes it was less than 6 feet). We knew ahead of time that today would be a tough road to follow! Prior to reaching the Alaska border, we hit the highest point on the TWH, 4515 feet. The scenery was spectacular all along the way so we didn’t regret our decision to go this way even though to go 111 miles it took us over 5 hours because of the bone rattling bumps. 

So after 4221 miles and 11 ½ days we finally made it to Alaska. Our first stop, besides the border, was  Chicken, Alaska.  In Chicken they actually had one of the dredges that was used in gold mining activities. Next we traveled on the Taylor Highway. Today we stopped numerous times at viewing areas to look at such dramatic landscape.

Continuing from Chicken we drove about 60 miles where we met back up with the Alaska Hwy.  We turned north headed toward Fairbanks.  Along the way we decided to shorten today’s trip and stop in Tok, Alaska.   After the rough road we decided that we needed a break. It just makes it a little longer jaunt to Fairbanks tomorrow.

MILES TODAY  200  TOTAL 4356

Ferry from Dawson City to Top of the World Highway

Top of the World Highway

Top of the World Highway

Sandhill Cranes

Top of the World Highway Shoulder--scary!

Border Crossing-Customs on Top of the World Highway

The Bumpy Road--Top of the World Highway

Chicken, Alaska

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ANDY’S REPORT.

   Hey, the peeps got up a little earlier today and seemed to be in a hurry. Dad made some breakfast croissants, hmmm good!  We drove about ¾ mile and stopped. Huh? This strange looking water house came over and stopped in front of us.  Can you believe it had a bunch of moving houses on it? Do moving houses have puppies??  Okay, rode across the moving water, then on to the road. I was scared at first. Dad told me we were going to have a bumpy ride for a few hours today. Yeah, right! My teeth are still rattling from that ride and it really messed up my nap time. The peeps tricked me. We made a stop and I thought oh, it’s finally over. The peeps got all excited and ran around some big hill. Then we drove through some place, where the guy stole our lemon. Then we stopped again only a few minutes later and the peeps got excited all over again. I didn’t even need a break that fast! It all smelled the same to me.  Finally,  got off that rattle road and stopped some place that had a big chicken standing outside, but the peeps would not let me chase it.  So back on the road, made a few pit stops, some good smells.  Arrived at the moving house park, set up the house, ate dinner, I’m going to bed. 

My teeth hurt!

Digging for gold--my peeps need money!

Alaska? What's the big deal?

I'm on top of the world! Huh?

Alaska smells the same to me!

The show's over!