Yukon Jay - 小祥

Update + Skagway and Marsh Lake Pictures

Haven't updated in a while, so here's a quick update and also pictures of Skagway and Marsh Lake from when Andrea was visiting for 10 days. Last weekend I had to fly down to Vancouver to attend a funeral - Jason's dad past away at the age of 67. Got to catch up with him and visit his mom to see how she was doing. Before the funeral, Andrea and I spent a few days in Victoria to visit his sister since this will be the last time before Andrea moves to Whitehorse in August.

This weekend, Andrea is moving out of her place to move in with my mom for the first week of August before I fly down Aug 7th to drive up together. I am also moving into a basement suite that Andrea and I found... be nice to finally settle down in one place.

So a lot of stuff happening for the both of us. Here is the itenirary for the drive on Aug 8th:

Day 1 - Vancouver to the historic town of Barkerville, where we will be camping the first night.

Day 2 - Spend the day visiting Barkerville before driving to Prince George, my old stomping ground summer of 2006, where we will be staying with a mentor of mine. We will also have lunch in an "authentic" Chinese restaurant in Barkerville's Chinatown. This is Andrea's first visit and I'm curious to see if anything has changed since my last visit.

Day 3 - Drive from Prince George to Buckinghorse River Wayside Provincial Park where we will camp for the night.

Day 4 - Drive to Muncho Lake and stay at the Northern Rockies Lodge. We will spend the afternoon in the Liard River Hotsprings after checking in.

Day 5 - Drive from the lodge to Whitehorse.

So that's what's coming up in August. Here are pictures from our visit to Skagway, Alaska and Marsh Lake in early July.

The drive from Whitehorse to Skagway is only about 2 hrs, and here's a small US Customs office tucked away in the mountains on the border.

This is downtown Skagway, pretty much most of the town here. There's no roads going into Skagway from other Alaskan cities, only from Whitehorse.

So... you might be wondering, how does the town survive? Most of the revenue and jobs are generated from the cruise ships that come in - up to 10 ships a week. And the town shuts down in the winter time with most people going back cities like Juneau, Anchorage or further out to Washington and Oregon State.

And my favourite... the Stowaway Cafe - Alaskan food of Thai and French descent, Cajun Style, Seafood, Steaks and Desserts.

My dish is called the Rock Fish - DEEELLIIICIOUS - halibut cooked with Thai spices. :)

And here is the view from outside the town - notice the two ships on our last day... they make a ton of money in summer.

And the following weekend we rented a suite on Marsh Lake, 30mins outside of Whitehorse, owned by a co-worker's sister. Amazing view... it was nice and quiet, we relaxed and enjoyed the view.

Here is me trying to catch a fish in this huge lake...

Another view of the lake...

This pretty much sums up the lifestyle in the Yukon during the summer. Everyone has got a canoe or kayak because there are just so many lakes here.

And finally... I thought this was a nice picture, foreshadowing our life up here for the next 2-3 years as we walk off into the wilderness of this beautiful Territory.

Posted by Jay at July 26, 2008 01:45 PM