The final leg to Whitehorse (Day 19)

We had a band of grayjays at our camp this morning. None were quite as bold as Petey from Whiteshell Park, but they were still pretty adamant that we may have some nibbles for them. No luck though.

Today was the final leg of our trip- we were getting to Whitehorse or bust! The wind had subsided a bit, so the drive was a little better, but not long in the car the rain finally started. We saw a bunch more buffalo this morning, right up close to the car (but not too close)

and enoug caribou that the mad photo-snapping had subsided. The fog from the rain had settled into the mountain tops, but made for some really great views.

We stopped for our lunch break in the town of Teslin YK which conveniently happened to be home of the Northern Wildlife Museum.

I'm not usually one to wander around a room full of taxiderm, creepily life-like dead animals, but I've been pleasantly surprised by each of the museums I've been to on this trip. And, I have to hand it to Teslin, I think the get the gold star (I know I said the same things about Grande Cache, but I think Teslin has them beat). They have scene diaoramas set up that are some life-like, and the animals are preserved so well that it looks more like a movie set than a taxidermy display. I was really impressed.

Our next stop was Johnson's Crossing YK. The village basically consists of one shop, which is a gas bar, convenience store and, most importantly, bakery. Their ad in the vistor's guide I had claimed they had "World Famous Cinnimon Buns" and since we had already sampled the best in the Galactic Cluster in Tetsa River, I figured we should really stop and compare. So we did.

When the last bite was done and the icing sugar wiped clean from the plate, I think we both agreed that Johnson Crossing had the best cinnamon buns we've come across. They were scandalous huge, fluffy and super fresh. I hear there's one more stop on the cinnamon bun war tour, but this one is north of Whitehorse. Maybe a later side trip :)

With our cinnamon bun bloated bellies hardly started digesting, we finally came upon the sign we had been waiting for:

We had made it. We were finally in Whitehorse! And, the mountains are right here too. The downtown core appears to be on one side of the Alaska Highway, in a canyon right by the river (hauling groceries up that is going to be fun). We turned off the other side of the Highway to our new summer home in the Hillcrest district.

And, the branch where we'll be working for the summer isn't more that 200m into the industrial park from our apartment. So, it looks like we're all set. We're both pretty excited to finally be here and we can't wait to get out of the car (although Gus has been a star) and explore. The summer is looking pretty awesome.