Mawlers’ Big Adventure ’04:
Staying the Night

Being gone from our house for a month implies many things. Not least of which is the fact that we will need somewhere to stay for approximately 30 days. With that thought in mind, we have set off for the Great White North having made reservations for approximately five (5) nights.

Fortunately, those five nights do include the first few of the trip.

The problem is, we just have no time; we cannot even stop to make reservations. Of course, that is not preventing us from going.

Sadly, though, we do not get to be as choosy as we would like. Some of our choices are a bit like a shotgun, leaving us with yet more moral quandaries like: Would it be authentic if we went to the Yukon and stayed in a Days Inn? We hope the answer is “yes” because the whole trip started in a Days Inn. What can we say? It was near the Edmonton airport, which, I might point out, is in Alberta, not the Yukon. (It is also not in Edmonton, but that is another story.)

Anyway… we are left with many other important questions like: Should we camp? As we get closer to the actual day to leave, the question takes a new direction: Will we be forced to camp because there are no hotel rooms available?

We did manage to make one other arrangement before leaving Maryland. We decided to camp in the Inuvik area, and reserved a canoe and drop-off on Campbell Lake, so this requires that we have some camping gear. Carting camping gear once again changes the camping question. This time, it becomes an imperative:

Since we packed all that crap, we are camping!

Even with the new-found love of camping, I must say thank heavens for cell phones. On our second night in Edmonton (yes, the Days Inn), we use our over-abundance of technology to further solidify some plans. In one night, we manage to make reservations for every night on the trip up to Inuvik and for the return to Dawson City. (For us, having just half the trip arranged feels like we have absolutely no worries ahead of us!)

So far, the cell phones get better reception in northern Alberta and British Columbia than they do at our house in Maryland. I guess we will be able to make reservations for the return trip! Now we just need to sit down and figure out where we will be on any given night...


The previous installment:
Liberal Guilt

The next installment:
Home Front (part 1)

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All materials © 2004 Lea Ann Mawler & Stuart Mawler