Whitehorse to Watson Lake

June 28

We visited the radiator shop first thing this morning. They can fix it but don't have the part.


It will be flown in from Vancouver on tonight's freight flight. Hope this works! We went back to the Beringia Center to watch their longer movie, a BBC production. Like most things Auntie Beeb does, it was very good. The rest of the day was chores, always put off till there's absolute need or absolutely nothing else to do. We took a few more photos and went to a bank ATM, which ate my card, but an employee retrieved it for me. We spent quite a while in the library. It's a pretty nice one, but not a single newspaper from outside the Territory. The wifi there is very slow, and VERY intermittent. We did manage to publish the blog and catch up on email. I felt sorry for the girl in the next carrel, who was trying to research a paper for summer school. We food shopped, did laundry and after supper Bill washed the van. Sounds like a day at home!

June 29
The radiator is fixed!


We arrived bright and early for our 8am appointment at the Yukon Radiator Shop so were on the road by 11am.


It was even at least $200 less than the same repair would have been in the USA. Mechanics here are unionized and all get the same hourly rate and mark-up. Reminds me a lot of friends who go to Canada to buy their meds and have dental work, etc, done

Most of the day we just drove through thick mixed forest, mostly spruce. In some areas there are stands of what the Milepost book calls "drunken" trees.





These trees are all tilted at very strange, gravity-defying angles. Unfortunately I didn't get a good photo of them farther north, where they are very prevalent, but hopefully you can get the idea from the accompanying photos. Their "public drunkenness" is all the fault of the permafrost. Because only the top few inches of it thaws each year, the tree roots are shallow. The trees are very tall and thin so they list easily. The permafrost thaws unevenly, then the ground becomes soggy and soft, even sinking a bit in places. This is why some trees in an area stand straight while some are leaning.

We said goodbye to the Yukon River (sadly) and crossed the Continental Divide.


At this point on the continent the waters flow either into the Yukon River watershed and ultimately the Pacific Ocean at the Bering Sea, or into the Mackenzie River watershed, and finally into the Arctic Ocean at the Beaufort Sea. We saw the "other" White Mountains


and lots of Yukon graffiti.





The fireweed, the Yukon's provincial flower,


is in bloom here in the south, but overall there are a lot less wildflowers than there were farther north. We also paid a short stop to the Teslin Tlingit Heritage Center and admired their totem poles.


There is one for each clan- Raven, Eagle, Frog, Beaver, and Wolf.




We are outside Watson Lake at a provincial park, and are having a truly Canadian treat as our cocktail time snack. Well, maybe it's a treat. Potato chips, thick-cut, Ballpark Hot Dog flavor.


They really do taste like a hot dog with mustard and relish. The wonders of chemistry! Not sure I'd buy them again, but you have to try stuff at least once. Note to Joe McMullen- perhaps the answer for a vegetarian who admits to missing hot dogs?


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