Watson Lake, Yukon

We arrived in Watson Lake, Yukon yesterday really early in the day.  I’m talking like noon.  When we first got into town we noticed a RV park on our right that looked pretty nice.  It had trees and looked like a State Park.  That wasn’t the place we were looking for though.  We were looking for the Downtowner because of the location and had read some reviews that it was an okay park.  Well, when we got there it looked to us like an asphalt parking lot.  We decided to go back to the one we passed earlier and I’m SO glad we did.  We don’t have TV here but we do have wifi and this is more like our kind of park.  Come to find out from some people we met it was cheaper too.  Speaking of people we met, we have met so many so far on the way to Alaska.  We met Ed and Mary Jo in Ft Nelson but found out they were parked right behind us in Dawson Creek.  We saw them again at the Visitor’s Center here and they came over to visit yesterday afternoon (They’re staying at the Downtowner).  We met another couple (didn’t get their names) at Muncho Lake and then saw them here while we were ordering our lunch so we had them join us.  We’re hoping to see Richard & Sarah again somewhere down (up?) the road too.

A lot of people have been asking about the road conditions.  So far in Canada the roads have been fine.  Somebody told us the road from Coal River to Watson Lake was really bad and to allow plenty of time.  Well, really the only reason WE need plenty of time is because we keep stopping for wildlife.  Although, we did see plenty of wildlife yesterday in the way of bears we couldn’t stop in time for photos.  We don’t drive fast and we pull over frequently to let those that are in a hurry pass by.

We did encounter our first major road construction though.  Traffic was down to one lane with a pilot car and we did have to wait about 20 minutes for our turn to go.

The road was really dusty

Today the plan was to visit the Northern Lights Centre.  They have 2 movies that they show in the theater there.  The first was kind of boring just showing various northern lights (Aurora Borealis) and why they think they occur.  The second was about space and the planets.  It was more interesting, to me anyway.

After that we went down to the Signpost Forest.  The signpost forest was started by Karl Lindley in 1942 as a U. S. Army Engineer, 341 company "D" who was building the Alaska Highway. When building many signs in the area, he added a sign to a sign post which stated, "Danville, Illinois, 2835 miles".   Some people say he was homesick.  This tradition has continued over the years from travelers passing through Watson Lake.  It’s amazing how many signs are there.  At last count in Sept 2009 there were over 67,000 signs!  We knew about this place beforehand so we came prepared with our license plate from Florida.  The Visitor’s Center even gives you nails or screws and a hammer or screw driver.

Rod is looking for an empty spot somewhere

He found a spot!!

And there it is!!

Some are pretty elaborate

And others just aren’t going to last

Here’s one we found for my Sissy

And one for my brothers

Even found one for Mac & Netters!

I want to find out where THIS is!!

We could have stayed here all day but with over 67,000 signs we would have been here for a week.

So, tomorrow we’re heading out early (???) to Whitehorse.  I don’t know if we’ll make it all the way there.  It’s a 6 hour drive from here.  We may stop before that.  We made reservations on the Kenai Peninsula for the 1st two weeks in July so we’re covered for the 4th of July.  That’s the only place we have to be so we’ve got a few weeks to get there.