Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from September, 2010

Blue Skys in Whitehorse

Of course blue sky today and I am leaving. Oh well what can you do. Next time I will come in better weather hopefully and rent a vehicle and see more around Whitehorse. Well AFTER I do the sled dog thing that is. It's been a good trip and have enjoyed it. Slippery underfoot this morning when I walked downtown to get breakfast. A dusting of snow overnight. Will be taking the bus to the airport because I am cheap. I really hate taking taxis - don't ask me why. It's just not the money - most taxi drivers creep me out. Trust me I am not a person who is afraid of many things and I am not a germ phobic of any kind but just prefer NOT to take taxis. I've had bad experiences with taxi drivers ripping me off and I don't trust them generally. Although there are always the exceptions. Having problems with internet explorer on my netbook - can't answer emails or get on Facebook and it's not the pop up blocker and on Google Chrome I can't figure out how t

More snow!

Well it is melting pretty well as soon as it hits the ground but it's still SNOW. So this morning I walked over to the Chocolate Claim and had a muffin and coffee then on to the bus exchange where I took two busses to different areas of the city just because....the bus driver was doing both routes (they do different ones during one shift which is interesting) so I only paid one fare for both. Got to see their beautiful Canada Games Centre - from the outside anyway. Had some hot soup at a nice coffee shop - they have such neat coffee shops here. Then took the bus to the Barengia centre - the bus driver was kind enough to drop me across the street from the centre. I enjoyed the centre - all about the area of land that was formed during the ice age between Russia and North America and the animals that lived there. (here) So interesting. Then walked over to the airport to get the bus back to town and had a lovely lamb dinner at the kebabery. Then after I got bavck here Ang

What's that yellow thing in the sky?

Yep the sun finally came out today...well for a few hours anyway. It's disappeared behind loads of clouds now but while it was out it was wonderful. I went to the Baked Cafe again this morning and had a cheese and ham croissant warmed up and a big cup of coffee...yum. Then I headed out on the TransCanada trail in a different direction than last time. I walked for about an hour along the Yukon River until the trail came to an abrupt stop with a sign saying "contaminated area". Hmmm.....So I turned around and walked back along the trail for a bit. Did a detour over to Superstore and ahem..took care of business...and then carried on along 4th Avenue which is the main drag through downtown. I visited the Pioneer Cemetery and walked through a cute little neighbourhood park and got some good views of the hills/mountains. My cameras were very busy. I was starting to get a bit peckish so stopped at a hotel restaurant and had some Rye toast with peanut butter and headed

Busy day

Well here I am back at the hostel after a very busy but fun day. Woke up to more snow coming down but it did stop. I had breakfast at a place called The Baked Cafe - had coffee and a breakfast panini which was egg, cheese and ham. Very good. At 10 I headed over to the MacBride museum where the walk box was. Sue, the cs mgr there was very friendly - gave her my box of chocolates for the staff. After clearing up stuff in the walk box I stamped my books and headed off. It was slow going in town as I stopped to take photos of the many beautiful murals in town, the log cabin "skyscraper", log church, etc. Walked by the SS Klondike, an old river boat used until 1955 and now a Heritage site. Walked over a bridge to the other side of the Yukon river and walked along the Millenium trail to the fish ladder. Unfortunately it is now closed so everything is blocked off and couldn't see a thing. I did get a glimpse of Schutka lake. Then off on another trail through the Riv

SNOW SNOW GO AWAY

Yes it is snowing here - way too early. Even the natives aren't happy as it normally doesn't snow until late October. Of course it will melt but that doesn't help me - rain forecast for tomorrow and the rest of my stay here. Oh goodie...and I get to walk 11 km in it tomorrow. I may do a bit and do the rest on Sunday/Monday we shall see how I feel. I had such hopes of doing lots of hiking here and now it looks like indoor activities. Oh well what can you do. I cried when I left Muktuk kennels - I loved it there and plan to go back in 18 months to do some mushing. I hope my Sweety, Destiny, Mischief, Shelby & Talitha are still there. Poor old Lady (15 years old) and Terror will have gone to the big sled race in the sky. I loved it there and got so many doggie kisses - it was great! Today Frank and I walked down to the Takhini river with the dogs and it was amazing - they were so happy to be free and raced all over the place. Frank took some photos of me wit

Howling

Forgot to mention that while I was out Falcon who was sitting on his kennel started howling and everyone started howling....it was very beautiful. It was quite the experience to be standing in the middle of them all. Did I say I love it here??? :)

Doggies galore

Taking a warm up break - snowing today very gently. Am loving this....the dogs are great and love having cuddles. Letting my cameras warm up - my Nikon was doing strange things so hope it's the cold. Frank Turner, the owner of the kennels has been in the Yukon Quest 24 times and won in 1995 He is so interesting and has lots of good stories to tell. All his dogs are very much loved and every name has an interesting story behind it. Next up is a walk to the river with the dogs (not all 130 I don't think!) which should be great. I am cozy and warm in the lodge. What a fantastic experience this has been...already thinking of coming back some winter and mushing....no practice sessions today unfortunately. I could be wrong on this but I have a feeling Whitehorse could become my favourite northern haunt. Had some wonderful bread this morning from a bakery downtown - maybe I can grab me some before I head off on Tuesday...yeah right Laurie. Sounds like some great restaurants

Sled dogs howling

yep they are really going at it as it's time for breakfast. Shortly I will be out there helping to feed them. It's been quite the experience. I got all slobbered over and jumped on, luckily they give you clothes to wear. Mine were quite exquisite - a plaid jacket, huge black ski pants and to complete my ensemble animal print wellies!! Oh I do look a sight but no way could you wear your normal clothes without having to wash them right away. It's mucky out there. So mucky that they can't do their training run today - I am cursed! Oh well I still get to go for a walk with them down to the river (which I did on my own yesterday) They were noisy last night so not much sleep but how many times do you get to stay with sled dogs so I am not complaining at all. Last night had a huge meal....arctic char, elk steak & bison sausage with carrots, baked potato and salad. It was HUGE - of coures I paid a huge price too but it was worth it for the experience. Oh think they

I am in doggie land!

It is so awesome - 130 dogs. So I definitely got my doggie fix this afternoon. Love it. Some were friendly and jumping and others just wanted some loving which I was glad to give. The flights were good and I only waited a bit and Frank picked me up. He is the musher who runs this operation - Muktuk. I am staying in the lodge tonight. Very nice but it is "off the grid" so no shower tomorrow as they want you to limit useage. But hey I am with lots of dogs. I walked down to the river which was beautiful. It's dull and overcast but not too cold - snow for tonight. So I spent as much time outside as I could as who knows what tomorrow will bring Well I am a "Rookie for a day" tomorrow which includes a river walk not sure if the dogs are going out for a training run or not as it's very mucky here. So beautiful with mountains in the distance - snow capped of course. And the fall colours. I can only imagine what it would be like on a good weather day -

One last medal

I did the Queen City Half Marathon walk today...first half marathon I've done in three and a half years. Back in the day (2003 to 2007) I did 13 of them. Guess I should have stuck to unlucky 13 as this one was ugly. Of course didn't help that I wasn't trained up properly but I had my worst time ever - over 4 hours which is way worse than I anticipated and the absolute worst ever by a long shot. I had hoped for 3:52 - still a personal worst but better than over 4 hours. It was long and ugly as my foot with the bunion and arthritic big toe decided to act up about km 6 (it was 21 km) and was swollen and so it was a struggle. I was in tears a couple of times when the pain was really bad but I refused to give up. I got asked by course marshalls if I was all right as I hobbled by and I said yes and carried on. As if that wasn't enough my bladder decided to join the party and I had to use the porta potty three times - another "record" for me. I probably l