Whitehorse

If we had to live along the Alaska or Klondike Highways, White would be the place we’d choose! With an interesting history, this quaint river-town, offers a nice balance of modern conveniences & areas against an well-defined old downtown. Although much of the downtown is “touristy”, it doesn’t appear that way, with many shops & restaurants catering to, and filled with locals as well.
http://www.whitehorse.vic.gov.au/Page/page.asp?Page_Id=41&h=0

We arrived late Sunday afternoon, and immediately hit the Wal-Mart. Bob & Joy were running very low on groceries and we knew this would be the last major stop before Fairbanks. Our intention was to boondock right, there, but the lot was crowded & noisy. Joy had the perfect solution…let’s run over to Yukon Brewing Company and sample some fine Canadian ales. Within minutes we were standing there with Bill, a local college student who manned the brew-bar as a part-time job. As I sipped the first trial, I noticed that he poured a glass for himself and drank right along with us…hey, now this is like Louisiana, not only can you drink on Sunday, but the bartender can right along with you! In case you’re having trouble reading the label, my favorite was “Lead Dog Ale”, very fitting, Eh! (yeh, we’re pickin’ up this Canadian lingo) http://www.yukonbeer.com/home.php

As we drove down along the River, we stumbled upon the Klondike, a famous old river steamer well preserved by the Canadian Parks Service. One of the rangers suggested a 3 mile walk up the Yukon, down the opposite side and back. The views of the River were perfect for this late stroll, and even included some interesting flora & animal life along it’s sides. We returned to the trailer late (you can’t say “just as it got dark” up here…it doesn’t) and decided to stay right there, which was quiet, peaceful, with a great view of the River.

Bob & Joy moved on the next morning. They are on a much tighter schedule, having to leave Alaska by mid to late July to get back to Louisiana. Kim & I plan to stay as long as weather permits. That being said, we spent the day downtown, catching up on email first, then doing a bit of shopping. Realizing we’d probably never return to this area, we splurged a bit and bought a few pieces of art….yes, Cookie, I know we live in a tiny trailer!

The plan is the hang a couple of the light pieces on the trailer walls and ship the rest to Louisiana, for that day when we might own a “non-mobile” home again.

I couldn’t pass up this Inuit carving of an eagle and some spirits on the caribou antler.

We both fell in love with the unique loon made from Five Finger Rapids driftwood by Noble Needham, who is a fellow RV’er and spends the summers combing the River for unique pieces of wood to become the subject of his beautiful cravings during those long dark winters.

Kim found the paintings of Nathalie Parenteau interesting and appropriate for us and the adventure we’re on, and I thought her name sounded “from Louisiana”, so we just couldn’t pass this set of three up! http://www.pixelmapper.com/Nat/NatIndex.html

We drove Northward on the Klondike Highway deciding to make the loop up through Dawson City and the “Top of the World” Highway. Interestingly, one of the first stops was “Five Finger Rapids”, where Noble had found the driftwood, how appropriate!