Whitehorse – Yukon Territories
Finally, we’ve made it to Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon Territories. I know this is hard to believe but, TV was invented before my formative years and one of the shows my family would watch was Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. “On King! On you huskies!” (That’s all kind of weird now because if he had a horse (Rex), so what did he need a dog sled for? And, how do you pick one of eight dogs as a favorite and not piss off the rest?). The show was transported from the radio shows of the 40’s. At the time, it was high adventure and we didn’t question authority.
Today we explored Whitehorse and hard as I tried, I didn’t see anyone dressed in the iconic Red Mounties uniform. Nary a one was in sight; only men and women dressed in blue, driving RCMP vehicles. Disappointed, we returned to camp to drown our sorrows, then Janet and Tim, another Casita couple we’ve met along our journey, showed us a photo of her posing with . . . yes, Sergeant Preston. It was taken at the gay pride festival held in the downtown park . . . and we missed it. I’m devastated.
Compared to our recent stops, Whitehorse is a big city . . . well, a city big enough to support 22,000 residents. They even have a commercial airport. I can verify this because our camp is at the end of the runway. Fortunately only two 737s come in and leave each day, one in the morning and one in the evening. There aren’t many glamour shops, but you can probably get any thing you need here, except a starter relay for a Mercedes-Benz.
It’s located along the Yukon River which is either the third or fourth largest (depends upon your source) drainage system in North America. Even this far from the sea, the water flows with enough volume that all of Arizona could be turned into a golf course with the amount of water flowing by the old riverboat dock each day.
The architecture is a mix of new functional boxes mixed with rustic homes and shops, so there is are historic and new buildings, something that I’ve missed in the last couple of towns we’ve stayed. There is a real art community shown by murals depicting historic scenes on buildings. My second art clue is that the a lot of the historic sites restored to ‘like new’ or better condition. That takes a lot of resources that, I imagine a town this size couldn’t afford without a strong volunteer organization.
For a town this size, there are a lot of good restaurants. Last night, we chose the top pick from TripAdvisor.com called Klondike Rib and Salmon BBQ. I don’t really want to do reviews in this blog, but it’s worth a mention. Good ribs yes, but you can get them anywhere. BBQ salmon . . . let’s put it this way; Queen Anne hates fish and her top hate is salmon. We split the ribs and salmon dish (their special) and I made her try a bite. She didn’t finish her ribs and asked to try more of my salmon. That’s strong testimony. Well recommended, but expect a line out the door if you come.
Fred and I are still tied at zip apiece, so tomorrow we’re going to toss lines at the Yukon River. With that flow, I don’t expect to have much luck, but what the heck; it beats doing laundry.
jw