False Advertising

(Revised with pictures 6/23)
Today will be a day for stories. I'll post pictures when I have a better connection. This one is pretty crappy.


The drive out of Texas was ugly and uneventful. Panhandle Texas is not pretty y'all. East Texas, central Texas, and even southern Texas is pretty. Panhandle Texas just... isn't. (Sorry Panhandle Texans, but I only speak the truth on my blogs, harsh though it may be.) We stopped to take a picture with the New Mexico sign, but unforunately that's the only one we've had a chance to stop for. All the others were in crazy places, like the side of a mountain, or in the middle of hurricane force winds (Wyoming). Oh well. We got lots of other pictures, so I think we're good.


We stayed in Colorado with my great-Aunt and -Uncle in their cabin (2-story house) in Colorado Springs. It was really nice of them to put us up. They have a gorgeous view behind their house. It was around 55 - 60 degrees the entire time we were there. Incredibly nice. After getting up and going on the grand tour, we drove to Garden of the Gods State Park. I had not realized how close it was to their house, but it was like a 5 minute drive. So we took the typical tourist pictures (see previous post) and then drove out of there. We hit Denver before we realized it was Denver, snapped a picture of the Barnes & Noble by the side of the road, searched for 10 miles for gas, and then continued on to Wyoming, where we were nearly blown away.


We stayed with my Dad's best friend from the Marines, Uncle Bill, in Green River, WY. It's a pretty charming high desert town. We wanted to see the Milky Way, so Uncle Bill took us out to a turnoff on top of one of the mountains right around there. It was too cloudy to see any stars, but it was still incredible. There was just silence for 20 miles in any direction. And darkness. You could just make out the next mountain in the distance, but it was just dark. Growing up in Houston, I've never been in true darkness. It was pretty awe-inspiring. I think I like darkness. Anyone surprised?


After thanking Uncle Bill for havin us over, we started north to go through the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. The Grand Tetons were slightly disappointing as the snowclouds we drove through later were hovering over them, obscuring our view of the peaks. We still got some pretty good shots of snow-covered mountains, but they were just the baby ones. When we finally got to Yellowstone, it was still pretty cloudy.


Guys, we have had the WORST luck with wildlife. We drove the the National Elk Refuge, and didn't see a single elk. It took us almost 45 min into Yellowstone before we saw any buffalo, and they were really far away.


After not seeing anything, we start to wind our way up into the mountains in Yellowstone. There is still MASSIVE amounts of snow on the side of the road. We had to keep reminding ourselves that it's June, not January. After we got to the top of the mountain and started slowly to go back down, however, it began to snow.


Yep, snow. Not the snow flurries we have back home every 10 years, but big, thick flakes of real snow.


I did fairly good with Amanda driving through snow. I think I only told her to be careful or she would kill us all maybe 4 times. (In her defense, there was absolutely nothing wrong with her driving, only with my psychosis.) We stopped to play in the snow (Amanda needed to make a snowball in June) and then kept going. Finally, about 30 min after that, we saw our first UP CLOSE wildlife, a few grazing elk. They were really big. A few miles further up from that we got stopped by a buffalo that had decided to walk along the road. He was so close I could have leaned (almost all the way) out of the car and touched him. Beautiful. He was just a baby though, maybe only 7-800lbs. But that was it. After him we saw some more buffalo and elk, and passed a 40 car parking line on the side of the road and people with binoculars (if you have to use binoculars to see it, it's too far away). They were probably looking for a bear. We declined to stop for that one, and kept going, towards Old Faithful.

I really wanted to see Old Faithful, but alas, it would prove as elusive as the wildlife.


We missed the spouting by 5 minutes.


Seriously, people. 5 minutes. We went into the gift shop and looked around for a couple minutes and then while we were checking out we asked the clerk when the next one would be and she said, "Oh, 4:35ish, give or take 10 minutes either direction." I look at my watch and say, "So, 5 minutes from now?" And she says, "Yep." So I ask her how long it takes to get there.


"Oh, about 10 minutes around the side of that brown building there."


So much for Old Faithful. We did see the steam comin off though. That was pretty cool. Oh well. Tourist crap is so much more important than seeing one of my country's most well-known landmarks...


Anyway, we finally got to Ruth and Josh's (Kathryn's daughter) about 7, 8ish. They are a fabulous family. Their kids are precious and they are the coolest parents EVER. And, on top of all her fabulousness, she fed us fajitas.


Fajitas.


In Montana. With guacamole and queso, and the best fajita meat ever!


We had a really good time talking with Ruth and Josh, and playing with their kids. I'm glad I got to meet y'all! She even packed us a lunch the next day, which we ate while driving to save time. It was awesome. Thanks guys!


Then we crossed the border, got stamps in our passports, and saw the hot Mountie.


Oh, hot Mountie.


See, I'm from Texas and I believe in guns (sorry if I offended anyone who doesn't). It is legal to bring a rifle into Canada, you just have to go through immigration (where you get your stamp) and traffic (where they look at the gun). The first Mountie at immigration was not hot, but he was fun. I really liked him. He joked with us when he asked all the questions he's required to ask and then he told us to have a seat and he'd be with us in a minute. When he calls us back up, he says our passports are invalid. We're both like, What?? We had forgotten to sign our passports. Dumb Americans. Anyway, after we signed them, he sent us over to traffic for the rifle. There were two lanes open, one with a hot Mountie, and one with two girls. The two girls were done first, but then they ignored us, so the hot Mountie got to help us. He was probably around 22, 23, very cute, with a strong Canadian accent. He was incredibly polite and nice about everything, even when I couldn't remember where the lock was for the rifle. He came out to the car, scoped it out, and we went back inside. He walked me over to the other desk, still chattin away, and then he sent me on my way. I start to walk outside, and I'm halfway out the door when he comes back out his private door and calls to me (Miss Caitlin. How cute is that?). I had extra copies of all my forms and had forgotten them on the desk. Instead of throwing them away like they would have back home, he actually chased me outside to give them to me. Gosh I love looking like a dumb American tourist in front of hot Canadian Mounties.


Sorry girls, no pictures.


After we clear customs, we head for Lethbridge, Alberta. It's a pretty good sized town. I do have some pictures, but not a lot (it's not that big). We stayed at a Days Inn in "downtown" Lethbridge. One thing I'm learning about Canadians, they LOVE their waterslides. Every hotel we've passed/stayed at has had a giant pool with a waterslide. I have no idea why they're so keen on waterslides. Anyway, the Days Inn room was alright, but the whole inside ceiling of the hotel was a giant mural. It had a "Home on the Range" theme, so we both felt right at home. After we got everything situated inside, we walked across the street to the 24 hr diner called Humpty's. (Dad, you could never eat here. They didn't even offer mayonnaise for the burger.) I got a burger. Burgers in Canada are weird. They put mustard and pickle relish on their burgers.


Pickle relish for cryin out loud! And they use bread and butter pickles instead of dill pickles. I HATE bread and butter pickles. Pickles should not be sweet. It's just wrong.


Enough ranting about pickles. Anyway, after the pickle fiasco, we went to bed and got up the next morning around 9ish. We were both exhausted. Driving for 10 days is hard work. But we're doin alright so far. We went and converted some money at the bank a block away, and while we were there Amanda spotted the girl's Starbucks cup. Away we go to Chapters, the Barnes & Noble of Canada (though Amanda's pretty sure it's owned by Borders). It was actually pretty good, though when the girl asked if I wanted the Estima or the "hoose" coffee I almost did a double take.


Back on the road after coffee, we drive out of Lethbridge heading towards Calgary. And here's were Canada smells like manure. Driving on the way to Lethbridge, we passed a couple spots where we both kinda smelled manure. We figured we were just passing a ranch or something. But when we were walking to Humpty's, we smelled it again in the gale force winds that were comin up the street. And then again when we drove out of Lethbridge, which led me to believe that the entire country of Canada smells like manure. Of course that's a gross exaggeration.


It's just Alberta that smells like manure.


In their defense, they did have some of the best beef I've had since leaving Texas (other than what Ruth used for the fajitas she fixed us for dinner in Montana. Ruth, you're fabulous!)


After zippin through Calgary (I didn't get my Saddledome picture, Michelle) we continued north towards Edmonton, then hooked a left to head west towards Grande Prairie. Now, who hasn't been to Canada? Have you been to Montana? Same thing. Rolling, occasionally green hills with a few high desert mountains thrown in. And way, way, WAY off in the distance is the Canadian Rockies. They were pretty spectacular in their far-off tininess. I'm sure they'll be better when (if) we actually get to them.


We stayed the night in Grande Prairie, next to a restaurant called Prairie Sushi (no Michelle, I wasn't brave enough to try Albertan sushi). They lost our reservation, so she gave us the hotel room for $10 off. Very nice of her. I made reservations with the Fort Nelson branch while we were there so I wouldn't have to worry about it. It was a really big hotel room. Way bigger than we needed, but nice. We didn't wake up until nearly 10am the next morning, but as we only had a 6 hr drive ahead of us, it didn't really matter. Or so we thought. It was a spectacularly boring drive.


We did drive through Beaverlodge, where they have a GIANT statue of a beaver. After Beaverlodge, there's a whole lot of nothin with small (and I mean one building small) towns. But we did pass a sign that said "Moose Row" and a whole bunch of moose crossing signs (which Amanda believes looks like the Buffalo Wild Wings sign, and she's right).


Which brings me to the title of this post.


We have not seen one moose so far this entire trip.


We have seen elk, caribou, deer by the zillions, two foxes, and one black bear family.


No freakin moose!


I'm a little more than slightly bitter about this fact. How can you have an entire 50 mile stretch of road named "Moose Row" and not provide at least ONE moose?? False advertising!!! We stopped by the Sasquatch Crossing Lodge (very cute, got pictures of that one too) and the lady behind the counter said that from here on out we would see lots of moose, and to "please drive accordingly cuz they can really jump out atcha."


I think she was lying for the American tourists.


NO MOOSE, PEOPLE, NOT EVEN AN ANTLER STICKIN OUT OF THE FOREST!


Ok, I'm calmer now. Maybe we'll even see a moose today. That would be nice. Cuz I'm pretty sure we have another 300 miles of nothin to drive through just like yesterday. Tonight we will be stopping in Watson Lake, YT. I'm fairly certain there isn't any wifi in Watson Lake (there's only three hotels, and they're all listed on the same website. Yep, you got it http://www.watsonlakehotels.com/ ). Hopefully when we get to Whitehorse we'll have wifi again.

3 1/2 more days and then I'm at my new Alaska home. Don't worry, I'll post pictures of that too. Love and miss all y'all.