And then we got maaaaaaarried!

And then there was Christmas...

Home in Utah and Off to Switzerland

 

Utah at last! We parked the truck and trailer and there they will remain till our South America money runs out and we come back to drive them off. (You can't tell from this picture, but trust me, we washed them first.)

Jann and Scott's Swiss skiing friends (try saying that three times fast) continue their Christmas traditions in Utah. That means that each December they hike out into the woods to decorate a live tree with live(!) candles, eat Swiss fondue, drink Gluhwein and sing Christmas carols. We were lucky enough to arrive the very afternoon it was all happening. What a fun celebration!

Big Sky Country

We finally made it across the border in our mud-spattered troca and u-haul. Hooray! We ate at the Double Barrel- proof, if we needed any, that we were back in the good ol' US of A. This is Zac and half of me on the street in Great Falls. Look! No snow! Plenty of wind to make up for it, though.

The drive down from the Canadian border was gorgeous and the sky enormous. We're definitely re-visiting the canyons of Montana when we come back for our roadtrip out west. Zac fueled us up on the side of the road, not because we were out of diesel, but because we'd brought all this extra fuel and hadn't needed it! You know we weren't about to let that go to waste.

And we drive...

Peein' in the Pool

 

 We'd been planning to stay the night at Liard Hot Springs, so we raced there from Watson's Lake in order to have some time to spend in the water. When we got there it was...oh, twelve degrees outside? But the place was deserted, so we stripped down and jumped in. After two and a half days on the road- and two and a half years of Alaskan weather- that water felt amazing.  

Sunrise, Signs and Stupid Ideas

We got up early that next morning and watched the sun come up as we headed off to Canada. Check out those pink clouds! Apparently those are the last photos I took that day. We bedded down in Teslin, at a little rest stop/bar/hotel that Dad and I ate at when we came up together a couple of years ago. Funny how it still looks and feels the same. 

The next morning, we made it to Watson Lake and the Sign Post Forest. I'm pretty sure the "Joy St." roadsign I left last time around is now buried under the two-plus feet of snow, but Zac and I waved 'hola' to El Paso.

We had a much-needed warmup with Kathy's coffee and continued on down the line. The buffalo were out that day foraging so we stopped to take some pictures. Zac assures me it's a bad idea to try to ride a buffalo, but I still think it sounds like fun!

To Tok in Ten

 

You saw how much snow dumped onto Anchorage the night before we left...well, the weather wasn't over yet. We drove through a whiteout snowstorm for 10 hours trying to get to Tok. (Normally, that trip would take about 5 1/2 hours.) Thank God for Zac and his trailer-hauling experience. My biggest job was keeping us stocked up on coffee and water. We finally made it to our cabin in Tok, grabbed the last remaining chicken fingers and onion rings from the gas station down the street, and hunkered down for the (very short) night.

Leaving Anchorage

We woke to snow. Lots and lots of snow...

Zac got to work.

And we were off!