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| Oh we took advantage of angle parking! |
Whitehorse is home to most of the residents of the Yukon Territory, about 30,000. It has a Costco, Walmart, nice, unique hotels, an airport, multiple grocery stores, a bookstore, car wash, bakery, brewery, ski resort, camping, massive rivera and hot sprints...all the things you need to stay awhile and also to stock up for the remaining 2,500 miles home.
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| Main Street Whitehorse |
I wish, wish, wish we had floated the huge Yukon River. Alas, we needed the time to catch up: laundry, car wash, and groceries. But first, Alligator's Gourmet Grilled cheese at a sunny picnic table next to the river and railroad station. Kris made a road office at Java Connection for most of the day and then wrapped up with snacks and coffee at social, swanky, urban Baked Cafe and Bakery.
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| Craft bread and zero waste at Alpine Bakery |
Robert Service campground looked pretty amazing: walkable or bikeable to town on the river bike path in a nice wooded area. So did Wolf Creek campground which is nicely curated, clean public campground but that was full by the time we rolled through. We chose to stay a bit further up the road at Caribou RV Park which had an onsite restaurant, nice spots for tent camping and fantastic, private, hot and clean showers plus laundry on site.
The rugged residents of northern cities are not accustomed to lightning and thunder. A few good storms- thunderstorms that we love watching from the safety of our porch at home- rolled into Whitehorse (and Valdez) during our stay, completely drenching our campsite and rendering other tents in the campground unusable. Kris did some water engineering and built a moat around our tent while we hid inside the flimsy, waterproof nylon. We eventually gave up, fingers crossed that our tent would not float away, and found THE BEST REFUGE EVER over games, beers and snacks at Winterlong Brewery. So much Canadian welcoming and friendliness!
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| Winterlong Brewery |
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At this point I would like to take a minute to review the deliciousness of food and drink throughout BC and the Yukon. You see Kenedy above with a Good Drink Passionfruit Tea. These teas are the perfect balance of sweet, tea and fruitiness. We scooped up Good Drink for the road anywhere we saw it, along with Happy Planet smoothies. Also, crispy, fresh sandwiches and fresh fruit smoothies at Wicked Cup in Jasper, street tapas at Nevados in Fernie, Salt Spring Kitchen jams and spreads, Kicking Horse (which we can get in Colorado!), 49th Parallel and Bugwood coffee, plus yam wedges at Trackside Cantina in Smithers. YUMMY! |
| Nevados: you know it's good when...SO good. |
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| Yam! those fries are good at Trackside Cantina |
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Whitehorse needs a part two! We need to walk across the Miles Canyon suspension bridge, float the Yukon River, take the White Pass and Yukon Route to Skagway, sit in the hot pots at Takhini Hot Springs and go berry picking. But, home was calling this time around so we pointed the car + tiny, might trailer South and headed toward the lower 48.