tourism office.
Of course our normal first stop in any city is visitor center, which we did first thing. We watched a movie about the Yukon which was more like a solicitation to stay and become a resident in the area. The population in the whole territory is less than 30,000 with the majority in Whitehorse. They need population to generate tax dollars. Also, most of the residents in Whitehorse are either government, federal, or city employees.
Our first excursion today was to the Klondike stern wheeler. It is the only remaining original stern wheeler from the gold rush days of the Klondike. It carried about 32 passengers to Dawson City and back and had a crew of about 25. It used a cord of wood per hour minimum to power the ship. Picture 4X4X8 as a cord of wood and the ship uses one an hour. That means they would have to make frequent stops to reload wood.
This is one of the barges that the stern wheeler pushed down the river. Today Parks Canada uses it for showing movies. I don't think the tent was part of the barge during the gold rush.
Some of the cargo that was carried. Note the cord of wood. The whole area would have been full of wood while going down the river to Dawson City.
This is just one of the engines used to power the ship.
Whitehorse is the the capital of the Yukon Territory and the crossroads of the Alaskan Highway and the Klondike Loop up to Dawson City. Most of the emphasis on tourism is on the gold rush days of the Klondike area. It is in Whitehorse where our group will ponder a decision to stay on the Alaskan High or take the Klondike Loop up to Dawson City and over the Top of the World Highway and connect again with the Alaskan Highway in Tok, AK.
The next day was a down day for me. I needed to do laundry and grocery shop. The RV park had laundry facilities with steam dryers. I was a little concerned to learn that the dryers took $2.00 for only 24 minutes. That's a lot of $$ to dry clothes. It turned out that 24 minutes was adequate to dry a load of clothes...even jeans. I'm not sure what makes them work so well, but they were very efficient.
I was expecting to find a Safeway Store in Whitehorse because I have seen them throughout BC and the Yukon and we have them near home, but the grocery store of choice was The Real Canadian Superstore. It was crazy and the lines were huge, probably because the prices were good. It was almost like a Winco. You have to pay a dollar for a grocery cart, much like at the airport, and then when you return the cart you get your dollar back, unlike at the airport. Also, none of the big grocery stores (except maybe Walmart) provide grocery bags. You have to bring your own or pay. There isn't a choice of paper or plastic either. Just plastic.
I almost forgot, even though it was a down day, we did go to the Frantic Follies. I didn't think pictures would be allowed so I didn't take my camera. If you are ever in Whitehorse, you must go to the Frantic Follies. It is two hours of laughter and history of the the Yukon. I couldn't believe two hours could go by so fast!
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