DESTINATION: THE ALASKAN BORDER
| COMPLETED - 2274 miles=(3659 kilometers) ⟺ 312 miles=(502 kilometers) - STILL TO GO |
We departed our lakeside campsite around 9:00AM, but not before I spotted a fox waltzing through the campground. Sorry I didn't get a photo and he was so quick Tricia didn't even get a look at him.
Once we were on the road we had another new wildlife sighting, a porcupine was meadering along the right hand shoulder of the Alaska Highway, but I didn't say anything to Tricia about getting the camera ready because from far off it just looked like a dark rock on the edge of the road. So again, no photo, sorry!
Around 11:00AM we arrived at Wolf Creek Campground which is located about 10 miles south of the capitol city of Whitehorse. A full 75% of the entire population of the Yukon Territory lives in Whitehorse and it's surrounding communities, so it's not unexpected that this campground is one of the hardest to find a vacant campsite in.
We got lucky and found the last neighboring pair of campsites in the entire campground of 46 sites. We paid for our site and Winston's and then drove ROVER and THE POD into town and to take care of a few chores.
First we ate lunch at a Boston Pizza Restaurant like Tricia has been jonesing to do for quite some time now. Let's just say we were both disappointed with our pizzas, we won't be back.
Next we found a service station that offers a "FREE dump station" with "FREE fresh drinking water", as long as you're a paying customer buying their propane or gasoline. We filled one of our 30lb. propane tanks for $34USD (which is very reasonably priced) and then emptied and filled our holding tanks on THE POD for FREE.
Next up groceries! We first tried the Walmart, but they had a very limited selection on just about everything we were looking for today. But one thing they did have was a pretty fancy entrance into their in-store McDonald's Restaurant.
Fortunately for us we didn't have to look far for another grocery store because literally right across the street was a Sav-On-Foods Store with a much better selection for us.
After that is was back to the campground to finally detach from THE POD and set up home for the next three nights. It was after 4:00PM when we returned and soon after VerJean and Winston arrived after checking out a few things of their own around town.
Our Campsite #30 at Wolf Creek Campground outside of Whitehorse, YT
Someone recently spent some time constructing a tipi in the woods behind our campsite.
WEDNESDAY - In addition to having a wonderful lunch at a restaurant called the "Dirty Northern Bastard" with our friends Winston and VerJean we explored the downtown section of Whitehorse today. The restaurant is named after a British football chant (that's soccer to us Americans) to try and anger their opponent, similar to taunting in the NFL, which has been outlawed.
Did you see that? That plane damn near landed on top of ROVER!
Before going downtown we stopped to check out an Atlas Obscura destination that is right along side of the Alaska Highway as it passes through town. It's the
World's Largest Windvane and it's the size of a DC-3 airplane, that's because it is a DC-3 airplane. Or course the plane is not pushed around by the wind, it's computer driven motor takes care of that task, but it does match the windsocks located behind the Yukon Transportation Museum at the airport.
Another Atlas Obscura destination we checked out were the Log Cabin Skyscrapers in downtown Whitehorse. In 1947 Martin Berrigan built five of these unique buildings to rent rooms to people relocating to the Yukon. In 1970 three of his buildings were torn down to make room for the parking lot you see, fortunatly two were saved by designating them an Historic Site.
This is the 16x16 foot two-story edition.
This three-story edition didn't receive electricity until 1964.
THURSDAY - We awoke to our first night of subfreezing temperatures since entering Canada this morning
(30°F), but that's not going to keep us checking out our sightseeing plans for today.
First up is to take a scenic drive through Miles Canyon located on the south side of Whitehorse.
A view of the Yukon River from the top of Miles Canyon Scenic Drive.
Next up involves a trip to the Public Utilities Building on the corner of the Alaska Highway and Two Mile Hill Road, the only road that presently leads into downtown Whitehorse. The road on the opposite side of town suffered a landslide this winter and is currently still closed to through traffic.
Located behind the building in a beautiful metal art sculpture appropriately titled, Whitehorse. The metal used to create this artwork were all pieces of donated scrap metal from citizens all around the Yukon Territory.
This fire fighter sculpture is also located behind the municipal building.
The SS Klondike II paddlewheeler ship on the edge of town is currently being restored and is a Canadian National Historic Site. It's not quite ready for public tours, but they do offer a short documentary film about the ships history and service.
The SS Klondike II as we saw it today.
We also watched a juvenile bald eagle fishing for lunch in the Yukon River.
Speaking of lunch, it's time to meet up with Winston and VerJean at a restaurant downtown named the Klondike Rib and Salmon. It's housed in the two oldest buildings still in use in the town of Whitehorse. Since 1900 when the buildings were first erected it's been home to a bakery, a mail and transport business and a carpenters shop, before sometime in the 1930s becoming the restaurant that occupies the space today.
The larger building is the dining room and smaller one is the kitchen.
This front porch eating area is dog friendly.
Rafter art in the main dining room.
Everywhere you looked there was something grabbing your attention.
The atmosphere, the service and especially the food were all top notch. I ordered a cup of their Halibut Chowder as an appetizer and liked it so much I substituted my french fries for another serving (for a $3 upcharge) when ordering my Kickass Klondike Burger entree, which is a blend of elk, bison and wild boar meat.
Tricia went with their Famous Halibut Fish and Chips, as did Winston and VerJean. Everyone had a cup of chowder after watching me eat mine.
After lunch it was time to visit the highly touted/don't miss Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre, which is a museum dedicated to the history of this region since the last ice age. I was a little dissapointed with what we saw, but as usual the best is not always "the best".
They did have this cool metal art on the outside back porch.
ATTENTION: Tomorrow we'll be moving to a very remote and unpopulated area of the Yukon and then on Sunday crossing the border into Alaska where there will also be no cell service to update this blog. What I'm trying to say is don't worry if you don't hear from us for the next week to ten days. We'll take plenty of photos to share once we reach the town of Valdez.
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Until next time
TWO PEAS
