Woohoo Whitehorse (Day 20)

So our NOLS-issued apartment is pretty good. I guess Whitehorse used to be a military town and the low-rise apartment buildings where we're staying would likely have been for the privates. The walls are a little thin (we could lie in bed and listen to the movie playing in the living room of the people downstairs) and the power isn't turned on until Tuesday (a slight extension to our camping...), but everything looks pretty good.

We've unpacked our gear (speeded by the fact that we didn't actually bring that much) and off-loaded the first pick of the furniture that NOLS keeps for staff and we've pretty much ready to settle in. We both start work on Monday and wandering around the branch warehouse, it looks like a really fun place to be. As the Equipment Manager, I have my own little "store" and a skid of MEC gear (a taste of home) just waiting for me to tear into. Dan's got a huge area for all the rations storage and to his delight, there is no food prep at this branch so he won't be on the hook to cook :)

We had a celebratory feast at Sanchez restaurant last night. It's this awesome little Mexican restaurant with menus in Spanish and a fantastic latin American ambiance. Total throwback to South America, so I was ecstatic! We had a fantastic meal of authentic mexican food washed down with a Corona and lime. Ahhhh. Life is good :)

The weather was overcast and rainy again today, but we hopped on our bikes, braved the descent into the canyon to downtown and went exploring. My first impressions of Whitehorse are that it seems to have a tonne of really cool shops and a fantastic bike trail system. People are really friendly and super helpful. We grabbed a map from the local bike shop and hope to make some time tomorrow to do a little riding and exploring. The Yukon River runs along the downtown waterfront and the buildings all have a very unique, goldrush-town vibe. And, the best part, there's a Farmer's Market! Local food and goodies every Thursday afternoon. Sweet!

We also went to the library and got hooked up with temporary resident lending cards. We're officially Whitehorse residents...sort of. Seems there is a pretty big transient population here- the guy from the bike shop has only been here 3 days (and his girlfriend is from Almonte ON) and every person we've stopped to ask for directions has just moved here too!

We managed to pick up some great grabs at the Salvation Army and find some food that we can cook on the camp stove for the weekend, until the power comes on. Hopefully the weather will be good tomorrow and we can hope on our bikes and explore some of the recreation trails.

This road trip has been a fantastic adventure. Some 6538km later, we managed not to kill each other (or even come close in fact) and we've been privy to see a smorgasboard of the diverse landscapes across Canada. A trip like this totally makes you appreciate how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful country. And although the camping was really fun (and I can say neither of us really tired of it), we're both also happy to stay put for a while. And I'm sure Gus will appreciate the rest and celebratory oil change :)

Hello Whitehorse!