Skyy Hotel by Resort Book Whitehorse

... turning point – originally we had planned to head north to mainland Alaska, but due to the delay from our car repairs we had decided that because it was a 2,500km side loop from the rest of our trip, it made the most sense to omit. Hopefully we will make it there one day!

So, we joined the Alcan (Alaska/Canada) Highway heading south-east instead of northwest. The history behind the construction of the highway is interesting - it was deemed a necessary overland link ...

... in every direction. Some treed, some rock faced, some red dirt like the desert, and some covered in snow - and you could see all of that at the same time. Lakes the most turquoise blue colour from the glacier waterfalls, just stunning. Most of the ride I saw there quietly in awe. (and for me to be quiet...well..you know it must've been incredible)
I had hopes of seeing bears but we didn't today, but that's ok. The scenery more ...

... to the coach for dinner, we stopped to see Miles Canyon. This narrow canyon on the Yukon upstream from Whitehorse was a navigation problem of rapids and eddies until they built the dam in town. We are having trouble with directions of the Yukon River, since it flows south to north through the Yukon, then west into Alaska.

The Frantic Follies are a not to be missed vaudeville show that has been running for ...

... take the railway to Skagway for the day. I had said I have seen enough mountains and now I am going by rail. Go figure! Should be fun though and we are told the views are breathtaking. I will fill you in on that tomorrow. We do have internet here at this campground and we will probably leave here Saturday. Alot to see and do around here. More later!

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” (Mark Twain) June 28 The quote above just about sums up the why of our year + long travels. May had us skiing one day and paddling the next with the odd hike thrown in. Friends from Canmore, Mike Coppang and Burke Duncan flew ...

... see stone grafitti. We will see this hillside grafitti through the Yukon and into Alaska. Many of the hillsides are graded on either side of the road to make a perfect area to leave a message, and the writing material - the stones - are provided by nature. We see people's names, heart shapes, and even a martini glass as we go. We stopped only for fuel at Watson Lake so Val had to snap pictures of the signpost forest on the fly so to ...

... direction. Everyone marvels at the extra daylight. The locals say this happens every year (the marvelling part...). The snow still keeps coming. We are at approx 2x the normal snowpack. There are fears of localized flooding on some rivers and lakes once spring hits. The snowpack is very similar to the prairies where we used to call it sugar snow. It's very granular like sugar and isn't consolidated. Ski , snowmobile, or walk off the packed trail and you end up ...

... one wants. By the time we got around to registering all the courses were full so we were out of luck. We went on the wait list for Over 50 Weight Training and they decided to add an extra class. It turns out the course really is a circuit training type class using dumbbells and exercise balls. I figure I qualify as the former so the course should be a success. Odds are good as I'm the only guy in the class..... :) The course takes place at the Canada ...

... a lot of Malamute complaining as I boosted her up over a few gnarly spots. Along the route lay remnants of the Gold rush. There are huge steel cables which were used in the overhead tramways to haul gear over the summit. It is so hard to believe that the Rush lasted less than 4 yrs and it was done by 1899. We made it up to the Summit 1h after we started. We were very lucky with the weather as it was overcast; threatening rain, but we had no low clouds or fog. If it's ...

... hair. We napped and then we napped some more. We found the cheap junk food places for lunch and took a walk. Whitehorse has a really nice walking trail along the Yukon River, so we found it and followed it for a long ways. Naturally, the shutter was being clicked numerous times. There was also a sternwheeler along the trail--another good photo op. Saw the log cabin skyscraper and church, some ...