Where the Green Grass Grows: Where Are We Actually Going??

Day 5
4 July

Liard Hot Springs, Canada to Fort Nelson, Canada
3 hrs 55min 189 miles

About 3 am this morning we woke up to the sound of a woodpecker, in which case, Gabe jumped out of the sleeping bag yelling "YEAH?!" thinking somehow someone was knocking on the tent door...he opened the window zippers, saw it was a woodpecker and got back into the sleeping bag claiming "It's just a woodpecker!" The funny part is when I mentioned it first thing in the morning he had no recollection of this happening and now claims that we are just making it up. Thankfully Hope saw it too and can back me up!

After a few more hours of sleep and praying a bear didn't get us, we all woke up, broke down camp and got ready to hit the hot springs! Liard Hot Springs is such an awesome spot, one of the many locations of the trip we were really looking forward to! A boardwalk leads you back to the hot springs where there are two sections you can get into. One side being hotter then the other and the other side a bit cooler, and the further you go down the cooler it gets. Thankfully the springs is isn't too deep so Cheyenne and JD were able to stand on their own the whole time. Even Jude loved splashing in the natural hot water! After getting out and changed we headed back to the car, got some snacks and made coffee with the jet boil (if you don't have one you should get one, I'm telling ya!).

Once everyone got some food in their system we headed towards our destination for the night; Fort Nelson. We knew it was going to be a short day of driving, so we were able to take our time and enjoy the scenery along the way. Muncho Lake is by far one of the prettiest lakes Ive ever seen! The water is such a gorgeous blueish/green color! I kept thinking it would have been awesome to explore the lake with a clear kayak! (of course it was overcast and gray out so the camera really didn't do the colors justice)

After Muncho Lake we stopped for gas at at the Toad River Lodge. We saw a sign for soft serve ice cream and since we weren't on a time crunch, we let the kids out to run a round and then checked out the shop. They have the largest hat collection hanging from the ceiling. It's pretty neat! We got a few ice cream cones and Cheyenne got a cinnamon roll. Jude tried his first ice cream and was grabbing at the cone for more! We really liked the Toad River Lodge and agreed it would be a neat place to camp the next time around.

We saw some more bears, bison and this time some mountain goats. Our total count for yesterday and today was 35 buffalo, 11 black bears, 4 sheep and 1 moose.

We made it to Fort Nelson and after checking in we ate dinner at Boston Pizza. Cheyenne and Hope split a pizza burger; I had a bite and it was so good! Pretty genius to put those two foods together!

We shuttled in all the suitcases and backpacks, pillows and dirty laundry. It's amazing how much stuff is needed on a trip like this! I got the boys showered and ready for bed and as Cheyenne was getting in the shower I heard a big crash and a cry for help. She had slipped and hit her chin and busted open her lip. Super upset and scared at the sight of blood I helped her out, got her wrapped up and wiped up her bloody lip. We decided we should take her into the ER to make sure she didn't need a stitch or two. Again we were able to leave the boys with Hope in the hotel room (thankfully Jude was already asleep in the pack-n-play) and took her across the street.

The whole place was locked up so we had to be buzzed in by some nurses. There were two nurses working, and I use that term pretty loosely because I'm not quite sure one of them was even a nurse; and we told them the story. The one nurse took a look at it and said she would have to call the doctor in if they were to do anything about it. The other "nurse" kept asking us if we really wanted service because "It costs a lot of money". We tried telling them we had insurance and even threw out "Tri-Care Prime" but they didn't quite understand. Like do Canadians not have insurance? The "nurse" kept saying how expensive it was and even brought out an itemized sheet, to which I told her I didn't care because she could just bill my insurance. She then asked me if I was American...here we go again.
The other nurse made the call to the doctor and came back basically saying she didn't think it needed stitches and because of the location on her lip they weren't able to put on a butterfly or use the super glue on it. Ok, thats fine, if you could have told me that in the first place that would have been nice... So back to the hotel we went, hoping that was the right call and that her lip heals quickly without busting open even worse on the trip.

Well thats about all the excitement for today! Off to bed it is!

Gnight!

PS- The title of the post comes from the question that Chase asks everyday in the car. We tell him we are going to Oklahoma, but he doesn't quite understand how far away it is and that it takes a long time to get there. So, when he asks where we are going and we reply, "Oklahoma" he then says, "No, where are we actually going???" Its pretty cute.

Susan