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Thursday, March 02, 2006
Another Trip To Whitehorse
Never in my life did I expect that I would take a weekend trip to Whitehorse. I mean, whitehorse? Who goes there for the weekend? - but then I also never expected to live this far North either.
Well, this past weekend, Lyndsay and I headed North to Whitehorse for the second time. This trip didnt really have any reason behind it, just an excuse to get out of town for a bit. Didn't expect to have the adventure we did. (as minor as it was) On the drive up, a couple of hours North of Dease Lake, we came across a herd of Caribou. There were probalby close to around 2 dozen of them hanging out in the road. Before we could get the camera out, they were long gone, off into the woods. In the middle of the road there was a piece of antler. We stopped and Lyndsay got out and took it. Not sure what on earth we are going to do with it, but we have it none-the-less. Shortly after the herd of Elk, about 10 minutes South of Junction 37, there was a huge Semi in the ditch. Not sure why I am bothering to mention it, but it was interesting :) We stopped to gas up at the Junction. Convieniently the station was out of gas! I asked the worker, and he said we could head towards Watson Lake for fuel, or heading North, the next station was about 60km's away. We had more than enough fuel to get that far, so didnt worry about it, and kept on our way. Turns out the next gas station was actually more like 100 km's down the road, AND it was closed for the season! We were still about 120 km's from Testlin, and running very low on gas! We did have a 1 gallon jerry can in the back of the car, but even with that, we figured, if lucky, we would have exactly enough gas to get to Testlin... and by the time we would get there, around 8:30pm, it would be very likely that the stations would be closed! Luckily for us, we had forgotten about Swift River, and the station there was open! Just under a quarter tank to go. No running out of fuel today! When we decided to go to Whitehorse we had no idea that it was the Sourdough Rendezvous. Good thing we booked a hotel room in advance! This was a huge festival with snow carving, dog shows, street hockey, and more. Saturday afternoon, we even saw Rick Mercer filming for his show! At one point he asked the audience to do a 'wave' for the show. (We'll be at the end of the wave when it aires!") The snow sculptures were incredible, but it was much too cold to say outside and enjoy them, at -30, we lasted only a short while. Long enough to take a look and eat a Caribou Smokie. :) While in Whitehorse we took the time to head up to the hotsprings. One thing about Dease Lake that I really miss, is the lack of a pool. Heading out of town brings a welcome visit for a swim and a hottub. Saturday morning we found out that the outlet we had the car plugged into didnt work! The car was a huge pain to start, and when it finally turned over, the throttle was stuck! Reving at around 4,000 rpm, I shut off the car and popped the hood. Manually I adjusted the throttle (with some effort, as it was frozen in place). Went back and started the car, this time revving it up past the red line. Whoops, turned it the wrong way. Quickly shut off the car, manually turned the throttle the opposite direction, fired it back up, and it was at a nice purr. We left the car running and went for breakfast accross the street. After an hour long warm up all was back to normal. The trip home was relatively eventless, clear rods, beautiful day, and smooth sailing. When we hit about the same point on Highway 37, the same herd of Caribou was standing around on the road again. No time to get out the camera before they took off. Later on shortly down the road, we ran into a few more, this time we got a quick photo, even though it wasnt that great. Better than nothing though! Looking forward to the next trip north! << Return to Blog << Return to DeaseLake.net |
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