Check out that clean car below. The guy at the car wash took a before and after picture to hang in his place. I was in first place...the dirtiest car he had ever seen. He charged me full price, but he made sure it was good and clean.
The cost of living in both Canada and Alaska is considerably higher than the lower 48 states. I estimate that goods and food cost anywhere from 30 to 50 percent more, especially in remote areas where you might expect to pay more. A hamburger and fries, which might go for 5 or 6 dollars in the US would be 8 or 9 dollars in Alaska and Canada and 10 or 11 bucks if you are in the backwoods. One morning we stopped at a place off the beaten path for breakfast. It was probably the only place to get food withing 100 miles in either direction. They had coffee, tea and only one other item on the menu which was called a bunwich. It was an egg and ham served on a hamburger bun and it cost $8.95. It was excellent!
Motel bills had 15% tax added to them wherever we went...except in Alaska. There is no state tax there and everybody who isn't in jail for a felony receives a Permanent Fund Disbursement, better known as PFD, which is a share of the oil money paid to the state. In 2009 and 2010 it amounted to about $1300. It's an expensive place to live.
Plastic and paper bags are illegal in grocery stores in the Canadian provinces that we passed through. You either remember your "green" bags, or you better be good at juggling canned goods, because they aren't going to give you anything to carry your stuff in. Guard rails on Canadian Roads are almost non-existent, even where there are steep drop offs. So, everybody seems to drive more carefully in such places.
Toilet facilities at roadside rest areas are, shall we say, meager. Marcella would better describe them as disgusting. It's a hole in the ground surrounded by a 4 foot square building and finding any TP inside is cause for a party. And, the hook that holds the door shut is always missing, so whistle loudly while you're in there unless you don't mind visitors. But hold on, it's not all bad; they come in pairs...his and hers. Judging from the look on Marcella's face as she exits her potty shack, "hers" isn't any better that "his." But, when you gotta go...
We stopped keeping track of how much money we spent...it became a nuisance. There isn't much that you can do about it. The credit card bills are rolling in now and it doesn't appear as bad as it could have been. We didn't eat real high on the hog, usually eating a substantial lunch and then having cheese and crackers, maybe some hummus, and fresh fruit for our supper in our room. We got so we enjoyed doing that and it became our preference.
So how was the trip? In a word...fabulous. We got to see things that most people only see in National Geographic. I mean, who gets to see ten bears up close in one day...or a baby moose trailing behind its mother, and on and on. Live post cards at every turn in the road. Pictures are nice, but you can only convey just so much with them. Being there is different and it's better. We'll talk about our drive over the Top of the World Highway in the thick mud for 200 miles until the day we die. We weren't laughing too much then, but we'll laugh now. And, tomorrow morning Marcella may ask me, "How 'bout a bunwich for breakfast?"
Our thanks for the nice comments that so many of our friends made about our blog, such as it is. I just read that for $15, the blog people will publish this whole thing in a book...$25 for a hard cover. I think I'll spring for the hard cover and it can grace our coffee table. Our grandchildren will be able to enjoy our trip along with us all over again fifty years from now. I can only pray that there will still be ten-bear days for them.
Derek and Marcella Bloomfield
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