21 & 22 June - Whitehorse, Yukon Territory - Three Nights & Two Days

     A three night (two full days) stop is just what we needed and we couldn't have picked a better place. This town is the capital of the Yukon territory and has a population of 25K people....very small town feel but everything you need in terms of facilities. We are staying at the Caribou RV Park and the owners are an interesting couple...she is from Australia and he is from Sweden (nice folks).

     First full day was a very busy one. We set out for the town to attend an aboriginal festival. We were advised to arrive early and we did....about two hours before it started. So we spent some time walking around the town, a visit to Starbucks (I told you they had all we needed) and a stroll down to tour the Klondike Paddlewheel ship. It was a very interesting exhibit with a movie and free admission. The history of the gold rush days in this area and the hardships they endured is interesting.

S.S.Klondike

     We decided to eat lunch in a popular downtown restaurant called Klondike Rib and Salmon BBQ.....based  on TripAdvisor reviews we all had the fish and chips (Halibut) and it was wonderful. First halibut on the trip and I think it will be difficult to order anything else.

     After lunch we went to the aboriginal festival that was now in full swing. It was a nice "little" small town fair atmosphere with a first nation feel/theme. In one tent they had elders telling stories about hunting experiences, children doing Indian dances, face painting and a jig dancing contest. They did have some food but we already had lunch so we didn't get to try any of the food there.

Youth Dancer at festival

     We managed to squeeze in a quick visit to the Miles Canyon area just before we went out for an evening Vaudeville/Cancan type show. Miles Canyon is a place where the Yukon River is narrowed down to a small canyon and the water is very fast through this area....story goes that many a gold prospectors lost their belongings or even their lives here trying to navigate the swift moving water trying to make their way to Dawson City.

Miles Canyon - Yukon River

Miles Canyon - Suspension Bridge

     The show was called the Frantic Follies and was modeled after the type and style of entertainment that would have been popular during the gold rush days at the turn of the century. Lots of music (ragtime), comedy and dancing. A very nice and fun evening.

     When we came out of the theater at 10:15 it was still day light. The days have been getting progressively longer the farther north we travel...just hadn't commented on it in the blog yet. To give you an idea - the sunrise here tomorrow morning is 4:28 A.M. and the sunset tomorrow evening is 11:37 P.M. and even after the sunset it still is not really dark....just a dusk looking sky. A couple of times on the trip we have awaken to a bright sun coming through the window thinking we'd slept late only to learn it was 5:30 A.M.

      Day two in Whitehorse was a wonderful 70 degrees and sunny and we enjoyed a round of golf at the local course. It was a nine hole course that was in excellent shape....bent grass greens and better fairway grass than I've seen in awhile. The course was pretty short but still par 36....it was a target type course around mountains hills, etc....although the holes were not long, it was not easy to play for the greens off the tee, especially not knowing the course. They also had two cups on each green....one regulation size and one eight inches for beginner players...yes, we played the regulation holes. As we checked in we learned that today was wacky Wednesday...our round included a grilled hamburger (which was great) and chips. A great day it was and good to knock the dust off the clubs.

     Next order of business was to get fueled up for the early morning departure tomorrow, do laundry and buy groceries. While we were busy all day, a nice roast dinner was simmering in the crock pot for us to enjoy this evening.

Moving on to Skagway
      We've made a change in our planned next stop - we were gonna go to Skagway on the way back down (return trip) but we have decided to go tomorrow instead...we are only 110 miles from Skagway now. Kathy and I have booked a cruise tour of the inside passage and Ed and Kay plan to do some hiking as they have cruised the inside passage before.

Sourdough and Sweetdough