To catch up a little...

July 14 Saturday

We slept in a little this morning after such a late night. I took the kids for a walk while Ron picked up camp. We saw some robins and a couple of ground squirrels. I held on tight to Isaac while Elyse threw rocks in to Kluane lake. About 50 miles to Haines Junction took a couple of hours because of construction. We enjoyed the hospitality of the Haines Junction school playground while eating lunch (at least the adults ate then, the kids ate later in the car!). Then we headed out of Haines Junction toward Haines. Scenery was beautiful, it felt similar to the Denali Highway. Kids really are doing well in the car, and I think we will settle in to a pretty good routine. Arrived in rainy Haines and set up camp near the beach. Had dinner in town in what turned out to be a Thai restaurant. Took a longgggg time to get dinner, so there was time to get back to camp and put kids to to bed. Then we spent some time chatting with Rob and Ellen. Too bad we didn't allow more time to actually see Haines.

July 13 Friday

A little bit of a slow start today. Left Delta at 11:30. But, I got well organized and made everyone’s breakfast and lunch. Elyse and Isaac finally had a decent night’s sleep, and even Ron and I got a little more than we have been. Arrived in Canada about 3:30. We drove a lot longer than we had thought we would because decent places to camp were hard to come by. Ended up at Cottonwood RV park on the shores of Kluane lake, pulling in at almost 8:00pm (AK time – we are resisting changing because we will have to change back in Haines). Had a nice camp site and good company (Rob and Ellen) to help get dinner going and to babysit here and there. Poor Isaac was so tired he was beside himself as we pulled in, but then was giddy when I tried to put him to bed.

July 12 Thursday

It’s been a roller coaster day. We have made it to Delta Junction and are enjoying Rob and Ellen’s company and hospitality. We had shoved everything we might want in to one closet yesterday, and had to start the day by just getting organized. Clothes, books and toys were soon everywhere. We needed to pack up everything we wanted and clean the apartment, a task that seemed too much at about 1:00. Steve Springer stopped by to visit and ended up taking the kids outside to play for almost 2 hours. Then we made progress. Van was absolutely jam packed, and Ron was worried that we would not make it far. We finally left Fairbanks at about 3:30, it really did take us all day to leave! We were both sad as we drove out, thinking of all the wonderful times we have shared there. It will be a big adjustment to not live there! As soon as we got to Delta, Ron began unpacking and purging what we really didn’t need. So far, we have two boxes to ship out from the post office tomorrow. Rob and Ellen will go with us as far as Haines, so they will take some of our stuff for now, which gets us over the worst of the frost heaves and bad roads. We toasted Ron for finally getting everything turned in and completed.

July 11 Wednesday

Movers showed up at 8:30 and went to work. Anything that is not boxed gets wrapped in brwn paper for shipping, even things like action packers. We asked them to start in the kids room and get it cleaned out, and then we moved in there as a place to play and spread out toys. Later, as they were hauling out the last of the stuff and Isaac was sleeping, Elyse found an empty closet a great place to play and be out of the way. We are exhausted, the best time to get things done is when the kids are asleep but then we end up with very little. Tomorrow we prepare to go….

July 10

Today was my last day of work. It was surreal to leave the Gruening Building for the last time after taking classes or working there for the last 12 years. Ron and I spent the evening trying to prepare for the movers to come tomorrow and take all of our stuff away. Trying to make sure we make it clear which things go and which stay. Whew! A long day indeed.