Day 8

8:00am

It's COLD! The thermostat in the car blinked -29 and then broke! or the Japanese didn't think to make a thermostat that recognizes lower than -30 ;)

It's time to dig out the next layer in warmth! New mitts, hats, scarves and the big boots are ready just in case it gets even colder. And - I just have to say - God love the person that invented heated seats!!!!!


9:00am

It's still dark.

9:45am

We just passed a sign that posted 400km to the Northwest Territories border. I get a rush of nervous excitement. Yeah! Wait - what am I doing?!?! It'll be ok..... won't it? There are fields of crops and rolling hills on all sides. I'm amazed at the landscape. At times it feels like we could be in northern Ontario. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I never thought it would feel familiar.

10:30am

Dad and I are both hungry. Once we got the car started it would have been cruel to stop for breakfast right away, but now we're both ready for brunch and the car needs to be filled up. We find a cute restaurant called Quotes. The service is friendly and the food is great. Plus there's funny quotes on just about everything.

After breakfast I visit the lady's room and find a funny one.....
















2:00pm

We stop in High Level to stretch our legs and I need to find a bank to take some $ out. My poor VISA has had quite the workout over the last week - thankfully I'll be getting it all back soon. Yeah for the new company!

High Level is hilarious! There is a strip of motels straight out of Vegas. How the hell did they get them up here?












Dad pulls up outside the CIBC and I'm just about to get out of the car when a women backs into us! Yup - we crunched bumpers! Poor Ruby (car - selected by colour and side trip to the Ruby Cafe ;) There were a couple good scrapes on both cars, but other than trading some paint there wasn't a whole lot of damage. I exchanged info with the girl and hopefully that's that.

3:00pm

"Caution, Bison on road". Woo hoo! Hopefully we see some soon. I'm glad we're driving this stretch in the day light, although the sun is hanging very low and it may only be an hour until it sets.

3:30pm

We're only 100km from the NWT border! Once we're over the boarder we're heading for Enterprise and it there's time today or tomorrow we're both hoping we can visit Hay River. It's on the south shore of Great Slave Lake and I really want to walk on both shore of the big lake! There's a bridge over a river and I pull a Dad. "Hey..... oh crap..... Hay River."

4:30pm

We cross the 60th Parallel!














The sky is unbelievable! Every colour of red, orange, yellow, pink and purple! A soft cloud hangs low and soaks up much of the purple. Dad is frantically taking pictures and I drive. We finally have to stop and, braving the cold, we stand on the side of the road and watch the sun set. But - only for a minute!

A head of us the sky is dark and plain and honest to God I actually say, "I can't get over the difference, it's like night and day!" Dad groans and I know it's bad.

5:30pm

I see a sign for the Twin Falls and we decide we've got to check it out. We bundle up and it's so cold that we run down the path to the look out points.

It's incredible! Huge walls of ice and you can hear the water rushing under the ice. I can only imagine what it looks like in the day or when it's not frozen ;) This area would be an awesome place to hike and camp in the summer!










6:00pm

We check into the only thing in Enterprise. Literally - it's the gas station, the restaurant, the video store and the motel! The restaurant is open for another hour or two so we check into our room and walk back for dinner.

We're the only ones there and since it's movie night at the local school, our waitress is one of the moms. She's funny and we enjoy chatting as she fumbles around the kitchen trying to find stuff to make us dinner.

Unfortunately the mood is completely spoiled by a large trucker who waits 40mins while she makes him a custom pizza and spouts off about conspiracy theories. Dad and I don't give him any encouragement - he doesn't need it! I can't believe the crap he's going on about and the mom is joining in!??! Dad and I eat as fast as we can and decide to call it an early night. BUT - we can't get away without the trucker writing down the most important websites to check out.

I double check that the door is locked and we watch TV for a few hours before nodding off.