Tuesday June 29th

Watson Lake --- to Haines Junction, Yukon Territory

Watson Lake was not one of our favorite places. The town had a "dirty feeling" to it. I thought the town had a population of about 50 but, it is actually 1,600. The town is referred to as the Yukon's Gateway and sits at the junction of the Campbell and Alaska highways. The junction is well marked with a famous landmark, the Signpost Forest. It would take a whole day to look at every sign. That is really ALL the town has to offer.

The hotel was barley adequate to rest our tired bones. I will give you a few examples and make sure everyone is able to still keep their food down. When we opened up the fridge it smelled like someone was storing a science experiement in it. We decided to skip using the shower the night before and the next day; surley the next hotel had to be better. I think everyone gets the picture here.

We continue to meet more people in the military that are transfering to different parts of Alaska. We met a Warrant Officer and his wife and 2 kids who were in route to Anchorage for 4 years. Andy met an Infantry guy who had just left Ft. Benning; ahhhh GA, who was moving to Fairbanks and we ran into our new friends, the Air Force family of 6, again.

We arrive in Haines Junction!!!! This town is probably the same size of Watson Lake but, the feel is much, much different. Andy checks in at the front desk which is also the bar (love it). The bartender is also the Inn keeper (her name is Barbie). So the motel is actually a bar that has 12 rooms attached to it; I'm really going to like this place! So we let the dogs out of the truck and they are immediately met by 3 other dogs, non with collars on. One dog is actually Barbies and the other 2 are a bar patrons. There is no need for the dogs to have collars b/c everyone knows who belongs to who!

The hotel room is extremely small is exactly like a log cabin and had just enough room to turn around in. There is no a/c but, the window did open. The view of whatever mountain we were "forced" to look at was absolutely breathtaking. I asked some bar partrons where would be a good place to go for a run/walk and they directed me to a trail that took me to the river. Here again was an amazing view of nature, I was actually a little nervous that I might run into a bear or even links.

After dinner the whole family went on the same walk again and had a great time. I bought a bottle of wine at the bar for $11 and Andy had some Bud and we played cards out on our porch and staired at the beautiful view until it was time to go to bed. This was probably our best nights sleep in the Yukon.

Did I tell you we loved Haines Junction?