Cross Continent Superlatives

I've actually been off and on working on this for months, only never to finish. I figured that being snowed in is a good enough reason to complete my unfinished business.

These are the highlights and best of from my road trip to Alaska and back in July and August of 2009:

Best City:Madison, WI- University of Wisconsin, bike friendly, nice weather, scenic. Very nice people, good food, tasty beer. What's not to like?


Honorable Mention: Calgary, Saskatoon, Edmonton (below)


Best Town: Jasper, Alberta- near perfect town nestled in the splendor of the Canadian Rockies. Every turn is a postcard. You have glorious peaks, glaciers, sparkling rivers and picturesque lakes. Moose, bear, marmot, dall sheep and elk. Can't go wrong with Jasper, unless you don't like pretty stuff in nature.


Honorable Mention- Mineral Point, Wisconsin; Sitka, Alaska (below); Haines, Alaska


Best Campground (Public owned):Wasagaming - located in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba. Run by Parks Canada, it is large, but it has clean facilities, close to the town of Wasagaming and pretty Clear Lake.

Honorable Mention-
Gordon Howe Campground, Saskatoon is run by the city of Saskatoon and simple and nice. I stayed in overflow and was the nicest overflow camping that I have ever been pushed to. Plus, how can you not like a placed named after a Gordie Howe?

Juniper Campground, Teddy Roosevelt National Park (North Unit). Isolated, quiet on the banks of the Missouri River with the bison.

Best Campground (Private owned):Robert Service- close to Whitehorse, it is clean, efficient and full of fun people. I stayed there twice. Most vagabonds that venture through Yukon end up at Robert Service sometime.

Honorable Mention- Garden City Campground, Skagway- Okay, it really wasn't that nice, but the owner was accomodating and pleasant, the showers hot. Plus, Emily made some friends the morning we started riding who fed us donuts and coffee.

Favorite Hostel: HI Edmonton- Great location, awesome staff, nice people staying there.

Honorable Mention- Maligne Canyon Wilderness Hostel, Jasper - No running water or electricity. And where else would you get awaken by the proprietor shouting, "There's a bear outside, don't panic if you hear a lot of noise!" Then he goes outside and starts banging pots together.

Favorite Quote:
"Everything sounds better with 'Photograph' ". -Jim Rome.
I was listening to "Rome is Burning" on an Edmonton sports radio station and Rome was talking about how if you put Def Leppard's "Photograph" in the background, everything instantly sounds better. He proceded to do that with some of the show's worst call ins. It worked. See for yourself, play something terrible and put this in the back:



Honorble Mention:
"North Carolina! Did you get lost?" - Random motorcyclists looking at my tag at a gas station in the middle of nowhere on the Alaska Highway.
"You didn't come all this way to sit at a redlight" - Emily's friend, Glenn (below, with Emma), as he sped through a red light in Juneau. Glenn picked us up on our ferry layover to take us to lunch and for a quick tour of Alaska's capital city.


Best Beer: Alaskan Amber - Juneau's best export. I snuck two cases home. The Smoked Porter is delicious.

Honorable Mention:
6060 Stout by Jasper Brewing Company. Tasty, especially after a day of hiking and golf. Plus, the bartender kept offering free drinks to us sitting at the bar.
Amber Ale at Brewery Creek in Mineral Point, WI. They brew good drinks but also serves up good food there too.

Favorite Road:Haines Highway from Haines Junction, Yukon to Haines Alaska. It was the most scenic. You had Kluane National Park as your view. It wasn't bad.


Honorable Mention:
Stewart Highway from Stewart, BC to Yukon. Lonely and Isolated, which I deem perfect.

Canada HWY 16: one of the trans-Canada Highways. Between Winnipeg and Edmonton, it's tiny towns and seemingly never ending canola fields. Beyond the Rockies, it is isolated ranches and large expanses of space between scenic little towns.

Best Meal: Frosty Freeze, Haines Junction- I understand that leather would taste good after 101 miles on a bike, but the fries and shakes and Frosty Freeze were divine.

Honorable Mention:
33 Mile Restaurant, 33 miles out of Haines, Alaska- not really the best food, but a great meal because of circumstances (cold, wet, tired), company (Emma and Aaron) and timing.

Innisfree Cafe, Innisfree, Alberta- tried pyrogy for the first time and had great conversation with the owner, Grant (below).


Favorite Cafe: Sticky Buns- near Carcross, Yukon. This alone is almost reason enough to come to Yukon.


Honorable Mention: Highliner Coffee, Sitka. Good coffee, the staff was nice and they had wireless for me.

Favorite Hike: Skyline Trail, Jasper National Park - 44 km (about 27 miles), most of it above treeline. Experience alpine meadows, glacier fed lakes and spectacular views of the Canadian Rockies. Hang out with marmot and goats. Get your ass kicked climbing up to the "Notch" (below).


Honorable Mention:
Verstovia, Sitka- lots of climbing to gorgeous views of Baranof Island and Mt. Edgecumbe. Plus, I had nice company on the walk.


Favorite Structure: Trestle at Lethbridge, Alberta:


Honorable Mention:
High Bridge, Edmonton


Spillway and Dam, Fort Peck Lake, Montana


Provenchar Pedestrian Bridge, Winnipeg


Favorite Church: Christ Church, Whitehorse- nice sermon and the priest remembered my name after the service.

Honorable Mention- City Church, Edmonton

Things I miss: CBC- like Canadian NPR, the canola fields of central Canada, the freedom of being on the road.

Would I drive 4,000 miles to Alaska/Yukon through desolate roads and isolated communities again: In a heartbeat.

Oil Town

I almost didn't come to Edmonton. I liked Calgary so much from my visit a few years back that I thought I might go back and skip Edmonton. I'm glad I didn't. Great city. It's clean, vibrant and rich in natural resources and history. Edmonton has the working class feel of Pittsburgh, the greenspace of Portland and the history of boom and bust of Chicago.

Within Edmonton is North America's largest mall (West Edmonton Mall- 800 stores, 5.3 million square feet, an indoor amusement park, the world's largest indoor waterpark, skating rink, etc, etc), the largest connected urban green space in North America (22 parks situated along the North Saskatchewan River suitable for running, biking, skiing), lots of golf courses in town, the University of Alberta and nifty little neighborhoods. Guess what Edmonton loves? Hockey. My first turn off of Canada HWY 16 took me onto Wayne Gretzky Drive and pass the Rexall Place where the Oilers play and just off Jasper Ave downtown is 99 Street, also know as Hull Road.


I am staying at the Hostelling International Edmonton, located in the hip, old and trendy neighborhood of Old Strathcona. Strathcona's reminds me of the Virginia Highlands in Atlanta. On a Saturday night, that's where people come to see and be seen. Punk, hipster, trendy all come out to Wythe Avenue on a Friday or, in my case, a Saturday night. Guys on motorcycles make lots of noise, while others arrive and park their bicycles. Men pop their collars and show their tattoos while women wear their tallest heels and most fashionable accessories. It makes for interesting people watching.


Other notes:

1) Had lunch in Innisfree, Alberta yesterday. Grant, the owner of the cafe/bookstore/video center/convenience store proudly tells me there are 223 people in town. He convinces me to try pyrogy, Ukrainian style. I liked. Gabe, who is a "newcomer" in town (he moved to Innisfree 6 years ago and just celebrated his 82 birthday) comes in and the main topic is how insanely hot it is outside (about 83 degrees). They should come to the south.



2) I've never actually been in a tornado. At least I don't think. I have a theory that there was one near me as I camped near Kearney, Nebraska. But I can't prove it. The radio the next morning mentioned the local twisters the night before. It was windy and rainy outside my tent. Of course, I slept through it all.

Last night, I was walking back along Wythe Ave and the night sky became even darker and more ominous. And then the winds came. Not just gusts, I'm talking gale winds (reported 104km/hr winds = 65 mph). The clouds alone were the most awesome: thick horizontal billows moving very rapidly. Blew over potted plants , signs and threw enough dust up to temporarily blind me. Pea sized hail starts to fall. Get back to the hostel and the attendant says that there are tornado warnings and tells me I can go into the basement if I want. It was intense. Power goes out and we don't get it back until about 10:00 AM.

In the morning, the streets are littered with leaves and branches. Power was still out. Apparently, the storm made a mess of downtown. The CN Tower sustained lots of damage. The storm made Canadian national news, though I doubt many American outlets picked it up.
Edmonton Journal Article




- Nerd Alert: I like history. I toured the Provincial Legislative building. I love the tours they give. They are FREE and offer so much information on history, architecture and politics. I always learn a lot. A lot more than if I walked through by myself. Today was the third legislative building I have toured (Victoria and Winnipeg are the others). My tour guide asked how many tours I have been in the US and I shamefully admitted none. Next time I'm in Raleigh, I'll have to try to do that.

- Terrible night of sleep last night. Those who know me know I am a heavy sleeper. Even that talent could not help me last night. It wasn't the wind and rain. It wasn't the heat of the room. There was a guy in our 8 bed room who must have sleep apnea. All night, it sounded like he was choking. The Japanese guy in the room was pretty happy to see that the guy looked like he checked out today. One of the downsides to hostelling.

- Edmonton is hosting "Taste of Edmonton" this week. My first "Taste of" experience was in Calgary. If Asheville is not doing this, it really should. A festival with Sunny Point, Tupelo Honey, Doc Chey's, Mamacitas, Barleys, Asheville Pizza, Flying Frog and even Grove Park would really showcase culinary Asheville. And you could have a Bier Garden with Highland, Greenman, Wedge, Pisgah and French Broad.