Go North Young Man!!!

A significant moment, in an otherwise tedious and ordinary day, came when I was Surfing the Internet looking for information as part of our North America 2013 adventure.  The plan is that we spend at least six months away. The only definite ideas are a three-week stint in Seattle in June / July so that Spike can attend a glass course at Pilchuck then 8 weeks in October and November at Penlands North Carolina for another intensive glass course.

I thought we could head north between the two before turning south east. I know Spike wants to visit a glacier and where better, thought I, than Alaska? That had the added attraction – I don’t know why it’s an attraction – of driving across the south-west corner of the Yukon Territory. I guess the attraction lies simply in being able to say one has driven across the Yukon Territory. So I was surfing, having a look at the roads on Google; thinking how utterly amazing it is that Google maps have taken their road camera all the way to the Top Of The World Highway north-west of the Klondyke River. To be honest though the landscape looked rather dull and not very interesting for long stretches of the highway. It’s a small road (one lane in each direction) passing through flat (I guess elevated) terrain with lots and lots of pine trees.

Looking for something more interesting and ideas for accommodation I stumbled across the Ripley Creek Inn in Stewart, British Columbia. It’s not as far north as the Yukon but it’s still over 1,000 miles from Seattle. It connects with the southernmost region of Alaska. Just outside the town, maybe 30 miles before one reaches it from the east, there’s a blue ice glacier – Bear glacier

There’s a population of 500 people, the Ripley Creek Inn (part of which used to be the town brothel), the Rocky Mountains, Alaskan fjords, Strohn lake with its blue ice Bear glacier and, according to photographs, grizzly bears walking down the highway not far from town.

How can we resist it?