Friday, May 30, 2014

Next Stop...Watson Lake

May 30, 2014

As we approached this day's journey, I couldn't wait to get to Watson Lake.  I guess, because I have heard so much about it.  Our trip was only 120 miles, so I didn't have to wait long.  But, oh, the things we saw before we arrived in Watson Lake.

There were

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buffalo and

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momma bear and her cub, and

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a fox out for breakfast!

Even though we were only going 120 miles, we still made our

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stops along the way.  Thank goodness for those long pullouts.

And, finally, one more milestone...we crossed into

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Yukon Territories and made it to Watson Lake.

We headed straight to the business of the day, and the reason for stopping in Watson Lake...the

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Famous Sign Post Forest.  This was the stop I was waiting for, and it truly is a forest.

We wandered up

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and down and in and out row after row of signs that have been placed here over the years.  The first sign was placed here by Carl K. Lindley of Danville, IL, a U,S. Army Solider, working on the construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942.  Visitors today are still adding signs which now number over 72,000.

Be careful Mark...

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don't get lost!

We found the perfect post to hang

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our sign, and were glad to help

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keep the tradition going!

Mark and I found a sign from our

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hometown.  We added our name to it as well.

It is also said, that while you travel the Alaska Highway, you will probably meet up with others you know that are also traveling to Alaska.  And, today, we found that to be true.

First, we saw

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Chuck and Kathy...then came

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Mark...with another sign for the forest.  Dennis, Carol, and a whole group called the Loosy Goosey's were there for the

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hanging of their sign.

  Now that all the signs were officially hung with care, it was time to get settled in the big town of Watson Lake...population 1,563.

We stayed at the

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Downtown RV Park...it was downtown and was nothing more than a big parking lot.  However, it was a good overnight spot with a place to do laundry and Wi-Fi...nothing like catching up with the outside world after several days of being off the grid.

After dinner Bob, Molly, Mark and I took a drive up Highway 4 to find the lake, when we were sidetracked by this guy

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out for his evening walk.  We watched him for a good while...of course,

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he was watching us too!

After a while, we thought we might scout out an new campground...

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Molly and I decided it wasn't down this road...hey guys, time to turn around!

Meanwhile, back at the Downtown RV Park where

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the day is winding down... it is 9:00 p.m. and way to light to think about sleeping.  However, tomorrow is a travel day...so, we pull down those blinds and close our eyes on another day in the Yukon.

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