It is summer in the Yukon

Happy Sunday everyone,

There are a lot of strong indicators that Summer has arrived. Our first summer pilgrims have come and earlier today sadly left (more on this later); we have passed the Solstice (our days are getting shorter from now until December 21); we have been enjoying time off from our jobs- we spent a few ours on the sunny beach at Kookatsoon Lake yesterday with our hottest day during our 15-month tenure here. The temperature got up to 30C, which is 5 degrees warmer then last year's hottest day. After coming back from the beach we had a lazy day under the bug tent, reading Yukon-themed books and playing games. There were a few beverages poured too.

Kookatsoon Lake in Lorne Mountain (not our photo)

Today's sunlight specs for your interest:

		Length of day		Solar noon
Date	Sunrise	Sunset	This day	Difference	Time	Altitude	Distance
							(106 km)
Jun 24, 2012	4:29 AM	11:37 PM	19h 07m 50s	− 40s	2:03 PM	52.7°	152.059

We have not been taking photos lately, so we will  have to steal pictures from the internet while we wait for the postal people to deliver a disc of photos from our first guests of the year, Kevin and Cathy (Lauren's parents). Kev and Cath arrived on the 11th of June and stayed for 14 days. While they were here they got to see the McBride Museum, SS Klondike, eat at the Klondike Rib and Salmon, visit the outdoor market, go for a hospital tour and a fire hall tour, enjoy a midnight sun drive from Whitehorse to Tombstone, toured Dawson City including Diamond Tooth Gertie's and the sternwheeler graveyard. Oh boy, they kept busy- there was also trips to Haines Junction and Sheep Mountain, an overnight in Atlin BC, and a train trip from Carcross to Skagway, Alaska.

(not our photo ago) Cathy and Kevin got to see their first ever grizzly bears on the night drive north on the Klondike Hwy. We saw a sow (mother) and two cubs. We got to watch the cubs wrassling for a few minutes while the sow was eating dandelions on the side of the road.

It was so wonderful to have family here with us- that is something we have really been missing since our trip to Ontario in November. Not being able to go have a short-notice meal with your folks or siblings, or venturing out with some of your old buds is still the hardest part about living in the natural wonderland we have found for ourselves.

Fingers are crossed that we can paddle from Carcross over to
Tagish and onto Whitehorse through Marsh Lake
and Miles Canyon, while Brian is visiting in late July.

After 2 weeks with the Barretts we have what I'm sure will prove to be a quiet house for a week, and then our pals Stephen and Cailey are coming up for a quick visit while they are on this side of the Saskatchewan. We think we will stay close to home when they're here, with some great hiking trips and maybe even a canoe trip if Colin can get around to getting the canoe fiberglassing done. The next morning after Steve and Cailey leave another good pal, Brian, is visiting for a few weeks celebrating the end of anther school year (Brian is a highschool science teacher and close buddies with Evelyn - our super best friend from the Rouge). We think Brian's Yukon Adventure will be out of this world, as he is going to get into behind-the-scenes workings of the Lorne Mountain growing community. We will also have a long weekend with Brian with nothing booked on our calenders, so fingers are crossed for a overnight canoe trip. The thinking was that we could get someone to drive us down to Carcross and we can paddle through to Whitehorse.

Off for some outdoor work!
Love Colin and Lauren

Hello again!

It's not easy to explain why Colin and I are having such a hard time keeping up with the blog right now... we still miss our family and friends and want to keep in touch, there are lots of interesting things to write about, and we still enjoy telling the stories when we get around to it. Maybe part of it is that it feels odd to blog about our regular, everyday lives- this place feels more like home than like a far-off adventure. It's also a bit tough to sit in front of a computer at home, when there are so many great things to do outdoors (especially now that Cookie and Smiley are bike-joring again!). Hopefully we can get back into the habit of writing, or at least convince our visitors this summer to write a few guest-blogs for us. Hope you are all having a good week so far. We're off to Tombstone and Dawson City for the weekend with Mom and Dad Barrett!

Bye for now,
Love Lauren

Lots to do!

We are happily back into our Yukon lives after last weekend's visit to Vancouver. It was a great visit to a beautiful city, and we were lucky to squeeze in lots of delicious meals (Thai, Vietnamese, South Indian, and sushi, of course!), a visit with Steve and Michelle at their nice place in Kitsilano, and fun times with our pal Jesi. We went to MEC to outfit our new canoe with some foam blocks and straps for the car, plus nice new lifejackets and a dry sack backpack for canoe trips. And since the 115-litre dry sack had lots of extra room, we stocked up on sweatshirts and t-shirts from MEC :) There was also a great exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Beat Nation, that we checked out on the rainy holiday Monday

Somehow, we managed to not take any photos of Vancouver! We should have, though- there were tons of stunning blossoming bushes and flowers everywhere, and the deciduous trees were fully leafed out.

The second Fireweed Market of the year was yesterday, and it was a beautifully sunny day to be outside. Colin has been working hard on organizing the weekly workshops, and has a great schedule planned:

Back to work! We will write again this weekend :)

Love Lauren