Tok to Haines & Pink Horse Chases

Well, we haven't had internet access for several days now. We rolled into Haines, Alaska, yesterday after a very LONG day of driving. DVD players and grandparents are a godsend! We started in Tok, Alaska, the day before yesterday, ate at Fast Eddy's for breakfast, then trekked out onto the AlCan Highway. A note for anyone traveling through Tok: fast Eddy's is semi-pricey and not-so-fast, but has good food. Shane and I shared a reindeer sausage, mushroom, and monterey jack omelette that was mighty tasty.

The roads weren't awful, but had enough snow and ice on them to keep us on our toes. We stopped to get gas just before crossing the border into Canada and the gentleman behind the counter revealed to us that it was -13 degrees outside. Yes, it did feel like -13. He suggested that we travel an additional 7 hours to arrive in Haines the same day instead of overnighting it in Canada because there was "nothing to do and no good places to eat in Haines Junction". Apparently, he had not visited Fairbanks lately. Just kidding!

Anyway, just after we crossed the Canadian border, we came across a mother moose and her two babes loping alongside the road. Emily was semi-interested and Josias could not have cared less, but the rest of us enjoyed watching them munch on the ends of the snow-covered bushes.

I think that was probably the highlight of the trip until today when Emily decided she was going on a three-year-old wild goose chase, er, pink horse chase. Mona, Olivia, Emily & Josias ventured forth this morning to see what the town of Haines had to offer. Emily left the hotel looking for a pink horse on a merry-go-round. Every time we would stop to look at a bald eagle soaring overhead or a historic home, she would blurt, "Don't look for houses (eagles), look for a merry-go-round!" We finally had to explain to her that we could look for both while she could just look for the pink horses. Emily saw a glimmer of hope when a nice lady we met downtown suggested that we stop by the fairgrounds to look for the merry-go-round. We found the fairgrounds, but no horses of any color.