View of the river from the Millenium Trail foot bridge over the shoulder of an exceptionally cute Whitehorse resident

Good morning. I am sitting in Canadian Tire while they do an oil change and look for Dempster damage on Vincent, and guess what? They have a full range wireless service here so I can use the sitting time to connect with you.

No fall colours this far south yet

As I drove here I was impressed by Whitehorse in the summer. I love it here in the winter. People embrace the cold and dark in such a big way with festivals, art and outside activities but in the summer the whole place goes crazy with tourists. I quick scan of the license plates int the parking lot here shows vehicles from all over western Canada and the USA. (The woman in the Dawson City visitor centre said that not many people come from east of Alberta in Canada. I wonder why that is?) If you listen, the predominant tourist accent is German and Erik tells me, “not German Mom, Austrian.”  I am sure there are lots of Germans too. The streets are busy with RV’s and trailers of all makes and model. Hundreds of them and I am not exaggerating.  It makes crossing the street difficult and line ups at the grocery stores long. As a tourist, I love the accommodations made here for us, free tourist parking, lots of information, friendly people etc. As a person who loves visiting here, I find it congested and frustrating. Funny to sit on both sides of the fence

Whitehorse below the stairs

I am ready to move on. As much as I love visiting the kids and grand baby,  I am restless to continue my travels as long as I can. I have however changed my focus for a time. My uncle in Vancouver is having some sudden and critical surgery. Because I am in the area, I can help and I am flying to Vancouver Monday to be with the family and offer my hands where ever possible. Karma is coming with me. I know Vancouver challenges her but I am sure she will be better for it. Vincent is going to stay here and help Desiree and Dave for a few weeks. I am so grateful to be in a place where I can take advantage of Desiree’s position at the airline for standby tickets (thank you Air North and Joe Sparling for their policies about parents of employee’s flying) and of course to be in a geographical position to do something that I could never have dreamed of from home.

Cliff stairs

My blog will probably change as I settle in one place for a while but I will keep you posted. I think that stopping for a length of time will give me time to sit down with my adventure so far and do some processing of the experiences and materials that I have collected. I hope to use the time well and maybe write some articles that I have been sitting on.

Keep posted for that.