More Alaska

Sunset over the Yukon Flats, Dalton Highway

Last friday was my last day at work and the next day I met my dad at the Denali National Park train depot. From there we packed his bags up, got a campsite and headed to 49th state brewery for some yummy mac and cheese and an array of tasty microbrews. We then went in search for access to a large wind farm we spotted off in the distance. There are not very many side roads in Alaska, especially in small towns. We found the camp for the construction workers, building the project but could not get close to where they were actually working. The Eva Creek Wind Farm was across the river in a place where you could not drive. We assumed that from their camp the workers get on a bus and drive to the end of the road, walk across the train trestle and then get to another bus and trucks which had been hauled and dropped off on the other side. It was a little disappointment when we found out we could not get much closer. The project which has been in the works all summer will conclude around October creating Alaska's largest wind farm.

Mt Mckinley, a few weeks old but one of my favorites 

Fuzzy Ground cover

The next day we decided to head down to Talkeetna, about 170 miles South for the evening. With the rains coming into the area we were in, we hoped heading south would lead to clear skies and great views of Mt. Mckinley. Sure enough, we had two wonderful days of viewing the mountain with some of the most picture esc views of the summer. The highway from the Denali Park entrance to Talkeetna runs closely to the boarders of the National Park and also the Denali State park.

 Because of this we were hoping to get some wonderful wildlife sightings as well. Sure enough we got to see a line of six Caribou, all with full racks portaging a river. A very iconic and spectacular sight indeed. We also saw a couple groups of Dall Sheep up on the mountains.

Bald Eagle

Down near Talkeetna there is a neighboring town on the other side of the river called Trapper Creek. Even though they are neighboring and just on the other side of the river, they are still thirty miles away from each other. The closest bridge across the river is fifteen miles away. Anyways, in Trapper Creek there is a road called Petersville Road. This paved and mostly gravel road heads towards Mt. Mckinley, to be the closest point you can drive a car to the mountain. We spotted this road on a map and tried to drive it. The potholes got to brutal and large for the mini to conquer so we aborted, though an hour and a half in and close to the end of the road. We had dreams of spotting lots of wildlife along this road as well but there were too many hunters in the area who had other ambitions. It was a somewhat disappointing trip seeing that we did not get to get great great views of the mountain nor spotted any wildlife either but still a very scenic road.

Tundra Swans (we think)

We got back and to the Parks Highway and continued the rest of the way to Talkeetna. Talkeetna is the jump off point for anyone who comes to Alaska to ascend Mt. Mckinley. Even though the mountain is at least 50 miles away it towers over the town giving an amazing backdrop. We set up camp at a hostel and then checked out Denali Brewing Company and Twister Creek Restaurant. This small little brewery in the quaint, touristy, hippyish town of Talkeetna became my favorite brewer of any Alaskan beer on the trip thus far. The next morning after a hike down the river, coffee and bagel we headed back to Denali National Park. Sure, its not the most efficient way of seeing Alaska when you look at a map but efficiencies are not our priority on this trip. We came back to Denali to primarily see a slide show of a photographers work in the area. He was a photographer, late twenties or thirty who shoots on slide film, a real side show. It was inspiration for me to continue shooting more and more photos. That night my dad and I hiked out to a train trestle to shoot some photos, a cold night and caught a picture with a shooting star. Not the best photo but a really sweet capture. We had hopes of seeing the auroras but had no luck.

Shooting Star in Denali National Park

The next morning it was 16 degrees when we awoke, packed up our tent and headed off on the Denali Highway. The Denali Highway is a gravel highway which cuts across the center of the state. A very rural road which parallels the Denali Mountain Range which we were sad to see was again, over run by hunters. Around 140 miles long we saw two moose and one baby caribou a couple bald eagles and a hand full of waterfowl. We were hoping to see a lot more large mammals but the the majority of the ones we saw were camouflaged and on ATVs. With all the Caribou antlers on the backs of trucks and hanging up at camps and a lack of seeing any we only envisioned all the Caribou were all getting hunted out. However, when we stopped to camp we talked to one of the hunters. He was the only one we saw who was headed out by bicycle and trailer to hunt. He reassured us of the vast amount, hundreds of Caribou which had just been pushed farther away from the road. There are only 7,000 caribou tags this year he said, up from the normal 5,000 because of growing populations. There are still more Caribou in Alaska than there are humans.

View from the Denali Highway

Our camp on the Denali Highway

From the end of the Denali Highway we headed south to Valdez to catch a ride on the Alaska Marine Highway, or ferry. To our disappointment the ferry was booked for the next week so we turned around and drove instead. Valdez was beautiful from what we could see, tall mountains right near the ocean with glacial waterfalls in every direction. The next day we decided to make a little side trip to Whittier. I was told there was not much there, there is not, but it was a very unique place. There is one, one lane, 2.5 mile tunnel to get to Wittier. This tunnel alternates between car traffic, in and out, as well as the train line. It was a beautiful day in Whittier and an oddity of a place. The town is in a cove with high cliff walls and not much of an industry, a very small port, sea kayaking and whale watching excursions. The town was a WWII naval port which had excellent natural protection. Hidden in a cove, a 2.5 mile tunnel and weather which normally harbors thick fog made it a perfect hiding place for a military base.

Afternoon view off of Petersville Rd. 

Now we have made it to the Kenai Peninsula and we are sitting in an old church which has been converted into a coffee shop in Seward, AK. A dreary day here with low clouds and rain but we will try to make the best of it. Hopefully the weather clears soon, we have a lot of exploring to do here on the Kenai.

7:45am 16 degrease looking out at the Denali Range

The Haul Road

So I was sitting in the Denver Colorado airport on my way back to Fairbanks and I received a text message from my dad, "so what do you think about me flying up and traveling around with you?" Well, I thought it would be doable. "lets make it work I told him." So we talked about it for the next few days and before I knew it he told me he has a one way plane ticket and arrives to Anchorage next week. This is the thursday before labor day weekend when I find this out. Friday, I tell my boss at work that this will be my last week working for him and he was sad to see me leave so soon. We were just getting used to you being around, he told me. He asked me if I had plans for this longer weekend and we got to talking. I asked him if he had ever been to Coldfoot and what it was like up there.

 Coldfoot is a small town 250 miles north of Fairbanks up the Dalton Highway. The Dalton, also known as the North Slope Haul Road, The Prudhoe Haul Road and was made famous by the TV show Ice Road Truckers. Coldfoot, is halfway up the highway to Deadhorse, Alaska, the end of the public access part of the highway. Its kind of complicated understanding when and where this road ends. The road goes to Prudhoe Bay and Prudhoe is on the Arctic Ocean, but you can not really get to the ocean, but then you cant really even get to Prudhoe, you can only get to Deadhorse, which is 8 miles away. Make sense? No? Okay, look at a map.
Why Coldfoot? well its half way up the haul road and I thought I would be able to see a good amount of rural Alaska, while also dodging overloaded tractor trailer trucks. Coldfoot was originally a gold mining town, like most towns in the area. It was somewhat of a seasonal town where the miners would spend summers and leave before they got cold feet. Now, the town is merely a truck-stop for truckers, being one of two stops for fuel and one of maybe four places you can get a meal along the highway. When I say a truck-stop I am not talking about one you may be used to. You are greeted by a rutted out potholed 200 meeter long road that leads to a big muddy parking lot with a few small pond size potholes in the middle. There are three fuel pumps and no, you can not pay at the pump. There is no arcade inside nor showers nor any of those gaudy american flag tainted made in china figurines. There are fuel pumps, a restaurant, bathrooms, a hallway of photos picturing trucks who have run off the road, and two land line phones, because everyone already lost their cellphone service over 200 miles ago. This is one of those places that has a long table in its own little nook, like it is a private dining room. There is a 8.5x11 piece of paper taped up before you go in, "Truckers Only" it reads.
  So I was asking John, my boss, about Coldfoot and what was worthwhile seeing up that way and he said I needed to go to Atigun Pass, even further north of Coldfoot. Not too much farther,  but well worth the trip he says. Following the pass is the Atigun Valley and he explained its beauty. It sounded like it was worth the travel up that way. Then somewhere in conversation he mentions something about having two spare tires if I go. And if you have read my previous posts I do not have two spare tires, I drive a Mini Cooper and do not have room for two. Oh, and to make it more unfortunate I do not even have one.   I think about it for a minute and its one of those decisions of: well, do I stick around here and not go, miss out on the opportunity, tell your friends about how you really thought about going to do it but . . . or do I just say, "to hell with it, if shit hits the fan, it hits the fan. So lets hope there is no shit and hope there is no fan."John gives me on of those 'i'm really not supporting your decision' kind of looks and I brush it off and think about making it back alive and well. Now, I hope I am not coming off  too much like Chris McCandless, because I think he was an idiot. I do not like being associated with him, I am better than him. The end. I am also thinking in my mind about a few things, calculating this and that, the risks, probability, and costs if nothing works out well. Whatever, I have to go, its my last weekend in Fairbanks, my dad comes next week, this is the closest I will get to this opportunity in the foreseeable future.
I get off work, I get in my car and I make three stops on the way out of town. First, the auto parts store, I have runflat tires so I see this to my advantage but I pick up some stuff to fix a flat tire just in case and a windshield repair kit. I was guaranteed if I did not get a flat tire I would get an "Alaskan Windshield,"  that just means broken. Yes, everyone here has a broken windshield. And yes, my mother taught me to never say never, hate, always, can't, everyone bla bla bla but no, everyone here has a broken windshield. Stop number two, Fred Meyer, its like the Walmart of good quality things, you would not understand until you go to one. Pure shopping amazement. I pick up a sandwich, two gallons of water and two asian apple pear things, they looked interesting and worth  a taste. Last stop, fuel. Got fueled up and headed north.

The actual beginning to the Dalton highway splits off the Elliott around 60 miles from Fairbanks. All the Alaskan highways are named after people if you were wondering. At this point it turns to gravel, signs then tell its an industrial highway, to burn your headlights at all times, yield to tractor trailer trucks, and the speed limit is 50 miles per hour for the next 413 miles. The highway follows the Alaska Pipeline, full of oil, all the way to the source of the drilling at the Arctic. Along the way you cross the Yukon river and into the Arctic Circle. This is the only road in Alaska which allows you to cross either of these two locations. By the first night I had made it to 5 Mile Camp, just across the Yukon, by 5 miles. It was a circle of picnic tables and fire rings in a muddy lot with an outhouse and trashcan to one side that the bureau of land management controlled It was free camping and you got what you paid for. I camped in the rain, Alaskan rain, it only drizzles here when it rains, thats the extent of excitement when it comes to rain. I made it up to the Arctic Circle, again a muddy parking lot with just a sign saying "Arctic Circle" with the latitude. At this point the few tourists that venture up this far step into the arctic circle, maybe enjoy the picnic they brought with them and go back to dirty little Fairbanks. For me, hell no, I am going to make this 1) exciting 2) memorable and 3) worth it. So what did I do 1) exciting- I made my own little Arctic Circle, circle I called it. Doughnuts in the muddy parking lot   2) memorable- I took photos in my boxers, it was the frigid 43 degree (above zero) arctic that day 3) worth it- Im not turning around, I am going IN to the Arctic.

I traveld up the gravel-paved-gravel road to Coldfoot in the drizzle. I passed through forests of dark green spruce intermingled with the bright yellow leaves of the Birch and Aspen trees with their bright white trunks. I got to Coldfoot with no problem and got gas. There they also have an interagency visitor who answer questions of all the variety of parks in the 500 mile radius that do not really have direct access to them. I swing in and ask an older fellow if there is anything woth traveling past Atigun Pass for. He gives me the most excellent answer in the world in return,"well, it depends on what you consider worth it."He hit the nail on the head, I asked a shallow question and he gave me a brilliant response. He  then told me that he drove up into the arctic tundra recently to see Caribou and Musk Ox and other wildlife. A Musk Ox, I have never seen one and again do not know when I will get my chance to ever be so close to these creatures. So, I began thinking about maybe heading a little farther up the road than I was intending. In my mind I was going to drive up to the pass, a little ways past and depending on the road conditions I would probably turn back and camp somewhere along the way back between the pass and Coldfoot. Well, I got up to the pass and the drizzle just turned into clouds, I could tell I was driving through mountains but had no idea what they looked like because I could not see them. I came down into the Atigun Valley and what I saw did not amaze me at all, drizzle, clouds, a muddy road and a pipeline off to my side. I continued up the road, not seeing any wildlife and only passing tractor trailers, hunters and some road construction workers. One road worker sat in his parked motor grader looked out his window stared at my car as I passed and laughed so hard right at me. I had gotten many looks like this already yet not to this extent. It did not phase me but part of me questioned what more am I up for? I understand I am not driving a truck or SUV but I can sure as hell make it too. I began to see some predatory birds in the rare moments when the drizzle would lift. They were Golden Eagles and many Owls hunting the tundra.  Around an hour or so later I spotted something laying in the tundra. A Musk Ox! I jumped out of the car and took some photos. I yelled at him from a distance asking him to stand up, obviously did not understand what I was asking, it laid there, jaws chewing, just staring at me. I thought about turning around at this point now seeing my Musk Ox, I decided to venture on. I ventured past my 200 mile mark from Coldfoot meaning I would have to continue to Deadhorse to fuel up.

Of corse once I pass my allotted mile mark of turn around or continue the road turns to utter shit. Potholes upon potholes upon potholes. Its just constant potholes. As my teeth chatter, change rattles and well, everything that could possibly rattle, jolt, fall, spill etc. does so, I realize this would probably be when I would get my flat tire, 400 miles away from Fairbanks. However, I could get it fixed in Deadhorse, wait specialty tires, nah, I probably could not. And then the check engine light rattles on. I drive another few miles up the road, find a turn off and decide its time to put the wet tent up, in the rain, again.
I ate some sardines and bread, a nutritious dinner full of omega 3's and stuff and went to sleep. I woke up, packed my wet tent away and got back in the car. The check engine light did not come back on, score. I continue the drive into Deadhorse where the roads only progressively get more horrible all the way to town and in town, that is where they are the worst. I get gas in the shack of a gas station, and turn around to go back. Luckily the clouds have risen from the previous day, still overcast but not as gloomy. I spot some Caribou in the distance, more Musk Ox, Tundra Swans, Loons, more Owls, Eagles and other birds. Getting back closer to the end Atigun Valley snow appears on the ground from the night before and the sun peaks through in the distance, it was beautiful. The mountains begin to appear, the Brooks Range, which I had driven through before but had not been able to see. The sun comes out, I get closer in, fresh snow starts to fall, it was wonderful. I got to the top of the pass and hiked around, the air was still, fresh snow everywhere and there was that quiet that you only get with a still day and snow on the ground and at that moment I knew that this trip was entirely worth it, no matter what happens the rest of the way.
I camped that night just off the pass, near a river, I knew near the river I could find some kind of dried brush on the banks to make a campfire because I am still north of the tree line, wood is rare. A fox visits me in camp that night and I hoped to see the Auroras, I slept with my rainfly half off my tent hoping for clear skier. I was then awoken in the middle of the night, rain. My hopes of a rainless night were too farfetched for this trip, it was not going to happen. I packed up camp in the rain the next morning and headed back. Spotted some wolves along the road on the way back, took some photos and before I knew it I was back in Coldfoot. I topped of the gas tank and got some coffee and began to realize how good condition the road started to become. Before I knew it I was back in Fairbanks. I called up my buddy Chris who I told, if you do not hear from me by tuesday, worry. I told him I decided to go all the way up the haul road instead of just to the pass. He was surprised I made it with out problems and expressed that him and some others were glad I made it back from the trip. He then said "we were worried, but not worried enough to care."
And I sit here, I still do not know how to interpret that.

Photoblog 1

Traveling up to Alaska via the Alaska highway is where I have seen most of the wildlife and scenery from this trip. This blog will mostly dedicated to photography. But, a short little update on my life here. So I am in Fairbanks and I will be here for a while. I got a job working construction. I decided to try and find some part time work or odd jobs along the way to help sustain my travels and well, I got a full time job instead. Oops?
So I drove up the Alaska highway, got into Alaska and spent my first night camping outside Tok (sounds like toke). Next morning, wednesday, the 1st, I drove to Fairbanks and camped at a hostel in town. The following day I started looking for some work and things to do. Well, I accomplished both. The next morning I was headed to Denali National Park for some backcountry camping and starting my new job Monday. So I spent three days in Denali camping, I was surprised that Denali has no real trails to hike and camp upon. Backcountry camping involves checking in at the back country office, picking a section on a map and heading out. There are no trails, no campsites, no facilities, just adventure. Quite an experience.

Outside Tok, AK

Black Bear Cub, AK Highway, Yukon

Dall Sheep, Denali National Park

Fireweed, Denali National Park

Fireweed on riverbank

Canadian Lynx

Campsite night two, Denali National Park

Campsite night two, Denali National Park

Canadian Lake near Alaska Border 

Kulane National Park, Canada

Unknown Flowers, Denali National Park

Baby mountain goat!

Wood Buffalo

Mountain Goats

Moose 

Mini Cooper. Ha!

Beginning of AK Highway, the car is still pretty clean

Alaska Border

I am not really sure why I thought it would be a great idea to drive a mini cooper to Alaska. Oh, I will get great gas mileage, carry just the basic necessities and other stuff. I guess thats what I was thinking. Sure the roads are paved, right? It's Highway, its the only road to Alaska, therefore it has to be in good condition. WRONG. When I crossed over into Canada from North Dakota I should have realized that all the vehicles in Canada were really big trucks. Im talking Ford F-350s and chevy 2500s jacked up and with duel wheels in the back. If you are not a car buff no worries, just imagine monster trucks cruising down the road crushing everything. Not only that but they have mud on them, shovels strapped down, spare tires and gas cans. And I have a mini cooper.
A Mini is the complete opposite of a huge truck. Its like putting an earthworm and a tyrantisaurus rex in a gladiator arena and telling them to fight to the death. The earthworm being the fiercest of all would slither up to the T-Rex and start nibbling between the toes of the Dinosaur. The strong teeth and jaws would gradually kill the T-Rex and through consumption it would leave a nice pile of compost behind for everyone to garden with. Yes but, NO! NO, NO, NO! If you thought the T-Rex was the analytical vehicle which represented the Mini Cooper you were wrong. But going back to the fight, the earthworm would probably win the fight. The T-Rex would not be able to find the tiny earth worm crawling around on a dusty gladiator floor. The T-Rex would then die of starvation while being stuck in this gladiator ring. Then the earthworm shines, yes, the earth worm would gradually turn this huge chunk of prehistoric meat into loamy garden soil. Earthworm wins! Okay back to crossing the border.

Sketchy AK Highway section

Follow the lines, look how wavy the road is

Everyone has big trucks, we covered that. When I say everyone I mean, most everyone. I then began to realize that the further north I went the fewer and fewer car like vehicles I saw. The vehicles got bigger, they actually hauled more ass and they are very intimidating approaching in your rear view mirror. When you look in your rear view mirror and all you can see is monster truck wheels approaching at like 140 you poop your pants a little. 140, they were going that fast? I know, I know, they were. 140kmh, it equals out to be around 90 miles per hour. With some new brown boxers I continued driving up towards Yukon. Once I reached the beginning of the Alaska highway in Dawson Creek, BC the traffic died down a little. However, not the monstrous trucks. There are a lot of Gas, Oil, Logging and Mining camps out in the "bush." Other than that most people are travelers, travelers with big ass trucks pulling trailers or piggy back bed campers still passing you going real fast. The mud that is sprayed up all over these trucks I just assume is from all of the non paved roads going out into the bush, most of that is true.
Then I got to Yukon.

Mini Cooper Destroyer

Some of the taller mountains in Canada

From Whitehorse, Yukon one can go one of two ways; down to the Alaskan peninsula or North to Fairbanks, Anchorage, and most everything else. For me I was headed the northerly route, so off I went. After leaving whitehorse there is very little traffic other than travelers. A few big rigs pass occasionally but there is very little reason for many of them out there. Then, there is one last split, at Haines Junction, Yukon. From Haines junction to Tok, Alaska there is a few gas stations, one or two run down hotels and the alaska canada border. It is vast wilderness from Haines Junction to Yukon and the roads show their wear. This area with its sub arctic conditions wear the road quite a bit. There are some paved sections, lots of packed gravel sections and pot holes which could literally eat a Mini Cooper.
 Driving this Mini with run-flat tires and no spare was an extreme risk. Had I had tire or wheel problems between Fairbanks to Whitehorse, 600 miles or Whitehorse to Edmonton, 1,200 miles I would have been absolutely screwed. There is absolutely nowhere in between that could help, unless it involves a bush plane flying something in. Not only that but if I hit some of the potholes I saw on the road, it would damage that poor, cute little city car to a much larger extent. Regardless I am here in Fairbanks and my car is somewhere where I am not, Craigslist, for sale. Who wants to buy it? It is quite hard to adventure in such a not so adventurous vehicle which has a difficult time on gravel roads.

Some mountains outside Delta Junction, Alaska

Edmonton Pt: 2 Boom boxes, Purple lights

List of recent US
presidents they keep
on the wall

Back to Edmonton, the absurdity and the fun that happened there. When I pulled into Edmonton I got off at a random exit and drove with my laptop open until I could pick up an unlocked wireless internet signal. So I sit outside someones residence, creeping out on the street, sitting in the driver seat with my laptop out, looking up where I need to go. I type into google maps where I need to go, 79th and 101st streets or something like that, map my route and head that way. Well here I am, 79th and 101st, a little unsure of which exactly is the right residency. Of corse, after looking and confirming with myself around 17 times if I was going to the right place, I was not. I was in the wrong place, Im supposed to be at 97th and 101st. So I get there and the guy who is hosting me is headed out to a show, no biggie. So I sit down on the van seat which is their front "porch" furniture, at the V.I.P Zone, and began to check e-mails. And when I say e-mails, I mean Facebook, who checks e-mail before Facebook? I'm there for just a few minutes and the other roommate comes home with a few friends, 3 or 4. I finnish up my e-mailing, or Facebooking and I head inside.

Darth Vader, President Bush and Paul himself, all
banned from the V.I.P. Zone

There are 15 people inside. What? I swear this many people did not pass by me sitting in the front of the house, "yeah we came in though the back," someone chimes in. Well we hung out for a while, quite a while and then it was the moment. It was the moment to load up the Boom box with 'Dance Mix," '94, '95, '96 or whatever else we were feeling. Paul had a lot of tapes, he also had a lot of boom boxes, 13 of them actually. 13, why 13? Well, the other 12, the tape player part does not work anymore. So I had some jorts and a sleeveless tee, Paul rocked neon running shorts, shirtless. Other people had brightly colored t-shirts, sideways hats and baggy nylon jackets. You know the kind, the ones you, or your mom wore two athletic events in the early 90's. They were the jackets you could never sneak up on anyone because of the loud swooshing with every move that was made. So our posse was gathered and we hit the streets. 8 D batteries packed in the boom box and 1994 was blasting out some of The Shamen, Enigma, and Salt 'N' Pepa, on tape.

Paul, Hannah and I. Hannah another couch surfer, from UK,
driving across canada. 

These guys live about two blocks off the main drag of the Edmonton college scene and four mins after leaving the house thats where we were dancing. A mobile dance party, that is what we were. We had people join on for a couple blocks, numerous high fives and cops giving you those smirks thinking 'I would really be hanging out with you guys if I did not have to work and keep a strait and stern face.' I asked Paul how often they did this, I felt like it was somewhat occurrent, this might be the 3rd or 5th time he had done it. No, it happens much more, "oh, it's like a once a weekend kind of event when I am in town" he says. We danced roughly ten blocks down, danced down to some other peoples house and back. Somehow we ended up with more people when we returned than we started with. Needless to say, a great time.

The begining of the mobile party

 I also promised to tell you all about the purple lights experience. We were walking towards a venue across town where a band was playing, Shout Out Out Out Out. Dual drummers and three synthesizers, basically a real live DJ band or so, however you describe it. Anyways, we were walking through the parliament grounds and someone chimes in to "place your open cans down and find a light." What, find a light? Oh, someone stands in front of a light and we all follow, each in front of their own light. Now these lights are very warm (yellow-orange) colored lights lighting up the parliament building at night. "A minute starts . . . Now!" is shouted out and we all stare into these huge lights for the next sixty seconds. At first it is really bright, really really bight and then everyones eyes start to adjust. "Done," I hear, and we all turn and walk away from the lights and everything is purple. Purple street lights, purple cellphones, look up at the skyscrapers and every light inside them, purple. It was too wild but only lasted for around five minuets, regardless, cool. Purple lights, who would have ever had such an absurd idea? Canadians maybe. I'm sure I could write more about Edmonton, like about the sign a the grocery store for please no more roller blading inside the store. Or how I got lost until sunrise but I wont embarrass myself. The end.

Edmonton pt 1: Pysanka, McDonalds

Pysanka! 

So I am pretty sure I won the easter egg hunt for the largest easter egg in the world, or Pysanka. If you were wondering where I found it, I found it in Vegreville, Alberta. Where the hell is Vegreville? Yeah exactly. I ended up seeing this Pysanka in person but did not exactly go out of my way specifically for this. I was driving about an hour outside Edmonton and saw a sign for a Tim Horton's. Tim Horton's is is coffee shop kind of place, serving Dunkin Doughnuts like coffee not exactly the Starbucks style. Tim Horton's though puts candy in there coffee, or something similar because its quite addicting, this was the real reason I came to Canada, for Tim Horton's. Who is Tim Horton you americans may be asking yourself, well, he was a hockey player. Its kind of like if there were a sub shop called Mugsy Bugs. So I had gotten off the road to go to Tim Horton's and I go inside, order a iced coffee and I ask the lady, "can you tell me what that is that they advertise off the side of the highway, the worlds largest something." She shook her head and had no idea what I was talking about and gave me another girl to ask. "So whats that worlds largest thing they advertise," I asked her. Oh, the Pysanka, its just down this way, she told me. But wait, I just came that way, I did not see it and to my self I was thinking this must not be very large if I just drove right past it. "Oh, it might be hidden from some trees," so I went to look for it as I went back to the interstate. Well I found it, its huge, wait, why is the largest Ukrainian egg in a town of 5,000 people in Canada. Who knows, whatever.

Canola, before its in your frying pan

So I asked Paul, the couch surfer who I hosted me here in Edmonton about the Pysanka. Paul is from Vegreville so I felt that he would be the best to ask about the egg. Paul is sitting on the couch in the V.I.P. zone, this is what they call there house, mustache, curled dark hair forming into a mullet wearing a california sleeveless shirt "oh I think its a great idea" he says. "It's really good, if we could have a wave pool or an egg, I would go with the egg every time." There is a notable amount of sarcasm in his voice, he digresses and explains how he always wanted a wave pool when he was younger. 

Paul also knows a considerable amount about McDonalds. Him and his roommate Zach and friends have come up with their own sandwiches like a "McPower-play." In hokey a power play is when you have 4 vs 3 people playing, so a McPower-play 4 burger patties and 3 chickens. "And its only like $7," Zach says. Paul also explains the difference between the McChicken and the Jr. Chicken, "It's $3.50 more and the only difference is you get sesame seeds on your bun, its absurd."

 How I could sit here and keep writing I feel that I should go and drive some. Edmonton Pt. 2 to come Purple Lights, Mobile Dance party + more. 

When your dog runs away....

sunrise in NW Minnesota 

sunflowers

In Saskatch-ewan there are a lot of prairies which go for as far as you can see and the people here say that when your dog runs away you can see it running for six days. I am couch surfing tonight for the first time, it is a couch surfing paradise here tonight. The four roommates all met on Couch Surfing, Manitoba, British Columbia, Spain and Greece. There are also two other couch surfers staying tonight, France and Belgium and I, the American. Actually, the fist American couch surfer to ever stay here at this house. Sometimes its like playing a real life game of telephone with all of the different accents going on.
So I had spent two nights in Minneapolis, the second night, could not sleep. Was tossing and turning around in the idea of driving north. So at three thirty or so when I rolled over yet again and looked at the clock I thought to my self, why am I trying to force myself to sleep. I do not have to sleep or stay here or wait for anything so why not. . . GO. So I got out of bed, packed my bag, got in the car and left.    Leaving just before 4am is the best way to beat rush hour traffic and the rush hour traffic in the next city two hours away. Listened to some great music on the Current, which is a music station provided by Minneapolis public radio and kept on driving. The corn and soy fields finally subsided a little bit. I passed by a small section of sunflower farming. When I say a small section I mean maybe a mile of it so millions of flowers a beautiful sight. I also passed through wheat and canola fields which were all quite beautiful with the golden yellow flowers and the way it blew around in the wind. I could not help my self from stopping and taking a ton of pictures while driving yesterday. Too much beautiful scenery. 

Saskatchewan field and sky

Cinema 6. Now playing the Dark Night

I got up to the US - Canada border and stopped at the post office mailed some stuff and crossed on over without a problem. I was curious if there were going to be problems, I thought there might. I was crossing over in a town called Portal. I really though this was some kind of hoax. Was I either a) going to end up in Canada b) travel through to another time c) find myself in another country d) find myself in a fictional place The village of Bree, Hogsmeade or Tatooine. Luckily I just ended up in Canada. I saw a massive oil sands operation upon arriving and happened to put all my credit cards on lock when I first tried to use them. Well I made it off to Regina where I am now. Off to Edmonton right about. NOW!

Leaning red Barn, North Dakota