Great Christmas in Whitehorse! Christmas Eve Midnight Mass at 7 pm followed by a house party at Steve and Laura's house. Of course, lots to eat especially old fashioned pate!!
We all went up to Takhinni hot springs today for an awesome soak in the hot springs in -28 C. degree outside temp. You needed to duck in the water to rid the buildup of frosty hair!!
Today being Faye and Lynn's birthday, we also went to Earl's for dinner (Jeanette/Jamie treat)!

Paul spent a couple hours Friday blocking up 80 ft. Yukon spruce for firewood, very refreshing exercise but awesome lumber to be used for fuel wood?
Friday evening Paul/Faye decided to go for an evening out into Whitehorse Legion for steak and baked potatoes with all trimmings with live country & western music by Hank Karr & Co. The bbq'ed steaks were done in a back shed so we had to line up outside in -35 degrees! Dinner and live band dance music for $15.00!!!
Incredible music with pretty fancy electric guitar string picking with the lead singer putting Johnny Cash to shame. We were welcomed by the lead guy which resulted in Paul being offered free drinks at the bar by some very friendly local patrons. One of the singers hailed from Kentville, N.S. who had played in Windsor years ago.
Music began at 8:30 with the last waltz at 11:30 and home by midnight having picked up a drive through Tim Hortons coffee. Impossible to be tipsy getting into a vehicle in those temperatures!
Paul purchased some fish in town today for a chowder to complement what Jamie supplied, halibut, Dungenese crab, and shrimp he caught last fall in Haines, Alaska. A frozen 600 gm pack of scallops were priced at $23.99 so decided to forgo that and opted for bay scallops at $5.89 for the same weight pack instead. A large can of BC clam nectar (juice) was available also so we are all set to go.
Tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon, friends and neighbors will be here for a get together and bon fire celebrating the beginning of Christmas week and the "longest night" of the year... approx. 5 hours daylight. Amazing!!
They don't plow the streets in Whitehorse... the little bit of snow gets beaten into hard packed snow and keeps building up into bumpy roadways making for careful driving and watching out the the other guy. Incredible!
Later......

Whitehorse bitter Yukon cold at -35 degrees C. most mornings. Full daylight doesn't start until 10 am while darkness begins about 4 pm and it will gradually shorten until Dec. 21st.
Faye is keeping busy with her paints, cooking and watching Kaden with the occasional shopping/swimming trip into Whitehorse (15 km).
Paul introduced himself to the Whitehorse Legion, nice place with very friendly people. The elderly bar tender who works two days a week to "get out of the house" grew up in Pictou. His name is Joe English and his mother was a Cheverie from Souris! Joe recently retired from owning a bar in Whitehorse for 27 years called "Joe's Redneck Bar" so he is a well known character, and a character he is. They don't measure the booze... just pour into the glass and stop when they think it's ok, then add a little to make sure it's enough. Also, I was quickly (courteously)told to remove my stocking cap (Legion respect)the first time there.
Paul and Faye are going to a Legion steak dinner Friday evening with live music following the meal. A great chance to mingle with the local oldies and experience local culture, should be lots of stories as a lot of Whitehorse folk originally hail from the Maritimes.
Paul continues to spend a couple hours each day on the fire wood detail. Jamie has lots of trees surrounding the lot and desires to have the selected ones harvested for firewood. He has all the equipment needed but Paul needs to come in often to warm up his gloves!
Tree decorating took place Monday night after supper with Kaden all hands to help and looking forward to Christmas and Santa!
Later.....

Woke up this morning to -40 C but house nice and cosy with heat from the central fireplace. It only gets full daylight at 9 am and twilight sets in at 3:30 pm so makes for a short day... no problem sleeping in on a Sunday morning!
We are all recovering (except Kaden) from Jeanette's teacher staff party last night which was at the home of another teacher. Here in Whitehorse you can purchase liquor from an off sales outlet which would be something like a convenience store. Something akin to a legal bootlegger with the same expensive markup ($18.75 for a pint of whiskey!).
Yesterday afternoon we went trekking through the back trail behind the house and found a nice pine Christmas tree for the living room.
Faye, Jeanette and Kaden are gone to a Christmas party for Kaden.. then we are off to the Canada Games Center swimming pool for some healthy exercise.
Paul will be calling St. Mary's Hall in Souris at 9 pm Atlantic to see how the 28th Souris Annual Wildlife Dinner went.

Later....

Settled in Whitehorse...stewing meats for Christmas meat pie etc.
Paul has made a couple runs into Whitehorse to shop and check out the town. Washed the truck yesterday at a car wash.
We are really enjoying our grandson Kaden with Jeanette and Jamie who does all the cooking and what a cook as, so far, we had moose, halibut and tonight Alaskan crab!!
The house is built on a R2000 standard, electric heat but with a Finnish Tulikivi which is a soap stone central fireplace. Jamie fires it up every evening before supper and it heats up the soapstone thermal mass which keeps the house warm and cosy until the next evening even when it is -20 outside!
We will only be posting into the blog on an intermittent basis until we hit the road again around January 15th. Take care.
Later...........

We arrived at 43 Dawson Road in Whitehorse this afternoon at 3:30 pm local time!
The whole driving trip from Souris, PEI to Whitehorse took us through eight provinces and twelve states for twenty-three days and 9922 kms visiting along the way in Dartmouth (Joanne,Charlie,Ben); Windsor (Faye's Mom Ruby and siblings); Truro (George, Donna, Rob and Janet, baby Georgia) Fredericton(Joe,Julie,Michelle)Arlington, Boston (Nicolle,Zubin,Julia,Kaiyan); Wakefield, Boston (Ed and Pat); Calgary (Stephen, Jaime, Pedro,Laurence and Judy, Estelle, Ian, Ed and Ruth, Matthew, Bianca,Jamie, Corrine and baby Dylan,Bob and Lisa, Samantha,Jesse, Betty); Red Deer (Deneen,Rowan,Betty) St. Albert, Edmonton (Paul and Natalie,Christian, Tyler, Isabelle and Jacques) Spruce Grove (Henry and Cora); Ft.Liard (Mel and Verna and all Yvonne/Charlie's friends) and finally Whitehorse!
It was great driving today from Watson Lake. Paul was a little under the weather as he joined some truckers in the bar at Belvedere Hotel in Watson Lake last night while Faye did the smart thing and went to bed. Oh well, it was a tense drive from Ft. Liard yesterday and Paul needed to unwind while Faye needed to sleep.

No particular happenings during the drive today, except we came upon a wolverine running down the road in front of us and managed to get a picture before it ran over the snow bank into the woods.

We found our way into Jeanette/Jame/Kaden's house and immediately unpacked while the adrenalin was still pumping! They arrived home shortly before 5 pm, a happy reunion having not seen them since late July, 2007.

Later........

Finally arrived last evening in Watson Lake, the only town since Ft. Liard, slightly over 700 km. The scenery was awesome, however the road was snow and ice covered with only the steep grades and curves sanded providing for some tense driving conditions! Faye kept herself busy taking pictures of the spectacular mountain ranges. Along the way there were plenty of buffalo caution signs and eventually we came across herds of various numbers grazing along the roadsides.
Paul filled up in Ft. Liard along with a 2.5 gallon can. We had to pull over about 140 km out as the gas guage was showing empty and the gas light on. We poured in the 2.5 gallons and proceeded hoping that would do, and wonders of all wonders, a service area was open about 35 km from Watson Lake.... that was close and we were thinking that CAA would have to be called! We had been told that a sevice area midway at Toad Lake would be open, but they were closed.
We settled into a hotel here, called Jeanette on Skype to give her the news..... one more day to Whitehorse!!
Later..........

Today is Saturday, Dec. 6th and we need to catch up on things... We were treated like royalty at Natalie and Paul's in St. Albert, then proceeded to Spruce Grove Wednesday afternoon to visit with Cora and Henry. We had a great visit, roast deer for supper with mashed potatoes and carrots from Henry's garden. Henry and Cora have a house in the country full of books and works of art and we spent the evening sharing news. Henry has a shop where he does leather work and used to make custom saddles. Cora keeps busy hand sewing quilts, reading and collecting art works.
Thursday morning we left Spruce Grove and headed up towards Ft. Liard but stopped at Dawson Creek overnight staying at Day's Inn. We proceeded next morning heading for Ft. Liard and finallhy made it there about 5 pm.
Along the way we were amazed to see the extensive farming activity and remarkable landscapes. Between Ft. Nelson and the turnoff to Ft. Liard we saw substantial farms, grain, beef and even a bison ranch! So much for remote northern wilderness!! We did see three huge moose crossing the road at the bottom of a long grade..... plenty of warning for us.
Actually the last 200 km into Ft. Liard was wilderness forest. Amazing trees.... the tractor trailer loads we met, with one of them with enough board ft. to build a decent home.
Our arrival in Ft. Liard was greeted by Vern and Mal who had supper ready... pineapple ham and potatoes!
Today, Mal and I and a neighbor Brad who hails from Truro, N.S. went "chicken" (grouse) hunting while Faye and Vern went "shopping" in Ft. Liard!! Paul managed to bag a chicken, knocking it out of a tree. On this hunt trip we saw ptarmingan, a black wolf, marten, and grouse! Faye and Vern went to brunch at the nursing station hosted by Joan and John Peddle who hail from Corner Brook, NFLD. Then they went shopping at the general store, the Northern Store and the local craft shop "where Faye didn't buy anything for herself but did buy a nice long long sleeve sweat shirt for Paul" Gotta like that!!
We finished the evening at Steve and Phillis Malesku's home for a house party! We found out that Steve knew brother Gerry when he was up north in Yellowknife with Indian and Northern Affairs. Also a young tall off duty RCMP Officer was there who was in training in Regina with Terrance Dunphy! As they say.... small world!
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Headed out from Calgary Tuesday morning after Steve's fine breakfast, heading for Lisa's to pick up Betty and then onward to Red Deer. At Red Deer we had a great visit and lunch with Deneen and little baby Rowan before leaving for Edmonton. Baby Rowan is now a healthy 8 lbs., 12 ounces and doing well!
We arrived in Edmonton early afternoon so spent time at the West Edmonton Mall. Faye has a good idea what heaven is like!
Paul and Natalie are great hosts, putting on a bbq. They have a great house, extremely well built. Amazing couple with their two boys Christian and Tyler, family husky Kiera. A pleasure to visit. Isabelle and Jacques showed up making the event doubly pleasent giving us an opportunity to catch up on their news. Isabelle is working for CBC Radio as an associate producer in an afternoon talkshow along with other duties. Jacques is now studying for his Master's degree in voice at University of Edmonton.... an opera singer in the making!
Paul is now working as a military security planner for the upcoming Olympics while Natalie is busy with the provincial government.
We are slowly working our way to Whitehorse, our final northern destination but will be visiting Henry and Cora this afternoon, and spending the weekend in Ft. Liard before making the final leg, and a mandatory stop at West Edmonton Mall prior to leaving Edmonton.
Later............

Today, Monday December 1st sees us making preparations to depart Calgary for Red Deer and Edmonton on Tuesday. Paul went down to Kal Tire and got the wheel nuts retorqued on the new tires as requested.
We had a great Sunday afternoon and evening here with Calgary family and friends having meat pie for dinner.
We were also happy to see Ian McInnis who we invited to attend as Sunday was the 39th anniversary of Ian's dramatic rescue from the waters between Newfoundland and Cape Breton after his dad's boat sunk. Ian was picked up by an oil tanker and the only survivor out of six sailors.
We are all looking forward to a home cooked dinner this evening at Cindy and Dan Lauber's place.
Sister in law Betty will be hitching a ride with us tomorrow to Red Deer to Deneen's after which we will be going on to Edmonton to spend the evening with Natalie, Paul, Tyler and Christian.
Our objective is to be in Ft. Liard on Friday to spend the weekend with Vern and Mal Decker, Yvonne and Charlie's friends before heading to Whitehorse.
Later...........