Beard Parade

With the van now moustachio’d and despite a flat tire (expertly changed to a donut by our Automotive Professional Em) off we went to meet Beard Team Canada.

Due to technical difficulties the internet was not accessible from our hostel so we stopped off at the convention center, hoping somebody could direct us to the parade. We parked and were immediately greeted by Phil Olsen, the Captain of Beard team USA, and swarmed with press. Seriously? Seriously. Photographers, TV and Documentary Cameras, Tourists… We began to realize our little adventure was kind of big deal?!! After interviews and action shots, we pulled up to the parade start point and have our first meeting with Beard Team Canada!!

Away we paraded, saturating our spectators with Canadiana (Flags, Pins, Anthems, Banners etc.). This was our first time officially cheering for Canadian Beards, and we were thrilled with all the kindred spirits we have found with Beard Team Canada.

Sweet Banner, Boys!


Canada was BY FAR the best dressed team in the entire championship.
Cheers for Canadian Beards!

Our Team!!

Parade Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFAahghGX-0

Another Parade Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR6IBUwMNpM

Moustache Time!

Alaskan Adventures

After falling head over heals in love with all that is Yukon, we found Alaska to be much more American.
The pawn shop sign advertises 'Guns and Loans.' Definitely American.

Denali Park is home to North America's highest mountain, Mt. McKinley, towering over 20,300 feet tall (clearly, the CFHCT can jump higher)

We initially bypassed Anchorage for a beautiful jaunt down the Kenai Peninsula. It was amazing. We have seen many, many mountains but this was mountains and sea, and just WOW!! We watched some smelt fishing and frolicked briefly on the beach (brrrrrrr). After a brief action shot with an oversized eagle and it's overly attentive proprietor we proceeded back to Anchorage.

Although our hostel was underwhelming, it was very exciting to have our own beds for 4 nights in a row!! The World Beard and Moustache Championship was now and we were exhausted and seriously excited.

CFHCT Heart Hot Springs!

FYI: The CFHCT Exclusively Picks Up Hitchhikers Who Work in Hot Springs!! In our experience, helping out hitchhikers who work in hot springs has been very entertaining. Our first encounter (just outside Whitehorse) involved two lovely young gentlemen from Quebec, and resulted in an intellectually stimulating conversation utilizing Emily’s recently acquired university level French skills. Transporting them also led us to experience plywood caves, rock wall climbing, zip lining, reduced rate hot springs and our first showers in 6 days!

From Tundra To Emerica

While camped on the Top of the World, the CFHCT hosted an amazing Tundra Party filled with whiskey, applesauce and national pride! (Cheers to Chase and Elliot! ) bracket bracket

Here's the tundra to prove authenticity:
After what seemed like a few minutes of sleep, we awoke and proceeded through the most northern border crossing of the USA. It was especially exciting for young Heather, who had never before experienced all that is America ie: log cabin border crossings with antlers and pylons for additional security.
Our first stop was the Alaska state sign, for a quick action shot. Vern patiently watched the whole thing from the vehicle.

We then proceeded into the fine metropolis of Chicken, Alaska for souvenirs, a taste of the salty local culture, and some passport stamps from the post office! After spending an hour with the locals it seemed very fitting the town, which was originally to be named ptarmigan, was officially called Chicken, a much easier word to spell.

Moss 'stache

Florian

This is the most magical moment of our time in Dawson City. Florian graciously offered to give us a tour of the local art school. There were many laughs, new book smell, and this surprising moment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-_G5HeY_jo

(Good call on You Tube Julie!)

Yukon is SO cool, it doesn't need a definite article!!

I am really into Yukon right now.

Here's why...

We hung out at a condemned bar called The Pink Palace - or The Pit, depending on who you asked - and got tips from a local, about locals. We also learned about an international chicken sandwich, which involved a trip to Mayo, Yukon, then to Chicken, Alaska!

Then we earned our Sourtoe certificates (Google it if you don't know what this is, but trust me when I say that you are better off not knowing). Julie thought that she would "memorize" the moment of induction into this prestigious club of 30,000 drunk fools, but none of us could remember what it was she wanted to remember. I remember that it was gross. Here's Heather now, with the one and only Captain, caressing her with a mummified disfigured toe.

Looks like fun, yes?

We even randomly ran into Xander when we were watching the can-can dancers at Diamond Tooth Gerties; he had planned to represent Yukon for Beard Team Canada, but couldn't go. We cheered for him anyway. Like this:

Some things in Yukon are unnecessarily complicated, like this:

Other things are simple. Like if you find yourself in the presence of a Klondike-y costume, you wear it.

We had a magical moment with Florian and his accordian, but I can't seem to upload video. I'll keep trying. (Tips, anyone?)

Heather's more into the NWT.

(Notice how much rockier it is than the provinces).

Gold Rush Revival

Ooooohhhh Dawson City. Lovely Dawson City. As you can see, we reached DC in the darkest hours of the day, which given our experience may have meant we arrived at midnight or 4 am. As southern girls we really couldn't keep track of nighttime or daytime very well.

Needless to say, tired and weary we found the most convenient location to park our van and got into the sardine formation needed to accommodate us all.

What a pleasure to finally see DC in daylight. It took us back in time to the days of the booming gold rush. Given the presence of the Klondike Art Institute, artistic pleasures were abundant and we were particularly pleased by the Camera Obscure...go to find out!!!

After checking out the frontier watering hole known as the Pink Palace, we headed out to an undisclosed location where our friend Myles provided us with a nights accommodation.
The place was wonderful after sandwiching in the van for so many days and the dress-up material left us with endless ways to express our feelings about the true north.

More Adventure (Day 4-5)

Prior to our highly anticipated stop at the Laird hot springs, we took a 3.5 hour detour down a gravel highway to stop and leap in front of the 'Welcome NWT Sign' and closely observed the territory landscape. After all, it's important to see your country!
In our experience, North West Territory is rockier than the provinces, and provinces are greener.


We arrived at the Laird Provincial Park Hot Springs late on Day Three, and NEVER wanted to leave! WOW! Natural and so much more appealing than the cemented variety many springs use these days.
We set up camp.... well, unpacked the stove and cooked- and then walked the KM on the wooden boardwalk through this crazy beautiful forest swamp. There are two pools, the first is shallower, and varies in temperature, from cold to crazy boiling hot! The second pool, our absolute favourite, was magical. Both nights, we had it all to ourselves. It is deep, and we made flotation devices with duct tape and empty water jugs... just WOW. We soaked and swam and warmed and soothed our souls.
It was so amazing, we just had to stay a second night. It was Friday night of the May Long Weekend, and we met many Kindred Spirits, who were willing to let us cut their hair and glue it in various styles to their faces within moments of meeting us!





It was a day and night filled with laughter and cheers! We had a very thoughtful donation of H2O from Steve, and woke up to snow (which quickly disappeared, Yay!) And... who can forget meeting Dino, who demonstrated exactly what happens when you fast and drink beer in the hot springs!

He also taught us to say "Babylonian Coliseum" instead of 'cheese'!
Cheers to Dino, his photography skills and his passion for life!


We also made ourselves at home at the Laird Lodge, and helped to serve and bus tables (both the waitress and cook were yet to arrive, and the only menu options were cheeseburgers and fries, or bagels) It was great, the bookkeeper was very hospitable, and we were sad to leave- but that is kind of the thing about road trips!

We arrived at the Liard Provincial Park Hot Springs late on Day Three, and Never wanted to leave! WOW! We set up camp- well, unpacked the stove and cooked- and then walked the KM on the wooden boardwalk through this crazy beautiful forest swamp. There are two pools, the first is shallower, and varies in temperature, from cold to crazy boiling hot! The second pool, our absolute favorite, was absolutely magical, and both nights, we had it all to ourselves. It is deep, and we made floatation devices with duct tape and empty water jugs... just WOW. We soaked and swam and warmed and soothed our souls. It was so amazing, we just had to stay a second night. It was Friday night of the May Long Weekend, and we met many kindred Spirits, who were willing to let us cut their hair and glue it in various styles to their faces within moments of meeting us! It was a day and night filled with laughter and cheers! We had a very thoughtful donation of H2O from Steve, and woke up to snow (which quickly disappeared, Yay!) We also made ourselves at home at the Liard Lodge, and helped to serve and bus tables (both the waitress and cook were yet to arrive, and the only menu options were cheeseburgers and fries, or bagels) It was great, and we were sad to leave, but that is kind of the thing about road trips! Actually, prior to Liard, we took a 3.5 hour detour down a gravel highway to stop and leap in front or the 'Welcome NWT Sign' and closely observed the territory landscape. In our experience, North West Territory is rockier than the provinces, and provinces are greener. After Liard, we set our sights on Whitehorse, with a stop in Watson Lake to post our sign (conveniently found on the road, to which we added some engraving and vinyl lettering indicating our origin in Cheer Trio, AB). We also had very berried ice cream dedicated to Mark and Wendy in the hometown of their love (My parents met in Watson Lake 37 years ago!) We slept in a van down by the river last night, right behind the Yukon Gov't Building, strolled through the downtown (filled with lovely artsy fartsy hippi goodness!) internetted to the max capacity, and are imminently departing for Dawson City to drink some pickled toe whiskey and stay in a condemmed hotel, and maybe mine some gold! (Oh, and just met Mik, a delightfully informative American with great tips and info. Good stuff!) Cheers for Beards all the way!
After Laird, we set our sights on Whitehorse, with a stop in Watson Lake to post our sign (conveniently found on the road, to which we added some engraving and vinyl lettering indicating our origin in Cheer Trio, AB).

We also had very berried ice cream dedicated to Mark and Wendy in the hometown of their love (Julie's parents met in Watson Lake 37 years ago!)
We slept in a van down by the river last night, right behind the Yukon Gov't Building, strolled through downtown (filled with lovely artsy fartsy hippy goodness!), internetted to the max capacity, and are imminently departing for Dawson City to drink some pickled toe whiskey and stay in a condemned hotel, and maybe mine some gold!?



(Oh, and just met Mik, a delightfully informative American with great tips and info. Good people!)
Cheers for Beards all the way!

On the Road Days 1-3ish

Today we left Calgary, and made it to a place called Pink Mountain- a truck stop like place where we slept in the van. There was some snow, primarily along the Icefield Parkway, but Em powered us through.

Otherwise, we saw pretty wildlife stuff, and had some interesting cultural experiences in Grand Prairie?! Yay for Adventure!
So Far, Along the Way we have seen.....
Two Glaciers
Mountain Goats, and Sheep
Wild Horses
Bison
Squirrels
Redneck Grand Prairie Men/Boys
Crazy, high maintenance leathery Cougar Ladies (also GP)
GIANT BEAVER (and a sign, saying "Giant Beaver Attraction Ahead!)

Many Bearded Men (mostly friendly variety)
Mile Zero of the Alaska Highway
Trucks, Mountains, Motorhomes, Starry Skies and Trees!!

We are enjoying the perpetual light- it gets darkish, but not really dark, and we are able to keep the promise to my dad not to drive into the dark, since it doesn't really get dark!

AND... apparently the computers in the Whitehorse Library are so very slow, and trying to upload photos to the blog just times itself out.... we hope to encounter faster technology in the near future, but today, pictures are not an option. We are working on that!!

The Adventure Begins!

This is vicarious team member (& sponsor) Kelly with an update on the cheer trio. The van has been packed and decorated, and after a quick night's sleep, and the team is officially on the move! Despite the possibility of road closures due to spring thaw, spirits are high. Look for an update in the next few days on their progress as they cover the miles between Calgary, Alberta and Anchorage, Alaska.

Sharing Our Adventure- Media Coverage

Check out the radio interview with Coralee from Country 95.5 Fm in Lethbridge, AB!

Lots of Fun... http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.country95.fm

The CFHCT has also been featured in the May 6th addition of the Brooks Bulletin... and I am still looking for an electronic version of the article to link...

Also, keep your eyes open for a nationally syndicated article by the Toronto Sun... It will run in teh next week or so, and details will be posted as available!

We are thrilled to have people take an interest in our trip, and hopefully follow us along on what will be one incredible adventure!!

Cheers to Beards!

Julie

(CFHCT Media Specialist :)

Hand Made Beards NOW AVAILABLE!

**NEW As an added incentive for supporting the CFHCT, all contributors of $50.00 or more will recieve a custom made, one of a kind exsclusive CROTCHETED BEARD!

(Not all beards exactly as shown, but they are all ridiculous, guaranteed!)