But let's get back to Alaska first: To cut a long story short, we took almost the same route back that we went up. We were thinking of following a different highway south - called the "Highway of Tears" - but got rid of this idea pretty quick. Not necessarily because of all the crime that happened and still happens along that route, but rather because the road conditions were really difficult. After arriving in Alaska safely and without major problems, we didn't want to challenge our luck by taking a way back that we actually didn't know.
If you think that taking the same road back would be boring, let me tell you this: We were exactly thinking the same but surprisingly were taught otherwise. Simply because a huge amount of snow melted throughout our journey through Alaska, all the spots we have been before suddenly looked extremely different. Sometimes we were really wondering, if we actually came through these areas before.
Let me tell you the highlights of our way back:
1. Finding work in Whitehorse part I
After getting back to Whitehorse, we immediately applied for jobs up in the north. At that time the whole town was looking for employees: restaurants, coffee shops (they payed a surprisingly big amount of wage compared to Vancouver), diamond mines, oil companies, provincial parks, etc.
2. A weekend in Skagway
We decided to use the time we waited for the reply of the several companies to drive down to Skagway and back into Alaska, this time however to the so called "pan handle", a strip of the State that stretches along the coast in the west of British Columbia.
Only one road leads from Whitehorse to the town of Skagway following a path through the mountains down to the ocean. Halfway we found a tiny little border patrol where we met the friendliest border officer every. We thought that guy would invite us in for a cup of coffee right away. He was a real delight and a role model for all the other officers along the Canadian - U.S. border.
Skagway is a wild western-like, quiet little town.When we arrived it seemed like no one would live in that town - a ghost town awaited us at the ocean.
However, by the number of shops, cafes and restaurants you could tell that in the summer time, when all the ferries up to Alaska arrive in town, it would suddenly come to life and fill with tourists from all over the world.
Not so when we arrived in town. That was why we took a small gravel road further along the coast line into a recreation area where we spent the night.
At this spot the salty water from the ocean meets the river water from the mountains and creates a sanctuary for seals, otters, bald eagles, bears, elks, moose, etc.
The next days we hiked a little bit of the famous Chilkoot trail, visited a real old ghost town and finally drove back to Whitehorse.
3. Finding work in Whitehorse part II
Since we haven't heard back from any of the companies that we sent applications to, we thought that it would take to much time to call or get there in person. So we continued on our way home.
4. Old friends
In the Interior of BC we met several of old friends within days: First we hit the town of Quesnel again where we met our lovely Swiss family again. They invited us over to stay for another night and we spent the evening watching movies, eating crepes and drinking beer.
At the town of "100 Mile House" we met up with Nicole, my former roommate form Vancouver. At that time she worked as a social worker on a farm not far out of town.
5. Highway 99
Instead of going further south to finally hit highway 1, we turned west on highway 99, a winding, steep road through canyons towards the Coast Mountains of Whistler and Squamish.
This road is beautiful and if anyone of you might take this route in the future, make sure to stop at the first rest area to the left. It is like a small camping ground right at a little lake. This spot is beautiful and ideal to spend a night or more.
Vancouver welcomed us with tons of rain and we arrived at Rob's place where we stayed for several nights where Richard and I prepared for going to the Rockies to wwoof.
I chose the same spots as last summer (Amble Inn, Revelstoke and Goldenwood Lodge in Golden).
We stayed at the Amble Inn with Stephanie, her new boyfriend Dusty, Rene and Thomas, another wwoofer from Bavaria.
Within these two weeks we had lots of fun but also a load of work to do in and around the house. Although the temperatures were warm (sometimes even up to 20°C), there were piles of snow all around the house....some of them around 2m high.
Oh, I almost forgot to tell the story about the Amble Inn Flood of April 2011:
At one night around 3am I woke up and heard what I thought was heavy rain. I still remember my first thought: "Oh, no. The day before has been cloudless and nice! Too bad weather changes so quickly here!". I decided to get back to sleep but was interrupted by Rene who came running down the stairs to the basement where Richard and I slept.
He yelled and screamed and I - still half asleep - heard him in the next room where he twiddle with a switch. Out of a sudden the sound of "rain" stopped and I knew that my suggestion was completely wrong.
When I got out of the bed, I realized it right away: A water pipe broke and flooded the basement within half an hour. The water stood two inches from the ground.
We immediately started pumping out the water and taking it out in buckets. The whole process lasted for three hours until we finally had everything under control and could go back to bed.
Besides fighting water we also went for a short hike to the Frog Falls which we never arrived because we always heard them but with all that snow couldn't figure out the way to go.
Lots of bonfires, delicious meals and apple crisp stood in contrast to the work and the swimming in the pools of Revelstoke.
When we arrived we prepared a house concert for "Sisrter Girl", the country band of Stephanie and her friends.
Their show was awesome and helped to raise some funds for the production of their new album.
In between I hitchhiked to Golden where I spent a night at the Goldenwood Lodge with Barbara and Andy.
Apparently, they had a lot of visitors (all Swiss!!!), friends and former wwoofers at that time. We made pizza in the evening and went to a concert of country singer Tim Hus. I really had a great time with them again and wish I could have had more time to stay with them.
Now being back in Vancouver again, I have to decide what to do within the remaining few weeks. I am not going to tell when exactly I will be back. Apparently, the date of my return was not kept secretly enough by those who knew it. I still hope that I can surprise at least some of my friends with my arrival in Germany.
But that is future talk! :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment