Sunday, July 10, 2016

Ahboot Canada, Aye

Muncho Lake

We spent about 9 days in Canada on our road trip from Kodiak, AK to Sacramento, CA - so I'm obviously completely qualified to dispense my version of a little Canada 101.  Four things:

1 - Canadian pronunciation of the word about = ahboot.  It's kind of annoying.
2 - Canadians love to use the long o sound.  So, words like progress becomes PRO-gress, & sorry becomes SO-ree.
3 - They call their dollar coins "Loonies" because there's a picture of a loon on them
3 - It's perfectly acceptable to add the word "aye" to the end of any and every sentence.

Examples:  "Have a good evening now, aye." or, "Beautiful day today, aye."  It's a question, it's an exclamation, it's a versatile non-word that if you're Canadian must be added to the end of all sentences.  It's the law.

Anyway, enough of my commentary - back to our international travels.  Not too much to say about Whitehorse, Yukon - it was a short overnight spent mostly in the hotel. Much overdue laundry-doing and beer experimentation was the theme. 

We ordered take out and a few beers from the hotel bar, and I had a cranberry wheat, called Deadman Creek from Yukon Brewing.  Their slogan is perfect:  "Beer Worth Freezing For."  Heh.

Accurate slogan, though! That cranberry wheat was so good, I wish I could find it somewhere in the U.S. - but it's strictly a Canadian beer.  Fine Canada.  Be that way.

On the road, somewhere between here & there

After Whitehorse was Dawson Creek, British Columbia.  What a hole that place was.  Not even worth writing about. We stayed at a place I would describe extremely loosely as "campgrounds."  It was like a Cops episode waiting to happen.

I really wish I took a picture of our Canadian Joe Dirt neighbor.  Highly entertaining.  Dawson Creek is known for being mile zero - the start of the Alaska Highway, and they've got a sign to prove it.  Not worth the stop, trust me.  The town, or the sign!


Once we left hole-in-the-wall Dawson Creek, we headed to Jasper, Alberta and arrived safely without any hitches.  What an improvement!  Gorgeous scenery along the way and the entire time we were there.


We split our time in Jasper between a Best Western and Whistlers Campgrounds.  Both were fantastic. Especially in light of the less than classy accommodations we came from.

After checking in to our room, we walked around to check out the town with the boy.  It was surrounded by mountains, & had a quaint, alpine village vibe.


Of course, we had to hit the Jasper Brewing Company for lunch when we saw it on the main drag. And I had to try their Blackeye Blueberry Vanilla Ale.  It was crisp and fresh, not at all as sweet as you would expect it to be.

Poutine was a must, because we decided we needed to find the ultimate poutine while we were in Canada.  Poutine is french fries covered in brown gravy and cheese curds.  It's so bad, but oh, so very good.  It's totally a Canadian thing.  Jasper Brewing Company's was good, but the hunt for the best was still on.  And we still had some more time!

Tasty beers & poutine!

Oh, and by the way - if you've indulged in poutine, it's inevitable that you'll get hit with the irresistible urge to nap anytime within 1-3 hours after eating it.  It's inescapable. Case in point.

Post-poutine naps in the Cricket.  Although - Cheety didn't indulge.  He's just game for whatever.  Nap? Hike? Sure.

I loved our campsite in Jasper.  And not just because there were no horseflies!  It was beautiful and quiet - well, besides the chirping prairie dogs.  Which Cheety wanted to say hello to. Possibly with his teeth.

Fixated!

And I may or may not have had campfire s'mores for dinner. For those of you paying attention - yes, I did indeed have poutine for lunch followed by s'mores and wine for dinner. Those good food choices just kept on comin'. Ha.


So we continued on down the road, inching closer to our final destination.  Sacramento or bust, aye?

Ta-ta for now.




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