Day 4: Prince George, Whistler and Vancouver, baby!

The drive from Smithers to Prince George was extremely boring--or at least it was after driving the Cassiar Hwy. There were some pretty parts with some neat small towns, but most of the way it was mostly farming communities.

They were pretty, but I kept saying "I miss the Cassiar" to Klay most of the time.

After a few recommendations in the morning in Smithers and some friends of ours, we decided to detour through Whistler, BC and stay the night there. When we made this decision we were in the car leaving Smithers, so we had no idea what the town looked like, how large it was or any knowledge what-so-ever about it. All we knew was it was a beautiful place, a tourist town (home of the most recent Winter Olympics where Shawn White got the gold) with a gorgeous drive. And that was it.

We started on the gorgeous drive up, turning off before Cache Creek, and drove in between mountains surrounded by multiple rivers and creeks. We passed small towns in the mountains way out in the middle of nowhere. It was an absolutely stunning drive.

After stopping off along the way to take lots of pictures, we finally made it to Whistler at 9 p.m. It was a gorgeous town with tons of hotels and resorts--super lodgey looking and was a real ski town. People were everywhere and we made our way to four different hotels which were all booked. Guess it was just our luck cause it was Friday night. So, after the fourth failed attempt in Whistler, we decided to move forward.

On the way toward Vancouver, a silver porsche passed us, and somehow I got on the conversation of Robert Pattinson owning a green one, and then we got into where they were filming and everything. The silver porsche turned off in Squamish (a town 70 km outside of Vancouver) and headed toward Extended Stay Suites. We ended up stopping in Squamish at the Best Western because the drive started to wear on us. So, I went in the lobby to see if they allowed pets and had vacancies. The hotel receptionist said they were all booked too.

I asked, "Is it because of Whistler?"

"No," hotel receptionist said. "We're booked because film crews are staying here."

"Is it the 'Breaking Dawn' film crews?" I said.

"No, try Twilight," she said.

"Oh, really? It's the same thing. So, the film crews are here?"

She nods.

"Hmm, I wonder where the actors are staying..." I said.

"Oh, I'm not at liberty to say," she smiles.

I walked out and told Klay. His immediate reaction was I'm sure they weren't staying there (it wasn't the nicest of hotels). I doubted the actors were staying there too, and then he said "what if one of them were in the porsche?" I was like "REALLY?" Now, I'm going to be thinking about that. Anyway, to make a long story short, I got on breakingdawnmovie.org and the guy who plays Carlisle Cullen, tweeted a picture of a sign that said "Bear spotted in the area. Please be careful."--or something.

Ashley Greene (Alice), Jackson Rathbone  (Jasper) and Kellen Lutz (Emmett) were all spotted in Vancouver Wednesday and Thursday. So, who knows where they are!

Anyway, after that last failed attempt in Squamish, we made it to Vancouver at night (which was crowded with people bar-hopping). We were so exhausted and looking for any place to stay. We had one more failed attempt, before finally finding a place that would take us in.

So the long night wasn't very much fun, but the drive in was a blast!  We decided from now on that we should really plan our trips, hotels & stops more throughly than before.

Tomorrow we get to experience Vancouver in the daytime! Yay!! =)

Check back for more updates at 'From the road...'

Day 2: Entering Canada (Yukon)

After a rough sleep in a motel, much like the one in the movie "VACANCY," we set off this morning unsure of where we wanted to end our day. Klay drove again, and we realized about two hours into today's journey that we were definitely lacking in the music department--both of us complaining about the other's choice in music (well, only a little bit). But luckily for us, we like MOST of the same music...but only MOST. The dogs are doing pretty good. It's just hard to get them to potty when we want them too and they whine/bark when one of us gets out of the car, but other than that they've done well.

I was filming when we thought we were 20 miles from the Canadian border, but it ended up being more like two. Little did we know that you leave Alaska, enter Canada and drive 20 miles already in Canada before hitting Customs (where they check our passport/info). It was kinda sad, for me, to leave Alaska. And there wasn't even a "Leaving Alaska" sign!

We got through Customs just fine, and pulled into a gas station in Beaver Creek, Yukon, where we encountered our first Canadian accent--and people thought I sound funny. We passed by Kluane Lake which seemed to go on for miles. I can't imagine what it looks like in the summer, because it was the prettiest place we've seen so far since our trip began.

Now to the wildlife. We saw some flying swans (that's what Klay said they were anyway), wild horses and some funny looking deer-like creatures. The dogs went crazy when we saw the deer-guys and scared some of them--wish I knew what they were called.

After being on the road for seven plus hours, we ended up in Whitehorse and are staying at the Westmark hotel--oh it's so nice! I couldn't be more excited to feel like I can actually relax. Tomorrow, we'd like to get to Bell 2 Lodge, which is about a ten-hour drive. We wanted to get farther today, but we couldn't pass up the chance to stay in nice hotel.

Canada definitely feels strange. It really feels like we're out of place! But we're ready to see what tomorrow brings, I should get off here and head to bed.

Stay tuned for more "From the road..." with the White's!

Day 1: The end of our Alaskan adventure and beginning of a new journey

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When Klay and I got married in 2007, the thought of 2011 and the end of his Air Force career seemed too far in the future to even contemplate--and now here we are. After three and a half years in Anchorage, we're coming back to Texas and are so excited to be back with family and friends. Of course during our time in Alaska, we met some great friends and we were sad to say goodbye to them today. UAA's University Advancement, where I work, had a 'going away' party for me this morning, and then we met Klay's co-workers for his 'seeing-us-off' lunch after. After the sad send-off's, it was time to leave Anchorage in the rearview and embark on the new journey ahead.

Klay and I never got to go on a honeymoon, so we really wanted to take this trip for ourselves. We've never been out of the country--no, not even Mexico--and we want to enjoy ourselves on our long trek home. As of now, we plan to stop in Vancouver, go through Washington and Oregon, then to the beautiful and sunny California! Perhaps eventually a stop in Las Vegas and of course visit the Grand Canyon.

We left Anchorage at 1:30 p.m. today, and our destination--Tok, Alaska--a town about 100 miles before the Canadian Border. We saw the beautiful Mat-Su glacier, passed the place where Klay ruined his 4-wheeler and almost drowned a few years back, saw a fox and an owl (which flew right in front of our windshield; pretty awesome) and after lots of bumpy/hilly roads, swerves and curves, we made it to Tok in one piece.

As Jessica Hamlin and a few others at my work recommended, we ate at Fast Eddies--which was amazing--and then found a motel for the night. It's not the nicest place, and I kind of feel like I'm in the movie "VACANCY"--which can't be a good sign--but I guess it'll do.

In the morning, we will set off into Canada (assuming they let us in) and we'll see how far we get...

Stay tuned for more updates from Klay, Cass, Billie and Stretch 'From the road...'