We headed north on route 37 towards Stewart which is a little town right on the border to Alaska and the United States. In fact, the closest town on the U.S. side; Hyder is only about a mile down the road from Stewart and several of our friends told us we should go there and get 'hyderized'. All we knew was that it was some kind of drink and since nobody really told us the details of what that meant we thought we needed to go and find out for ourselves... More about that in a minute....

We left Terrace and drove through some large areas of TREES, more trees, and yet more trees. On the way we saw a cluster of houses and this tiny little church with a very cute bell tower. No idea which village or town this was but it was very cute.

Very cute little church

Robert peeking through the windows.

Victoria pulled out some Swedish candies that she had brought from Sweden. A traditional Swedish snacks: BILAR which means 'cars' in Swedish. Little candies in the shape of cars.

mmmmm..... Swedish treats!

For my Swedish friends: a traditional Swedish treat!

As we approached Stewart, the mountains got higher and suddenly this enormous glacier appeared. It was quite a beautiful sight!

Amazing view of Bear Glacier and Bear River

Flipping through the guide book Victoria found out that the glacier was Bear Glacier. That must mean there are bears around right? For the record, we had not yet seen any other wildlife in the week and a half we've been on the road than a raccon, a few deer and the odd squirrel. Well.... our wish came true when we turned a corner and a little black bear appeared next to the road.

BEAR!

We slowed down and pulled up right next to the bear which didn't seem to bother at all. This is how close we actually got to the animal.

A little black bear with no fear came up to our car....

We drove into Stewart early in the afternoon and continued straight to Hyder. It was slightly confusing because we weren't sure if we had actually crossed the border as there was no real official signs and no customs. In Hyder there was a General store, a church and a dozen buildings.

Hyder

General store in Hyder

Time to get hyderized! At Glacier Inn we would now find out what it meant! The following pictures is a visual representation of what happened...

Before

During...

Robert AFTERWARDS

AFTER being hyderized!

Turns out getting 'hyderized means a shot of 150 proof alcohol! It was like drinking fire! In fact, there was a warning text on the bottle.

150 proof !!!! Deadly stuff. Will warm you up. Guaranteed!

Warning label... should perhaps have read it beforehand

At least we have proof that we did it!

Robert outside the Glacier Inn

'Certified' survivors of being hyderized.

We stumbled out of the bar and decided never to come back. One shot felt like 4 regular drinks! Robert topped it up with some fine Alaskan beer as well. Victoria had to drive back. Enough said! :) As we drove back towards Stewart and Canada it turns out that even though the U.S. didn't have customs, Canada does! We had to explain to the border guy why Victoria was driving and the guy had some problems understanding why the steering wheel is on the right side of the car and threatened to detain Robert as he thought he was the driver... Quite funny!

Back in Stewart we found a very nice little hotel. The hotel lobby was guarded by... chickens...

Victoria is unsure about how close she can get...

Still feeling the effects of the experience in Hyder a cup of nice strong coffee rounded off the evening.

A cup of strong coffee after getting hyderized....