Day 329. July 1, 2014. Canada Day!

LOCATION:  Alaska Highway through NW Alberta and north central British Columbia

WEATHER:  Partly cloudy. High around 70

We got an early start from Grande Prairie where we have been with my aunt and uncle.  It was so nice seeing them again, and staying with them was a nice "vacation" from the camper.  

Today is Canada Day, a major holiday here.  We figured most people would be heading home from a long weekend, making vacancies at campgrounds.  Canada Day celebrates the date that the first provinces were formed.

It was a long day on the road, about 11 hours.  From Grande Prairie, it was about an hour to the B.C. border.  Then a short way to Dawson Creek, the beginning of the Alaska Highway.  

We will take it all the way to Fairbanks.

We stopped at the visitor center, then went northward.

We stopped for lunch at a roadside picnic area.  We saw this "bear-proof" garbage can that a bear, probably a grizzly, had attacked

Along the way we saw some wildlife...2 big bears and sadly 2 dead moose, hit by trucks and lying on the highway shoulder. 

We stopped at a beautiful provincial park next Summit Lake.  There were people singing and talking loudly in a strange language.  We later learned that they are First Nation, speaking Athabaskan.  

We talked with the couple next to us from the Netherlands. They are bicycling from Anchorage to Vancouver via Jasper.  They have a lot of mountains in front of them!  They are tenting and camp where they can, often not in regular campgrounds.  They learned a trick from someone....they can store their food in the bottom of garbage cans so they don't have to keep it with them in their tent...to protect themselves from bears.

DINNER:  Grilled chicken marinated in the last of my chili sauce, and a spinach salad.  George made a good fire!