A few more miles down the road, it started to snow, and it didn't look like it was going to stop. The forecasts on the radio were calling for 2 to 4 centimeters. Centimeters? How much is that? The snow was coming down fast, which made the driving a little more challenging. Luckily I had my winter tires on the car. We almost stopped in Haines Junction rather than continuing on to Whitehorse because of the snow, but we decided to charge on and try our luck. In the end, we were glad we did because we made it to Whitehorse without any trouble.
Our first stop was the visitor's center where we learned that pretty much everything was closed for the season. Apparently you aren't supposed to visit after September. The theme for our trip was quickly and easily defined as "CLOSED". You may recall this word being used in the previous entry as well. The good thing was that the visitor's center did have a list of the things that were actually open in October, although it seemed many things were only open one day a week and during limited hours.
Over the next couple of days, we took in the sites. There were things that you can see no matter what time of year, such as the log skyscrapers
the many murals on building around town, this is a mural, not real storefronts
They may not have let us in the old log church museum because it was closed for the season, but they couldn't stop us from walking by and taking pictures.
One of the few places that actually had an open sign the window was the MacBride Museum of Yukon History. They had exhibits on everything from wildlife to mining, to transportation, to lifestyles, to artifacts...nearly anything you could think of. There was a good explanation on how the permafrost slowed down the miners. The exhibit read: 'Miners hauled firewood to their claims and painstakingly thawed the frozen ground with a series of fires. The average rate of descent was one to two feet per day, and bedrock lay from 5 to 25 feet down.' Here's the display showing how the miners would lower down buckets with small fires to melt the permafrost.
We stopped to pop our faces into a photo opportunity to play Soapy Smith and the Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman who caught him.
After the museum, we headed to the Yukon Brewing Company.
We sampled some of their beers and then got a tour of the behind-the-scenes equipment.
In addition to bottling their beer, they also can it. We got a demo of how they manually can their beverages.
We took in a walk along the Yukon River one afternoon
during which we saw a bald eagle
and ended up at the SS Klondike (yet another attraction with a CLOSED sign in the window).
In adding to our 'World's Largest' list we made sure to go and see the World's Largest Weathervane, a converted Douglas DC-3.
Outside of our hotel was a giant wooden Mountie. World's largest? I don't know, but it certainly seems like it could be.
Soon enough our time in Whitehorse was over, and it was time to head back to Fairbanks. Since it wasn't snowing on the way back, we actually got to see the town of Haines Junction without blinding snow. Low and behold there was another Quonset hut church, Our Lady of the Way Catholic Church.
We also got to see the Village Monument, aka The Muffin. I believe the picture speaks for itself.
The beautiful drive back afforded the same gorgeous views but from a different angle.
Life slowed down a bit once we returned to Fairbanks. We ran a few more errands, had lunch with Dianna, and dabbled in the pumpkin arts.
It was a fabulous visit! I wish they could happen more often.
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