Where the Green Grass Grows: Donut Holes?! Are You American?

Day 4
3 July

Whitehorse, Canada to Liard Hot Springs, Canada
8hrs 51 minutes 401 miles

Yesterday we had a long day. Before we headed out of Whitehorse, we hit up Tim Horton's for coffee and breakfast. If you've never been to a Tim Horton's well then you should be jealous :p It's kinda like a Canadian version of Starbucks but better! The drive-thru line had at least 10 cars in it so Gabe and I ran in to order to-go. Part of the perk of having Hope along with us (other then her company of course) is that we can leave her in the car with the kids and run in to the store...Anyway, as I was trying to order a box of donut holes for the kids, the guy working looked at me with the most puzzled face...so I said again "Can I please have the box of 20 donut holes" and still no reaction...finally after about 7 seconds hit face lit up and he said, "OH! You mean Timbits?!?" Ha, yes, that's what I meant, silly me calling them donut holes and not Timbits while at the Tim Hortons in Canada, because apparently, Canadians don't know what donut holes are! So then he asks me if I am American...which surprisingly I have now been asked quite a few times on this trip...I never thought being American was SO different then being Canadian, but apparently it is! (ps-Jude thought the Timbits were da bomb!)

After getting coffee, we drove all around town to try and find ice for the fish in the coolers; but again, Canadians only carry blocks of ice?? Interesting. We finally came across a gas station where the worker just bagged up some ice from the ice maker from the soda machine; he was super nice.

It was a long stretch to the Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake. When we arrived we got gas and some snacks and let the kids run around the Sign Post Forest. We walked around reading the signs and scouted a place to hang ours. We finally found a good spot and hung up our Alaska license plate we bought at the Tok gift shop. We all signed it and wrote Wasilla Alaska to Altus, Ok 2014. The Sign Post Forest is super fun with great history; you can read about it and see additional photos here.
We spent at least an hour there where the kids got their energy out and enjoyed playing hide and seek amongst the signs.

We decided to skip staying the night at Watson Lake and pressed on towards Liard Hot Springs. Along the way we saw bison, black bears and moose. The black bears were sooooo cute, I really wanted to take one home as a pet. But I guess that's not allowed?!.... On this stretch, Jude was entertaining himself and his Aunt Hope with blowing raspberries for like 30 minutes. It was super cute!

The campground at the actual springs was full (all 50 some lots) so thankfully there was an RV site across the street where we set up camp. Gabriel and I set up the tent and got a fire going while the kids hung out in the car because the mosquitoes were in full swing. We grilled some caribou brats over the fire and boiled some water (in Gabe's new jet boil I got him for father's day) and cooked up some mountain house "meals". We sat around the fire with our camp food, some country music and lots of bug spray!

As we were headed into the tent we noticed some bear scat; which then of course got us wondering if we should have picked a different spot to set up the tent. Oh well, it was too late, so we just went to bed in the tent hugging our bear spray, just in case.....

Stay tuned!

Susan