Whitehorse

After 6 days of driving, it was time for a rest day, and Whitehorse seems like the perfect place for it. It's the capitol of the Yukon, its most populous city (67,00) and there's lots here to see. The Yukon river runs through it – an amazing body of water, especially for someone from New Mexico where the Rio Grande flows about 500 feet wide and about 3" deep. The Yukon is a very "Grande" river.

The trip here was long, and somewhat eventful in that I saw lots more animals. First up was another black bear, but I've seen lots of them and didn't take a photo.  A bit further on, I came upon a whole herd of buffalo, on both sides of the road, and as I watched, two of them crossed the road!!  This herd had quite a few babies, as you can see in the photo.

I had been told that the least expensive (??) gas was in a place called Contact Creek – a slightly wider place in the road with a gas station where the guy came out and filled my tank for me.  About 20 minutes before that, I came upon 3 bears on the side of the road, but these looked different. Grizzlies!! The difference was obvious, from the color of their fur to the shape of their back. I was surprised to see 3 of them together, thinking they were loners, but when I asked the man at the gas station about it, he said it was a sow with 2 cubs. Those were mighty big cubs!!  But he said they stay with Mom for 3 years, and that she would be "dumping them in another month and starting all over again."

The first crossing of the Yukon was at the little hamlet of Teslin, but the bridge was huge! And it had the kind of surface that made it hard to keep the car going straight across it. It was some kind of metal grating and I was really glad that there were no other cars on the bridge at the same time.

Right now my car is filthy.  The dust on the road (there were several long gravel patches today) is pretty bad, and mixed with spitting rain, they really mess up a car!  Today I have to find a car wash somewhere, plus I have to get the bugs off the front before I can't see the bumper any more. And maybe I'll find a diet Coke somewhere, too!   Haven't had one for two days now.

It I wanted to tell you a little about gas.  I knew it would be expensive and I was right. I've stopped looking at the price when I fill the car up, because I just don't want to know!!  But when I got ½ tank a couple of days ago (I don't let it get much under ½ tank because stations are few and far between – sometimes 70 miles)it was $66 Canadian – and the dollars are just about even. Whew, glad I don't do this all the time!!

After a day today in Whitehorse, I'm going to drive just a couple of hours to the Kluane Provincial Park and spend some time at Destruction Bay. My sister Jane said she thought it was about the most beautiful place in the world – I'm going to check it out. Then it's on to Fairbanks, hopefully on Friday, and spend Saturday there, and on to Denali next Sunday.