Dawson to Whitehorse

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Today was another long bus day, but fortunately, it was a fairly quiet one.

Dinner last night was maple garlic salmon. They put a lot of roasted garlic on it, i scrapped it off and mixed it into my mashed potatoes. Show at Gertie's was good, but not great. A lot of dancing, and that was a bit boring for my taste.

I'm on the computer at the hotel, and it seems to be set to French, so I can't find the question mark.... And i have to keep remembering where the apostrophe is....

We left the hotel a bit before 9 this morning, to go over to the cultural center to watch a 15 minute film they made. They opened up early just for us. That was nice of them.

As I said, today was another long day on the bus. First stop was at Moose Creek, a tiny spot with a shop, some really yummy pastries and some interesting burl wood sculptures. Second stop was a photo op at the Five Finger Rapids. But there aren't five fingers anymore because the government is trying to make it safer on the river (the Yukon) for canoes and such. Lunch was at the Coalhouse Campground. Owner there has a nice set up, and he also gave us a talk about the coal mining they used to do in the area. They don't mine there anymore because there is a fire in the coal mine. You can't really put out a coal mine fire because the coal provides both fuel and oxygen. And flooding the mine isn't much of an option, because the water will just run out of the mountain. We made two stops during the afternoon, one at a roadhouse historic site. The highway we were on was once a coach/sledge trail and so there were roadhouses every 25 miles or so. This one is just a shell, with trees growing inside and no roof, but it is pretty big. Then we stopped at the Braeburn lodge, which is run by a guy who looks like Santa Claus, but has the disposition of the Grinch. Okay, maybe not, but he seemed a bit stuffy. However, he makes really good cinnamon buns. Enormous ones. One couple bought one and shared it around with us. I enjoyed it, but am glad I didn't buy one for myself, since I still have stuff from our trip to the supermarket in Fairbanks.

Got into Whitehorse around 6:15 local time. Did a quick run to a pharmacy near by to get some juice and some ibuprofen, then grabbed Japanese for dinner. Tomorrow is a full day here in Whitehorse and then dinner with a local family who raises mushing dogs. Hope they're expecting us, unlike that poor family in India.

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