Holy Frost Heave.
Day two- June 12th, 2011.
Day two begins in Beaver Creek of the Yukon Territory. We got up and ate breakfast in our room (something we'd do throughout the entire trip) and subsequently got on the road about 8 am.
Have you ever heard of a frost heave? If you've driven the Alaska Highway, you know first hand what a frost heave is, but for those who aren't aware, let me show you.
This picture may not do it justice, but a frost heave develops in areas where extreme temperatures (cold) cause the expansion of ice crystals. Once these ice crystals melt, the soil drops creating craters in the road. We drove hundreds of miles of this stuff. Some areas were so bad, you could see the giant RV's bouncing all over the roads trying to avoid them. Often, you'd have to slow down to 10/15 miles per hour. If you were to drive fast over those things, I'm certain you'd end up with tire or axle damage.
Autumn HATED this section of our trip. She kept telling me I couldn't drive and that she didn't like all the bumps I was making. Coloring was nearly impossible and the DVD player kept falling off the console.
As far as wildlife viewing, to this point, the only animal we had spotted was a rabbit. Boy, was this going to be a long day!
I was actually grateful for some dirt road after all those frost heaves.
We found a little picnic area to stop for a break. We tried to let the girls out and about as often as possible.
Autumn enjoyed running around for a bit. It was a little bit cool this day. Temps that morning were in the low 40's.
SO we were just driving along when all of a sudden, out of nowhere....
Bears!!!!!!!!!! It was so exciting. We stayed in our car and honestly, I was a little scared to even roll my window down to take her picture. Autumn was bouncing all over the car. The bears didn't seem at all bothered by us being there taking their picture.
I just look at that mama bear and think holy cow, she looks like she would kill you in a heart beat.
I just found this amusing.
We stopped at a park and a very lovely park ranger (I cannot remember her name to save my life, but she was very kind and had twin girls born in Feb 08, same as Autumn) came outside to talk with Autumn. Autumn LOVED it.
The view from the park.
Stretching our legs again!
One must always remember to stop and smell the flowers!
There really were some very lovely views.
One thing I really liked about Canadia was the kilometers per hour. I'm fortunate that in my car, at the touch of a button, my speedometer converts from miles per hour to kilometers. It made me feel as if I was driving super fast!!!
We stopped for the night about 6 pm, so 10 hours of driving this day. The town was Teslin the hotel was called the YK Motel. We ate dinner there at the hotel and called it a night. Sean and I actually visited this town 4 years prior, but the hotel was booked up. I believe they have 11 rooms and on this particular day we were lucky enough to get the last room. We drove 390 miles, saw a bunny rabbit, swan, a grizzly and her two cubs. What an exciting day!!!!
More adventure coming your way soon!
The Jordan's.
Day two begins in Beaver Creek of the Yukon Territory. We got up and ate breakfast in our room (something we'd do throughout the entire trip) and subsequently got on the road about 8 am.
Have you ever heard of a frost heave? If you've driven the Alaska Highway, you know first hand what a frost heave is, but for those who aren't aware, let me show you.
This picture may not do it justice, but a frost heave develops in areas where extreme temperatures (cold) cause the expansion of ice crystals. Once these ice crystals melt, the soil drops creating craters in the road. We drove hundreds of miles of this stuff. Some areas were so bad, you could see the giant RV's bouncing all over the roads trying to avoid them. Often, you'd have to slow down to 10/15 miles per hour. If you were to drive fast over those things, I'm certain you'd end up with tire or axle damage.
Autumn HATED this section of our trip. She kept telling me I couldn't drive and that she didn't like all the bumps I was making. Coloring was nearly impossible and the DVD player kept falling off the console.
As far as wildlife viewing, to this point, the only animal we had spotted was a rabbit. Boy, was this going to be a long day!
I was actually grateful for some dirt road after all those frost heaves.
We found a little picnic area to stop for a break. We tried to let the girls out and about as often as possible.
Autumn enjoyed running around for a bit. It was a little bit cool this day. Temps that morning were in the low 40's.
SO we were just driving along when all of a sudden, out of nowhere....
Bears!!!!!!!!!! It was so exciting. We stayed in our car and honestly, I was a little scared to even roll my window down to take her picture. Autumn was bouncing all over the car. The bears didn't seem at all bothered by us being there taking their picture.
I just look at that mama bear and think holy cow, she looks like she would kill you in a heart beat.
I just found this amusing.
We stopped at a park and a very lovely park ranger (I cannot remember her name to save my life, but she was very kind and had twin girls born in Feb 08, same as Autumn) came outside to talk with Autumn. Autumn LOVED it.
The view from the park.
Stretching our legs again!
One must always remember to stop and smell the flowers!
There really were some very lovely views.
One thing I really liked about Canadia was the kilometers per hour. I'm fortunate that in my car, at the touch of a button, my speedometer converts from miles per hour to kilometers. It made me feel as if I was driving super fast!!!
We stopped for the night about 6 pm, so 10 hours of driving this day. The town was Teslin the hotel was called the YK Motel. We ate dinner there at the hotel and called it a night. Sean and I actually visited this town 4 years prior, but the hotel was booked up. I believe they have 11 rooms and on this particular day we were lucky enough to get the last room. We drove 390 miles, saw a bunny rabbit, swan, a grizzly and her two cubs. What an exciting day!!!!
More adventure coming your way soon!
The Jordan's.
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