Uncategorized – Aaron & Caroline's Grand Adventure

April 26, 2022

#21 – Berlin – Trains, Museums and Schnitzel

We arrived in Berlin on Easter Sunday, after a long train ride from Amsterdam. It was a nice train, and we got to experience first class seats, and met a very nice German couple from Hannover, who shared our compartment with us. Our close friend Jula, met us at the Berlin Spandau train station as she was graciously letting us stay at her apartment for the week. She guided us to her apartment, showed us the basics and left us to settle in. The first day in Berlin, we headed into town on the S3 S-Bahn train and transfered to the U-Bahn to go to Alexanderplatz and catch a Hop on / Hop off bus to explore and get our bearings around this huge city!

The Richstag with the covered dome that you can walk around.

The tour was great and gave us a good sense of where things were and what we wanted to check out next. We spent a bit of time at Checkpoint Charlie, and the Jewish Holocaust Memorial, before heading back and doing a little grocery shopping for the week. It was a good day to start our adventures and plan out the rest of our week.

We expored the East Side Gallery, a section of the Berlin Wall that is still standing that is covered with powerful murals and art depicting the time when Berlin, and Germany, was divided. It was an amazing experience and showcased the many ways, forms and messages that art can provide about this difficult division. We also explored the Science and Technology museum, a highlight for all its displays, information and collection, especially the giant boats, planes and trains from throughout German modern history.

A tram to Wollersdorf, a small village outside Berlin

We also got to enjoy a few delicious meals out and lots of amazing coffee. Jula took us to a fancy Sushi restauraunt (Sushi is fun!) and a traditional Schnitzel place (SchnitzelSei) that prepared one of the best Schnitzels I’ve ever had. We also really enjoyed her coffee from Nano Coffee, a wonderful coffee shop she works with that is super delicious! A highlight for us was the chance to go outside of the city and visit with her family, where we took a 100 year old tram through the forest to her Grandparents place, where we had a very pleasant walk and visit and got to know her Oma and Opa.

The Karl Marx Grand Alllee looking at the Berlin TV Tower

We also had the opportunity to visit the DDR Musuem, an engaging look at life in East Germany during the division. It was fascinating to learn about the jobs, people, homes, schools, products, government and challenges during this time, and how everyone lived when the Russians controlled this half of Germany. Seeing this, exploring the east side of Berlin and talking with Jula’s family provided us with a lot more knowledge and understanding of what life was like then and we greatly appreciated that opportunity.

Our week was not long enough! We got to see one more museum before we left, the Jewish History, Culture and Holocaust museum and it was another powerful opportunity for us to learn more about their struggles, challenges and people in Germany from the middle ages until present day. The museum, from its architecture, to its displays was very emotionally evocative and incredible engaging, allowing us to learn more about what trauma and persecution they experienced. It is highly recommended for any visitor.

Below is our video from this week, with some of our experiences, meals, sights and learning. Below that is a link to some more pictures if you would like to see more of our time. We are currently in Dresden now, and enjoying all the Steam trains, Boats, Castles and Fortresses as well as visiting with my family.

Pictures from Berlin: https://photos.app.goo.gl/MHF9NMCNCpPyHYZz6

March 10, 2022

#18 – Bucerias Mexico: Iguanas, Beaches and Sun

After spending the holidays back at home, visiting with family and riding out the last Omicron wave, we completed a few home renovations (new flooring, and bathroom refresh). We started to see some improvement and felt safer to get out travelling again. One of our wishes was to spend some time in Mexico and we went for a two-week all- inclusive vacation to Bucerias, Mexico, just north of Puerto Vallarta at a well known resort, the Royal Decameron

The resort had many Iguanas just hanging around with the guests

This resort caters to many Canadians and Mexicans and was super friendly, accessible and welcoming. We had wonderful weather while we were there, with 27c our average afternoon temperature! The beaches are beautiful, with lots of whale watching this time of year, as the Grey whales spend time in the bay with the babies teaching them how to feed, breach and have fun! We saw whales everyday, splashing their tales and fins, and leaping out of the water for huge splashes!

The staff at the resort made us feel very safe with lots of extra cleaning and masking protocols. We spent almost all of our time outside, eating, lounging, swimming, walking and biking. We explored the local market, ate at a delicous restaurant off the resort, and rode some bikes all the way from the marina in the south, to La Cruz in the north. It is one giant bay that Puerto Vallarta, Bucerias and La Cruz all share.

Each evening the sun set a little further up the coast

We met many Canadians, Americans and Mexicans during our stay and they were all super friendly, fun and interesting to get to know. We practiced our spanish a little bit, tried a lot of new foods and stayed healthy and well for our entire two weeks. The resort also put on a lot of excellent entertainment with a dance/music show every evening that was top notch, to activities, contests, tours and more for us to take advantage of.

The local community of Bucerias was amazing. It was a quaint little town that had a more authentic Mexican vibe, with friendly locals. Caroline enjoyed a massage from a nearby spa, as well as some tasty tacos at a local farmer’s market on Wednesday mornings. The town is going through a transformation however, with over a dozen new buildings going up and lots of contruction. We really enjoyed all the beautiful artwork, murals and galleries around town.

One of many amazing murals around Bucerias

This was a great rest and recharge for us after a couple of months back at home working hard on our home renos. We installed over a 1000sqft of new flooring, painted two rooms, installed new light fixtures around the house, and redid our main bath with new flooring, paint, toilet, vanity and mirror. We felt good about staying home while things were flaring up, but now that the world is opening back up slowly, we are hopeful to get our sabbatical trip going again. Our hope is to fly to Europe for 10 weeks starting in April, but we are waiting to see how things with Ukraine are going first.

Below is a video of our adventures for this chapter of our sabbatical year. There is also a link to a google photos folder for many of our best pics. We hope you enjoy both!

Photos from this trip: https://photos.app.goo.gl/aUdiyXSdiGvF2cDMA

December 15, 2021December 17, 2021

#17 – Arizona & California: Our last travel post! We explore Sedona, Pleasant Lake, Joshua Tree Park and San Diego before heading home!

Our travels are now done for a bit! We are back at home and doing a ton of laundry and catching up with a lot of chores and tasks that need to be done after being away for 5.5 months! This last post is all about our final stretch of the trip through Arizona and California, before we headed north and back into the cold.

We came into Arizona along the I-40, after going through Albuquerque and then Winslow, and turned south at Flagstaff to go check out Sedona, AZ. This was a beautiful, but incredibly busy place. It was American Thanksgiving weekend, and the tourists were out in abundance. It definitely gave off a summer Whistler vibe, with lots of high end art stores and eateries. We spent a good day exploring the views, sights and stunning geography. It was so colourful and unique, warm and developed.

Enjoying the views from the Sedona Airport

There were many parks surrounding Sedona, and we hiked a couple. The city also has an incredible viewpoint from up at the Airport, as well as a beautiful church built right into the rocks that drew quite a lot of tourists while we were there. It was warm, sunny and bright for our time, perfect for hiking and gawking all around us.

Checking out some older park facilities in Sedona

After Sedona, we headed more south, to just above Phoenix, at a campground on Pleasant Lake. This is a huge man made lake that is part of the water system for Arizona and California and collects a lot of water from the area for agriculture and drinking. It also is surrounded by giant cacti and wild donkeys! This was the hotest part of our trip, with 27c days, beautiful sunrises and sunsets and even hot air ballons floating nearby.

Camping among the Cacti in Pleasant Lake, AZ

We stayed at Lake Pleasant for 2 nights and enjoyed it immensly. We explored on our bikes and hiked through the desert. After this relaxing stretch we hit the road again and found a neat day spot called Montezuma Castle, nothing to do with actual Montezuma, but instead an ancient settlement of the Sinagua people dating back to the 12th Century up in the cliffs. Very well done little park and we learned a lot about these people and the ways they lived.

After this brief excursion we continued west and were able to secure a site at Joshua Tree National Park, a famous high altitude desert park. We were in the south entrance, and had a beautiful site with views, hikes and even Road Runner birds around our campsite. We made some friends from Canada, and chatted into the night under the stars. We also got to explore a nearby abandoned Gold mine that was very cool.

After Joshua Tree, we took a harrowing road up a mountain on a shortcut down to San Diego near Coachella, CA. Our time in San Diego was great! We spent 6 nights at a RV campground near the city on Mission Bay. We rode to the Beach every day and explored San Diego by transit. We even road up to La Jolla nearby and found some sea lions and sea caves, as well as delious tacos and drinks.

After San Diego, it was time to head home. We’ve explored a lot of the Pacific West Coast before, so we knew we were going to skip over a lot of northern California, Oregon and Washington and we were eager to get home and visit with family and friends. We drove the entire length of the I5, from San Diego to Vancouver over 4.5 days. It as a nice drive, but a couple of crazy mountain passes in northern California and southern Oregon. The all too familiar rains welcomed us and we had a very nostalgic ride on the ferry back to Vancouver Island.

Overall, we had an amazing trip and could not have asked for a better time. We saw so many beautiful places. We enjoyed meeting friendly people from all over Canada and USA. We stayed safe, followed all the Covid requirements and still were able to get out and tour around a lot of North America. We had a breakdown and did some maintenance on our truck, and learned a lot about navigating together through busy cities, giant 7 lane highways and quiet country backroads with no cell service. We did it all together!

Thanks for coming along on this chapter of our Sabbatical year. Our next steps are a little up in the air as we are waiting to see what is happening around the world. We’ve got time and we are flexible for whats next and will enjoy spending the holidays with our family and friends.

Our full route over 5.5 months! 22,000kms, 1 Territory, 6 Provinces, 19 States!

Photos from this segment: https://photos.app.goo.gl/6hH2J1ppPfWzSmiK6

December 8, 2021December 8, 2021

#16 – Exploring the Bayou and the Desert! Caddo Lake and Palo Duro State Park, Texas, and Louisiana.

Crossing the Mississippi River into Louisiana

As we left Alabama, we crossed the mighty Mississippi River and began making our way west. We decided to stay a little north, and not go too deep into the heart of Texas, and more skip along the top, visiting Arkansa, Oklahoma and Louisiana along the way. Our first stop was in Jackson Mississippi, where we boondocked at a Walmart for the night. We then made our way to Caddo Lake State park, where we planned on staying for a few days and enjoying a bayou tour!

We stayed in a little town called Karnack, which was very close to Caddo lake, and a warm spot for us to stay. We had booked our tour with Captain Ron’s Bayou Boat Tours, but his boat broke down! Our camp hosts had a good recommendation for us, and their friend John took us out for 2 hours on his own really fast boat. We had a great morning zooming through the bayou, seeing lots of birds, turtles and even some Sasquatch sightings in the bush! We did not get to see any Alligators however, as they were all hibernating already for the winter. We did get to try some fried Alligator though at the local watering hole! Very tasty and slightly like chicken!

Staying next to the bayou was quite spooky, especially when the fog rolled in and the sun went down. We heard lots of weird noises and kept our eyes out for Armadillos and Sasquatches! Our neighbours and hosts at the RV camp were super nice, very friendly and gave us lots of tips and advice for routes going north and west.

Enjoying our day on the boat in the Bayou

After fully exploring the bayou, riding our bikes around Caddo Lake area, getting to know some locals and eating lots of fried food, we headed out and made our way north, to go above Dallas and Fort Worth, on our way west along the I-40. We made our way to Oklahoma City, and had a very windy evening there, but according to the locals, “if your RV door dosen’t blow right off, its not that bad”. Our Camper was good at keeping us warm, but the wind was loud and the trains nearby kept us up as well. We had a beautiful sunrise before we headed out and made our west, on the windiest day of our entire drive.

The drive was a white-knuckle affair, with sustained winds all morning that made it a little tougher to keep straight. We got through it however, and made our way into Texas, near Amarillo, to Palo Duro State Park. This was definitely a highlight for us, as we experiences a beautiful spot with amazing geography that was super different than anything else we’ve encountered so far. The campsite was deep into a large canyon and was surrounded by amazing hikes and beautiful vistas.

We saw our first Armadillo right beside our campsite rummaging through some leaves. It was not too bothered by us and Caroline was able to get quite close to it and take some photos. We heard coyotes every day at sunset and sunrise, howling to start and end their day. It was a great spot and felt very different from our time in the bayou. It was warm during the day, the stars were super bright and we were most defintely in the west.

After the sun went down, I spent a little time playing with my phone, getting some Astrophotography shots of the night sky. Where we were, we could easily see Venus, Saturn and Jupiter, all lined up in the western sky, just after sunset. It was a great way to spend our evenings, outside, staring up and talking about our trip so far, we just had to bundle up to stay warm!

We also found a great cave in the park, called “The Big Cave” and wanted to explore it a bit before we moved on. It was not as big as we anticipated, but was still cool to see and explore a little bit.

After this, we packed up and began our last leg of our US tour, the southwest. We were excited to head to Arizona and California, as we explore Sedona, and Joshua Tree Park before hitting the west coast and slowing down in San Diego for a bit.

Photos from this chapter of our trip: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4FAVja7PF27mULiS7

November 26, 2021

#15 – Exploring the US Capital, some country music, and learning about the Civil Rights movement. Washington DC, Nashville TN and Montgomery AB!

After a very exciting and fun filled three nights in New York City, we headed the truck south towards Washington DC to explore the capital of the US. The weather was nice, but chilly, and we spent two nights camping out about 10 miles outside of downtown, in Maryland.

The main mall is huge! We walked the entire length, from the Capital building all the way to the Lincoln Memorial. It was really interesting to see the Washington Monument, the Capital building and the White House. The Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting pool were very powerful experiences and opportunities to reflect on some of the great people of US history.

We also enjoyed checking out the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, a free experience as are all the museums in DC. It has some incredibe exhibits on climate change, natural history, geology, gems and minerals and African orgins, and Human history. It was a great way for us to spend the morning, and we definitely learned a lot.

After Washington, we continued to head southwest, and worked our way through Virgina. Caroline happened to be driving and we were just pulling off the highway for our stop for the night when our truck complety shut down! Turns out our Alternator went bad and then our battery drained and we were stuck on the road, needing a tow. We got all fixed up in a couple of days and headed out back on the road after exploring Roanoke, Virginia, the “Magic City” for a day!

Checking out some country music in Nashville TN

Our next stop was Nashville Tennessee, where we got to enjoy some tasty BBQ and good country Music. This city definitely had a “Vegas” vibe, with the downtown Broadway street very busy with people, bars, restaurants and live music all day and evening! Most bars were three stories, with live music on each floor! We had a fun evening exploring downtown after leaving our truck and camper back at the KOA campground in Music Valley.

Learning about the Civil Rights Movement in Montgomery AB

After our visit to Nashville, we headed south in Alabama. We wanted to visit Montgomery, to learn more about the history of slavery and the Civil Rights Movement. We explored the city and found many useful and insightful plaques the described the important events, people and history of this city. We talked with some locals and did a self-guided walked tour around town. We also complemented this with a visit to Selma, a very important town nearby where the march for voting rights began. It was a powerful experience and we are so glad we got to witness this historical place.

Photos from this part of our trip: https://photos.app.goo.gl/m4yeP7jHurKAHe149

Overall, this segment of our trip was great, despite the breakdown. We learned a lot of new history, witnessed interesting events and locations and explored some new music. We had great new southern food, met lots of very friendly people and made it deep into the southern US. Our next phase of the trip is to head west through Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas!

November 19, 2021November 19, 2021

#14 – New York City!

After waiting for what seemed liked forever, the USA border opened up at last and we were able to cross over on Nov 8th. Despite lots of hype, it was quite easy and fast for us to cross over and begin our long way home.

We spent our first night in the US boondocking at a Walmart near Kingston, NY. The next day we drove into New Jersey and where we were parked for the next 3 nights, at Liberty Harbour RV Park, essentially a parking lot near the Statue of Liberty that allowed us to stay in our Camper, but still be very close to the City. We had two options, a ferry across to Manhattan, and a subway PATH from Jersey City into World Trade Center.

We walked about 30,000 steps every day, and explored as much of the city as we could in 3 days. Lower Manhattan, Broadway, Hudson, Central Park, Little Italy, Brooklyn Bridge, 9/11 Memorial, the MET Gallery and so much more. It was beautiful, unseasonable weather for early November, most days were clear, sunny and above 20 degrees. We rented bikes, took the subway, ferry and walked our way around this giant, busy island.

We were very excited to be able to get some 1/2 price tickets to “Come from Away”, an excellent Broadway musical all about the town of Gander, Newfoundland, and how they helped and housed over 7000 stranded travellers after the 9/11 attacks. It was a heartfelt and emotional experience that resonated with us a lot, especially when we also were able to spend some time at the 9/11 memorial at the World Trade Center.

The city that never sleeps is always busy! Even on a weeknight, we found New York to be energetic, exciting and engaging. People were friendly, talkative and welcoming for us, as visitors. There was lots of attention to making sure everyone was safe, wearing masks when required and checking our vaccine passports when neccessary.

Taking the ferry back to our RV after a long day of exploring.

One of our favourite days was spent walking and exploring Central Park and the adjacent MET Gallery of Art. It was so full of interesting exhibits, displays, collections and pieces of art. We saw so many beautiful things, evidence of past civilizations, examples of transformative art, and engaging stories of history.

One of the many exhibits in the MET Gallery

We happened to be in NYC during Remembrance day, or as it is called in the US, Veterans day. They had many examples and displays of the sacrifices of their soldiers and people during the past world wars. It was an interesting for us to see the subtle differences between Canada and the US on this important day.

World Trade Center Station lit up for Veterans day

Overall, our New York experience lived up to our expectations and more. We were very lucky with our timing, had great weather, a very close place to park our truck and camper and easy access to the city. With good walking shoes, google maps, and a bike and subway pass, we were able to go anywhere we wanted. We had amazing pizzas, dinners and street food, saw an amazing broadway musical and fully explored Central Park. We got to do all the things we planned and more, yet still, we hope to come back again one day!

Below is our video from this part of our trip and below the video is a link to more photos of our time in the Big Apple!

A collection of our Photos from New York City https://photos.app.goo.gl/c4Y4gpQcKKSF9s459

October 16, 2021

#13 – Quebec! Montreal, Laurentians and Quebec City

Since driving across Canada, we have slowed down a bit and are enjoying a break from travelling. We arrived into Montreal in mid September and are staying with family, having regular showers and appreciating indoor plumbing! We spent a few days exploring Montreal, using transit, the Metro, and even renting Bixi bikes to cruise around looking at the gorgeous murals.

We explored multuple neighbourhoods, enjoyed lots of great food, including some authentic bagels, and smoked meat sandwiches! We had lots of fun getting lost and exploring Mont Royal Park, Old Port, and using the metro! The weather was great, warm and sunny and we ate our way around town.

After Montreal, we loaded up in the truck and headed north to the Laurentians where we had booked an AirBnB near Joilette to spend a few days in the fall colours and some time to unwind. We timed it perfectly and really got to see tons of colours, from yellow to gold, from orange to maroon, it was a spectactular! We had access to a canoe and kayak and were right beside a nice little river where we could paddle for hours.

Nearby our AirBnB was a Monastary, the l’Abbaye Val Notre-Dame which is famous for its beautiful walking trails and amazing fall colours. The Monks there have made a vow of silence, and their gorgeous property was easy to lose our words over.

After our relaxing time at the AirBnB and the Abbey, it was a nice thanksgiving with family back in Montreal, where we enjoyed a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. We had a great time catching up with family and tons of delicious food. We wrapped up the meal and started packing for our next trip, where we took the VIA train to Quebec City for the week ahead.

We had an incredible time in Ville de Quebec and had wonderful fall weather while we were there. We stayed right in the old town, near the wall, and walked thousands of steps every day, exploring almost every street downtown.

We had one special night planned for Quebec City, a delayed anniversay dinner from earlier in our summer. Quebec City is a special place for us, as it is where we got engaged here over 10 years ago, and also visited again for our 5th anniversary! We love the revolving restaurant there and had a delicous and romantic meal as we watched the city below us.

The rest of our time in Quebec was equally great, with a visit to the National Art Gallery, as well as a open top bus tour around the city. We saw two protests while we were there, and lots of good buskers playing traditional Quebec music.

Some modern art capturing the Quebec family

We have a lot more photos of Quebec City: Click Here

We have more photos of Montreal and the Laurentians here:

Finally, here is a short video of some of our highlights and explorations from all over Quebec:

September 24, 2021September 24, 2021

#12 – Southern Ontario

After we unloaded from the Ferry in Tobermory, we headed south in the sunshine and made our first stop at Sauble Beach. I can see how this would be so popular and busy in the summer, but because we arrived mid-week in Sept, it was pretty quiet. We enjoyed an afternoon with some sand, sun and chips from the burger stand.

We drove across the Pennisula and stayed the night in Owen Sound, boondocking at the Walmart there, which, conveniently was right beside a Swiss Chalet, our favourite restaurant. However, our wishes were dashed as they were “out of chicken”. So we had Harvey’s burgers instead. We carried on the next day to camp at Meford, in a wonderful municipal campground that was beautiful. We had a great site, good showers, power and a wonderful beach. We also had a visit with some of Caroline’s family and a chance to catch up and share about our trip.

After Meford, we headed northeast on our way to the Muskokas and Algonquin Park, where we had 3 nights booked at Lake of Two Rivers. We wanted to do a lot of Canoeing and so we rented one from Algonquin Outfitters and it was great! We explored multiple lakes, waterfalls, portaged and biked around the park. It was mostly good weather, except for the Tornado warning we got, but never actual materialized.

It was super nice to slow down for a bit, canoe every day and enjoy the changing of the seasons into Fall. We had full sun, fog, some wind, a little thunder and a little rain during our 3 days, but we stayed dry, warm and comfortable in our camper and canoe.

Finding lots to explore in little side rivers

Here is our video and below are some pics of this segment of our trip

Photos from this segment here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/CEJdwgFV2zmbCLCBA

After Algonquin, we are shifting gears for a bit as we visit with family in Montreal and Ottawa. It will be good to park the truck for a bit and enjoy some indoor time and catch up with our family and friends back east.

September 10, 2021September 10, 2021

#10 – The Prairies

We spent a full week exploring the Canadian Prairies. We had great weather and good driving conditions for the whole time. We tried to stay north as we came down from Fort St John and skip along northern Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Our first night was in Fahler, Alberta and it was full on harvest time. Combines in the fields, farmers working and hay rolls everywhere. Fahler is also the honey bee capital of Canada and had a huge bee in town. We stayed at a beautiful municipal park with power, showers and just a couple other campers.

We drove through Cold Lake, Alberta, home of the Snowbirds and giant air force base. We spent a night at Beaver Creek provincial campground. It was decent, but busy.

Next day we crossed into Saskatchewan and visited Athabasca, which was a nice stop and had some interesting history. We then spent two gorgeous days at a giant, empty mega campground near Battleford, Saskatchewan. It was strange to be at a spot that had thousands of campers a week earlier and now it was just us and the retirees.

We had power, showers, sunshine and space, and so we settled in for 2 nights. We had a few nice hikes, a couple of refreshing swims and lots of time to read.

After Battleford, we headed straight for Saskatoon to do some laundry and also get a hotel room for the night! (Our first one!) We also enjoyed a nice dinner out to celebrate Caroline’s birthday. Good thing we brought some nice clothes.

After Saskatoon we went south and aimed to hook up with the trans Canada #1 highway. Our main road for the rest of the trip. We also had our check engine light come on! We knew it was a minor issue, most likely related to some bad fuel. We got it looked at it Winnipeg and it’s been fine ever since.

Before Winnipeg, we spent a night at Moosomin Lake, which has a super nice little regional park with camping. It was also very quiet as everyone had gone back home for school and work. We still enjoyed our time exploring their giant chairs.

In Winnipeg, we got lots done! We did a big shop, loaded up with supplies, got our truck looked at and sorted out and spent a morning walking around downtown. It was a beauty blue sky day and we really enjoyed all the public art and parks by the river.

After Winnipeg, we set our sights for Northern Ontario. We were excited for this next chapter and also to see some family and friends. Next stops will be Kenora and Thunder Bay.

Below is a link to more photos from this segment of our adventures.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Hb4u6phPWmnhTLvW6

September 6, 2021August 31, 2021

#9 – Watson’s Signs, Muncho’s Bison, and Liard’s Hot Springs

When we left Atlin, we knew it was near the end of our Yukon Adventure. It had been over 3 weeks of exploration, driving, hiking, biking and camping. We had excellent weather and met wonderful people in our travels. Our next big stop was at the very famous Watson Lake and we had to check out their sign forest! Over 88,000 signs and growing every day. We took a bit of time to check out a few signs and get lost in the forest.

The drive along the ALCAN highway from Watson to Liard was the most bountiful wildlife we have both ever seen. We wanted to see Bison, and we got to see three herds on the side of the highway. We also saw Moose, Bears, Cariboo, Elk, Mountain Sheep, Porcupine and Fox. We kept our eyes peeled and cameras ready. It was a great drive and one we will remember a long time

We arrived at Liard and grabbed a campsite and our swim trunks and headed straight for the pools. We’ve heard from many of our friends how amazing this place is, and we agree! There is a “hot” end that you can see in the photo above that shows where the hot water enters the pools. It was super hot, and you had to circulate the cool water on the bottom to keep yourself at a comfortable temperature.

We slowed down and spent three days here. We slept in, did’nt drive at all, and snacked a lot. We needed a little downtime as we had been quite busy, active and covered a lot of miles through the Yukon. This was our restful reward. We also needed to recharge for our next big push across the Prairies.

We stayed one night on the side of Muncho Lake and got a good sense of the Northern Rockies. It was a crystal clear blue lake and apparently had great fishing. We explored a nearby resort and had a great campfire.

After Muncho Lake, we headed east and aimed straight for Fort St John. We needed an oil change! After 6000kms, it was time and we also needed to resupply and recharge. This is the end of the Yukon chapter of our trip. We are now heading east through the Prairies and are hoping to get to Ontario region for mid sept.

Here is this segment’s video and below is the link to some epic photos!

Here are the photos from this video https://photos.app.goo.gl/1rxkghfFQEuYkwUW9

September 3, 2021August 31, 2021

#8 – King’s Throne, Sand Dunes and Atlin, BC

King’s Throne. The hike goes up the left side of the stone face, and goes to the ‘seat’ of the throne.

After we left the Bear Corridor on Congdon Creek, we headed a little bit south, to Kathleen Lake, a National park in a beautiful spot. The lake overlooks King’s Throne, a truly majestic looking mountain and hike we scrambled up a few days later.

We enjoyed some great weather and good hiking at Kathleen Lake and would recommend a visit if you are near Haine’s Junction. They had lots of Park Rangers, interpretive content and presentations and even a kid’s scavenger hunt that we did ourselves!

We moved on and toured through Carcross, and its nearby micro-climate desert, the Carcross Desert. It was windy and not too big. Super strange to have that much sand swirling around us in the Yukon cold.

We stayed a night at Conrad Campground, the Yukon’s newest Campground. It was on the way to Skagway Alaska, but we still could not cross the border to the US, so we turned back and headed for Atlin BC!

Our campsite at Palmer Lake, near Atlin BC

Our first night near Atlin, BC, was at a forestry site, near Palmer Lake. It was gorgous and we had the place to ourselves. Atlin BC, is on a dead end road and is only accessible via land through the Yukon. A lot of Whitehorse residents come down often for vacations and little trips as it is only 2.5 hours away. We could definitely see why!

Atlin Mountain, on Atlin Lake, near Atlin, BC

Apparently, Atlin BC, is like the Switzerland of North America. The mountains, lakes, rivers and glaciers that surround this tiny little town are impressive. There is lots of mining nearby as well. We had a very tasty lunch at a little diner here that was delicous.

While in Atlin, we checked out their local museum and rode our bikes around town, up and down the blocks. We also did an epic hike up a nearby mountain and got a great view of the whole lake, town and region.

previously out of breath from a huge climb up

Here is our video from this chapter of our trip. We can definitely feel the weather shifting and the seasons beginning to change. Its time to start making our way south and out of the Yukon.

Here is a link to the Photos from this video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/pZVRAKKmyaBj8khL6

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: