The flight was ok, 2.5 hours, drinks and a sandwich served. Arrival at YXY (Whitehorse) on time. We went into the baggage area and found our Arctic Range tour guide Tom. He helped with luggage and put us all into the van. Then we proceeded to Westmark Whitehorse Hotel for our familiarization lecture.

Click here for the AR web page.

Click here for the Whitehorse tourist web page.

Click here for the Whitehorse wiki-pedia article. Note the temperatures possible in February.

Click here for the Aurora Borealis forecast. We'll be watching this closely, even though we can't do much about it.

He issued us our rental clothing for the cold at the photo site, then turned us loose. Then we checked in and put our stuff in the room. We had time for a short nap, then out for food to G&P Steakhouse (quite good, somewhat $$).

Here is the Link to our pictures from Seattle to Whitehorse (screenshow in new window).

Here is the Link to our pictures from the City Tour (screenshot in new window).

At 2230 we loaded up the van and drove to the viewing site some 25 minutes down the road to the east. We were shown how to get to the very basic facilities and what to expect in the warming yurt (see photo right).

We fooled around with the camera and were helped by Tom but no outdoor pictures came out. There wasn't much to see, either.

The Aurora was not in full bloom, but just appeared now and then on the horizon. It didn't help that it was clear to the south but light clouds to the north made the Aurora and stars appear fuzzy, indistinct.

We went in and out of the yurt as the cold dictated and took cookies and so forth as well as warming.

With the clothing provided we were warm enough for visits outside. Our cheeks got cold first, then ears, then it was time to go into the yurt. The temperature at 0200 was about -2*F.

2/9/19 Whitehorse YT, CA

We awoke at 0900 and made in-room coffee. We did some computer things. We got down to the lobby in time for our 1030 city tour by van.

Jenifer, from Yorkshire UK, gave a nice tour including stops at the Visitors Center, the Fish Ladder at the Yukon River dam, lake views above the dam, the old river steamer SS Klondike, all this interspersed with commentary on the town and history. Good tour!!

We went to Burnt Toast for brunch. Had to wait a bit to get a table in the crowded little place, but it was worth it. The food was very nice, with different touches on them. For instance, my Huevos Rancheros came with eggs & tortilla, but with a spicy black bean hummus, and home fries.

Then we walked over to the McBride Museum, now housed in a new set of buildings and looking to be filled with more exhibits. What is there is very nice, well selected and presented.

We'd been there in the past and were happy with what they've done. B&S did the new building on the gold rush which we skipped, having been all up and down the gold rush territory. They said it was excellent.

Here's the link to our pictures in the MacBride Museum.

One of the museum's photos is shown at right of the old waterfront, tracks, and warehouse area, c.1942.

Now (1530) we're back in the room doing these notes and looking for forecasts of what we'll encounter Monday returning. But we're warm. We'll have a nap and at 2230 do the Aurora viewing again. The sky is clearing after being cloudy earlier, so there's hope.

We again struggled into out AR-supplied winter clothing - Insulated slacks, parka with hood, gloves, mittens, hat and the terrible boots. Boots are ok but when insulated are very large and clunky. And since you wear their clothing over yours, you get a bit bulky. Hard to bend over to tie bootlaces. Aside from exposed surfaces like cheeks, you don't get cold. I wish I'd had some of this stuff when deer-hunting as a kid. Photo at right taken by our guide.

Our guide tonight is Moto. At 2200 we drove up Two-Mile Hill to the Alcan then south to the Skky Hotel where we picked up more. The van is half Spanish-speaking (with one-year-old) and us. We arrived in our pasture in the trees around 2230. Since we now knew the drill, Moto sent us off to the farthest yurt, small but cozy and warm. There, we'd go out for a while to check the Aurora and take pictures, then come in for hot chocolate and cookies.

And I got a few Aurora pictures with my ancient Canon, one of which is to the right.

We chatted in the yurt with a person born on South Island, New Zealand, who now lives near Sydney Australia. He told us of his adventures (pilot) and we mentioned our tourism places. He says Christchurch NZ is still not dug out from the earthquake and the port is still not up to snuff. Sad.

So we ate more cookies and drank more chocolate and made more trips outside to check on the lights.

At 0200 2/10/19 we packed it in. Into the mini-van and back to the hotel. We still had a half-bottle of Shiraz so we drank that to warm up before sleep.

2/10/19 Sunday

The town is quiet on Sunday. We slept in until we felt like rising. The temp at 1000 was -9*F. There was fog on the river due to the temperature differential, but it stayed over the river. We had in-room coffee then went to the hotel dining room for breakfast. The food was good and the people very nice. S&B went again to Burnt Toast and enjoyed that.

We decided we'd not go out picture-taking tonight. The idea of coming back nearly 0300 and getting up at 0400 for our 0700 flight was just too, too, much.

We picked up our paper photos and the USB with them on it in the lobby at the tour desk. I came up with it and the computer. Then we found S&B and asked them about pictures. After that, I went to the AR office to get the scenery photos taken by Jono yesterday early. Jennifer gave me those.

I wandered around looking at closed stores. Ran into S&B doing their Ingress game. Got into Mac's Fireweed Books and found tee-shirts for the grandsons. Across the street in the Emporium I found another. Their mommy will have to sort out who gets what.

Back then to the AR office to tell them we're not able to go out tonight. Returned to the hotel and had a self-congratulating beer - Ice Fog is the local IPA by Yukon Brewing.

I checked in with Air North and printed the boarding passes using the feeble Dell in the lobby. W7P is not my native language. We got somewhat organized and were ready for dinner at 1800. We joined S&B for food in the hotel dining room. They were short-staffed but we were conversing so it didn't matter. D & I had roast beef, S&B had halibuts. Again, quite nice & served well.

We returned to the room to pack. And now at 2047 we're ready to sleep until the 0500 wakeup call.



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