Friday, July 22, 2011

Yukon + Friends from home = Magic, squared

It seemed unlikely that this great place could get any better, but when we shared it with our pals last week, Yukon magic came bursting out from all over. The dogs got even cuter, the midnight sun in Dawson amazed everyone, the fireweed bloomed... what a wonderful week it was.

After a happy happy reunion at the airport, we headed back to Mt Lorne, and stopped at Kookatsoon Lake for a cold swim.




We all took the dogs for a last walk, and then brought them over to Deb's for the weekend.


Then we started out on Roadtrip #1 to Skagway, Alaska, via the South Klondike Hwy, and stopped at an  'old' favourite, Emerald Lake, and explored a new favourite, the Carcross Desert.



Then we continued along, through BC and then to Alaska, where we spent the night wandering around Skagway and camping over in Dyea.



We returned to Whitehorse on Thursday afternoon, just in time for Colin to get to work at the Fireweed Market, and for Tricia, Sam and I to stroll around downtown, checking out the indoor attractions as the sky poured down with rain. After exhausting our shopping, art and bakery options, we headed for the pub until the sun came out, a few hours and many pints later. The rain didn't get in the way of a great market, and we all got into the local kettle corn in a serious way. We had lots more hours of light after the market wrapped up, so we explored the mossy forest behind our place and had lots of fun times.


Friday morning I was back to work, and the others took the dogs out for a hike along the bottom of Mt Lorne. It was a wet and buggy day, but the mosquito bites were bravely managed with Afterbite, antihistamines and bug spray. And fast walking!



We left Whitehorse on Friday afternoon, and set out for the Dawson City Music Festival, 560km up the North Klondike Hwy. The road is a nice little two-lane adventure, and we had lots of chances to look out over valleys and forests. Far fewer chances to stop at gas stations and other evidence of humanity, though- there are not many people living up in this area.  We managed to find a place that makes enormous cinnamon buns, and a little snack shack, but we motored along and reached Dawson by 11pm.



Our weekend in Dawson City will live on forever in all of the fun memories we all have, including the walks around town to get to the various music venues, drinks at the saloons with real saloon doors, the Friday night dancing to Shout Out Out Out Out and Rich Aucoin, the hippie haven that is the Dawson City River Hostel, ferry rides back and froth across the Yukon river, buying my liquor flask, being in the historic Palace Grand theatre, exploring enormous shipwrecks, and the awesomeness that is the midnight sun at latitude 64 degrees.






We left Dawson at 11pm on Sunday evening so that I could work on Monday, and the drive home was a team effort to be proud of. We took turns driving in the twilight, and sleeping hard when it was our turn for a rest. On Monday afternoon, Sam, Colin and Tricia squeezed another adventure in, and rented kayaks in downtown Whitehorse and made their way downstream to the Takhini Bridge, where I met them after work. They saw more eagles than other people, and ate kettle corn and drank beers as the current carried them along.



Colin BBQ'ed a feast of a Last Supper on Monday night- black bean sweet potato burgers and corn on the cob, and we enjoyed our last little while together. Of course we had picked up the dogs as soon as possible, so they were back with us on Monday night. Our pals were back to Toronto on Tuesday, and we were sad to see our first visit come to an end. Boy, was it ever a wonderful time and packed full of fun. Being with Sam and Tricia again reminded us that distance is no barrier to maintaining good friendships, and we really appreciated them joining us for an adventure here.

Miss you all,
Love Lauren

PS- Here are lots more of the visit photos

Adventures featuring Sam and Tricia and Lauren and Colin and Smiley and Cookie and Alaska and Dawson
Jul 13, 2011
by Lauren and Colin
Photos taken from July 13th to July 19th.
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