Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

Good morning, my friends! We find ourselves in Whitehorse this morning. Yesterday turned into a banner day. It started with a short and scenic day of driving, followed by a visit to a quilt shop, followed by trip to Miles Canyon, which has been called the Grand Canyon of the Yukon. I'll save the quilt shop and Miles Canyon for separate posts. (I have too many pictures.) This morning I'll tell you about the day's drive.

First, from the list of Random Things I Noticed, the bread clips in Canada are made of cardboard. With the overabundance of plastic in the world, this makes such good sense. Thank you, Canada, for being so smart and ecofriendly.

Okay, and so we left early. The weather in Whitehorse was supposed to be at its best yesterday. We wanted to arrive early so that we could spend the day in the sunshine. There is rain in the forecast for today. Starting out, we could see Teslin Lake ahead and the peaky peaks of some distance mountains.

We first crossed over the Teslin River Bridge. It had weirdly short guardrails. We thought a big gust of wind could easily blow someone over the side.

There's the river as we crossed over.

Here's a little blurb about it from the Milepost.

I wasn't able to capture an image from the side, but I found this one in the public domain.

(Image credit: "Alaska Highway Bridge" by Chad Teer from Coquitlam, 

Canada is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

Also, I wanted to show you how Teslin Lake looks on the map. It's long and narrow, like a river that has wandered into a basin and then filled it.

Continuing on...we saw more mountain vistas. The mountains are beautiful here.

They teased us at times. We can see taller mountains off in the distance, but the full range has not yet come into view.

We passed through the tiny town of Atlin.

Here's what the Milepost tells us.

We were aware of bicycle activities in this area. There is an enthusiastic group of cyclers who participate in races and group tours. Just past Atlin, we came across a pack of them. There were a few stragglers pedaling behind as well. One man, an apparent paraplegic, was pedaling with his hands. Yikes.

Continuing on, we passed by Marsh Lake.

It's fed by the Yukon River.

It's a pretty area here.

Eventually, we crossed over the Yukon River Bridge.

Here we go.

We were a little ahead of check-in time at our final destination, and so we killed some time by pulling off at a rest stop where we could see the Marsh Lake Dam.

Here's what the Milepost told us about the dam and the river.

Continuing on, we had some pretty views of the Yukon River.

And eventually, we reached our final destination of Whitehorse.

Checking in at the office, we noticed some WWII vintage vehicles at the entrance. I'm imagining these were put to use in the building of the Alcan.

Once we were set up, I wasted no time getting in the Jeep for a visit to the local quilt shop. I'll say more about that in a separate post. This was the sign on the outside of the building.

On my way back from the quilt shop, I stopped off to see the S. S. Klondike.

Here's what the Milepost tells us about the Klondike. Sorry for the blur. I think you can still read it. No need to adjust your eyeglasses.

We had some "life" things to take care of. We got our filthy Jeep washed. The poor Jeep is being towed behind the camper. It was so dirty, we couldn't see out any of the windows. (We'd washed the windshield and the back to make it driveable, but it was still embarrassingly dirty.) Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen such a dirty car. It was so caked in road grime we couldn't even tell what color it is any more. Now...phew. Clean as a whistle.

Leaving the car wish, we stopped off here to pick up a t-shirt for Erik. We might have had a meal there, but it's strictly a brewery. They only served snacks. The t-shirt is great though. I especially wanted this one because it says, "Beer Worth Freezin' For." (I'd show you the whole thing, but it's a surprise for Erik, and I think he's following along.)

Next stop was Miles Canyon. We wanted to get there during the good weather. I'll tell you more about that in tomorrow's post. Prepare to be gobsmacked by the color of the water and the beauty of the place.

We needed a few things from the grocery store, and so we drove back into town. Along the way, we passed by the world's largest wind vane. This is a part of the Yukon Transportation Museum. (We're planning to visit the museum today.) But here's the wind vane. It's on a pivot so that it turns.

Here's a short video showing it in motion. You'll begin to see movement a few seconds into the video. If you can't see the video, then click right here.

And, finally, you know it's a banner day when I can get both a refrigerator magnet AND a shot glass. I picked these up in the RV park gift shop.

So, except for a visit to the museum, we have a day of rest planned for ourselves. We also need to get some more ice cream. We're completely out, and you know...uncertain times require ice cream. Also, I'll be back a little later to tell you about the quilt shop.