Day 18
Saturday, June 25
Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

Another beautiful day in the Yukon!. It is 55 degrees at wake-up and we are expecting upper 70's this afternoon.
Today, the Adventure Caravan Staff fixed breakfast for us. We had saugage gravy and biscuits, fruit and orange juice. A great way to begin the day - no cooking!!

After breakfast we caravaned to Lake Schwatka for a river cruise on the Yukon River. The Yukon River is the 3rd longest river in North America and it flows north into the Bearing Sea. It isn't a very deep river in many areas and is also quite narrow in places. Our cruise was on the Lake Schwatka River Cruise boat. About 30 of us went on the charterd cruise. We started out in of all places - Lake Schwatka! The Yukon River is dammed south of Whitehorse by a hydro-electric dam. The result is a large mirror smooth lake. There were several airplanes with pontoons on the lake in the area where our cruise began. One was loading for takeoff, but we didn't see it take off. The boat allowed 15 people to be upstairs and outside while the remainder were downstairs in the cabin. You could see just as well downstairs, but we still traded places 1/2 way through the cruise. We could also go out on the little deck in front of the captain's deck. That's where Jenna and I spent a lot of time. It was beautiful!

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

After crossing the lake we entered 10 mile canyon. 10 mile canyon is a canyon that is 10 miles long - duh!, but only 70 ft. wide in most places. This was the scene of many shipwrecks during the gold rush days. Whirlpools and swift rapids make it an especially dangerous place. A Bald Eagle posed for pictures and flew from tree to tree on both legs of the trip. We were able to get some good pictures.
After the trip we went to town to the Klondike Rib and Salmon Bake. It is a neat little place to eat in Whitehorse. They are only open from Mother's Day until Labor Day, but they do a landoffice buisiness during that time. We had fish and chips (halibut) and sourdough bread pudding with ice-cream and caramel sauce - YUM!! After lunch we caught the trolly by the river and rode it from one end of town to the other and back. It wasn't the best trolly ride, but we had as driver and conductor two college students on summer break who were very talkative and informative about Whitehorse and the trolly. We enjoyed the short respite.

Bruce and Roni asked us to go to dinner with them before the Frantic Follies. We went to a pub in downtown Whitehorse and had nachos and beer. After the lunch we had neither Jenna nor I was hungry.

The Follies was a good show. I would imagine that 300 people were wedged into the theater for an entertaining performance. There were singers, dancers, musicians, comedians, and of course Can-Can girls! We thoroughly enjoyed the program.

After the show we planned to go have a drink with a group who were celebrating one couple's anniversary. Unfortunately everything was closed! We were all confused because it appeared to be about 8:00. It was however almost 11:00. It's daylight here 20 hours every day this time of year!

We returned to the trailer and I started getting things outside ready to leave. We planned to leave at 7:15 in the morning so I wanted to get a headstart. When I reached under the trailer to pull the galley tank release, it came off in my hand. Nothing to do but get under the trailer and fix it - at 11:30 P.M. Fortunately, it was still daylight so I could see what I was doing.

Tomorrow we leave for Dawson City - 328 miles Northwest. We need to get an early start because we are leaving the Alaska Highway for the Klondike Highway and it is not as good a road - lots of frost heaves and construction.
I;ll let you know how it goes in tomorrow's report. Till then - Happy Trails!