Our last night in Canada--Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon Territory.
Such a pretty town and the most populated and modern that we've seen in a few days.
Civilization!
We arrived early enough for Jack and I to visit a museum, for him to get in an evening run
and Shoeless and I to take a long walk.
Lots of neat stuff to see.
Located on the mighty Yukon River, the sternwheelers were the only source of transportation to this town in the late 1800's. The whitewaters of the rapids in this spot were so violent that they appeared as a herd of white horses running and tossing their manes.
Thus the name of the town.
The railroad connected Skagway to Whitehorse in 1900 and the gold-seeking sourdoughs came as a stampede, buying supplies here and continuing to Dawson City on steamer boats,
their pockets empty except for golden dreams.
Lots of gold mining history here with the can-can girls and all.
The Yukon Quest, international dog-musher race, begins in Fairbanks and ends here every Februrary. It's 1,000 miles long so we could estimate how much farther we had to go.
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There's a neat park for kids (and dogs) along the river walk.
It is designed to reflect the life of the city.
Railroads are a big part of Whitehorse nowadays, bringing supplies
and tourists from cruise boats.
Fishing is still a major industry here.
Right in downtown is an area of open grass for tenters.
The colorful flag read "Peace" and the variety of colored tents matched.
The water park along the river was within view of the SS Klondike,
a retired grand old stern-wheeler used as a museum today.
See these kids soaking wet and playing with the water guns?
They were having a ball at 10 pm and the temperature?
Maybe 50 degrees!!
Some tough Canadian blood in those veins.
Kids in the north are tough.
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