day 12

today was sunday, so we took the day off (kind of). 

we still drove and put some miles behind us, but not very many. 

we found ourselves hiking and going to liard hot springs instead of just driving. 

we hit the road right away in fort nelson. i stopped for coffee, of course, but we were on our way in no time. 

we made it as far as summit lake and we decided to stop and take a hike. 

it was so beautiful up there, the sky was clear and the mountains were calling us to climb. 

hope loves hiking and she was dying to get out of the car, so she was super excited. 

after our hike, we journeyed to liard for a quick refresher in the natural hot springs, 

liard has changed the bath houses since i was there last. loved them! they were simple and natural looking.

we arrived early in the tourist season, so the hot springs was not crowded at all.

we journeyed on after liard. we camped that night in the middle of nowhere

next to an awesome abandoned old cabin. there we took our first official family photo of the entire trip.

{just a side note on my wonderful hair in the end photos. by this point we had been without showers since leaving north dakota. my hair is piled on top of my head and starting to dread. it was not a pretty sight.}

day 11

today we woke up just outside whitecourt (which is on the north side of edmonton)

we slept the night in a pullout in the back of our truck. 

it rained and the wind blew all night long. 

it was pretty cold outside, however inside the truck we stayed nice and toasty. 

we made it to dawson creek today, the official beginning of the alaska highway. 

the dawson creek residents were having an anti gmo protest, how appropriate for a time i should drive through.

we met up with a friend from alaska in the middle of no where. hope enjoyed her time outside the car. 

(a little too much... see below). a bath was very necessary. 

we made it up to fort nelson, the bermuda triangle of the alaska highway. if you can pass through fort nelson successfully, you are good the rest of your journey.

we ate at boston's (they have gluten free pizza and pasta) yeah!

we loitered at the local coffee shop after hours for some internet and went to bed in our truck in some random parking lot in fort nelson very late that night.