Whitehorse almost to Watson Lake

Friday, August 20.  Today is Collins' birthday, so we have some celebrating to do.  But first, Dave headed out early to the Chrysler dealer to get his Dodge serviced.  It turned out that he needed new front brakes (they were smoking coming into town on Tuesday), so we didn't get on the road until shortly after 12:00.  Mazie and I both got our laundry done this morning, then us three women ran into town to pick up some last minute groceries for tonight's big surprise birthday party (and some Tim Horton donut holes) before we hit the road.  David has a sore leg (he hit it on something the other day), but was able to go, and we made it 181 miles today, a little further than we had planned, but it just kept raining so we just kept driving.  We were trying to find some dry weather so David could cook the fish outside without needing an umbrella.

It had rained off and on all night, and most of the day today.  About 30 miles out of Whitehorse, we got back to the highway we had traveled on our way to Alaska, where Joe and I turned off to go down to Skagway.  We drove along Teslin Lake, the 86-mile long lake we saw back in June.  Today we didn't get very good views of it because of the weather, but I thought I probably needed one more picture.

We had some really nice mountain views today, but sometimes the fog/clouds almost completely hid them.  Occasionally, the sun would hit the top of a mountain and the fall colors would just explode on it.

But mostly it rained.  It was about 45 degrees, and once we had some snow or sleet hit the windshield.  We got parked about 4:30 just across the Continental Divide and began preparations for the big party.  David cooked up some of the halibut we caught in Homer, and some of the salmon Collins got in Hope.  David could teach the chefs in some of the restaurants in Alaska how to cook fish!  He does a great job.  I made potato salad (Eric, sorry you missed it), and Mazie made cole slaw and cornbread.  Marilyn made Banana Split Cake.  It was all delicious.  And quite a celebration.

 We finished the evening by playing cards.  They did let Collins win the first two hands (and he's mine and Mazie's partner), but it was downhill after that.  The other team beat us all three games.