Canada Oh Canada!

San Francisco, Vancouver, Whitehorse
Tuesday 17th July 2012

When your first landfall is going to be Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon Territory, your thoughts immediately fly to Jack London and The Call Of The Wild, or the Klondike Goldrush, and arriving in Whitehorse met all expectations and more.  The romance of it all is overwhelming.

It isn't a fancy prepossessing town, it's a town that is hardworking and honest, characterful and friendly, with a pragmatic approach to life and the hazards of living in a place with extremes of weather, although Whitehorse sits in a valley that has mountains giving protection and it is a little more clement just at this point.

We flew in from San Francisco, via Vancouver.  It was a day's travel, but look how far we travelled!  It was 9 at night when we arrived and still daylight.  Lovely little airport with a big stuffed moose centrepiece to greet you on arrival - they like to hunt here and want you to know that, just in case you were unclear on that point.

The $10 shuttle bus to our hotel was full, so the driver of the other bus that had a free service to some hotels said he would take us, and then absolutely refused to take any payment - not even a tip.  We knew we would like Canada, but now we loved it!

Booked in to the Hotel Best Value, run by a Korean family.  It was old (when we say old we mean 1960's) but clean and with fantastic photos of the Goldrush days.   By this time it was almost 9.30 and we were told everything for food would be shut really soon so we hurtled out of there and round the corner to the Klondike Rib And Salmon Cafe.  This was your actual log cabin that appeared very old and housed a quirky, atmospheric, bustling and friendly eatery.

Beer for Bears

John got his first of many Canadian beers (Yukon Gold this time) and we ate great ribs and fish.

Then we took a walk down to the mighty Yukon River and gazed at the views and pinched ourselves, saying to each other "We're in The Yukon!" and quoting bits of Dangerous Dan McGrew to each other and wondering about bears.  It was just so thrilling to be there.

By this time it was 11 pm and it started to drizzle, so we turned back to our hotel, past a couple of rough looking bars, giving a hint of the tough side of life, in the largest centre of population for a long way in any direction. It still hadn't really got dark by midnight, so we drew the curtains and went to sleep.

Whitehorse to Dawson City
Wednesday 18th July

Picked up our hire car and visited the Tourist Office - large, spacious and empty with really good information, maps and a film if you wanted to, with a friendly lady behind the counter.

Hilarious meeting with the man at the mobile phone shop.  When we asked him about getting a SIM card for our phone as we would be travelling on a remote road up north, he smiled at us in an amused way and patiently explained to us that there was no point in buying one because the moment we left Whitehorse there would be no signal.  He reassured us by saying, "If you break down on that road you will be helped by the first person to come past".  We were also told "Remember not to wander away from the road, because the wilderness starts right there"

Checked out of our hotel and did our usual trick of not being able to find our way out of town.  Eventually found the Alaska Highway and then turned off on to the Klondike highway for our 6 hour trip north to Dawson City.

This road was built by the US army in 1942.  Before that, all the transport to Dawson City went by steam boat, air or train.    Rumour has it that all the long curves were put in to thwart Japanese planes landing.  

The road stretched away into the distance and the occasional car or truck came by but we were mostly alone in the vast forests, hills, lakes and rivers of this beautiful pristine land.  It’s like a gigantic Scotland.

Braeburn

We stopped at Braeburn and tried their world famous giant cinnamon bun.  It may be world famous but it wasn’t that exciting)  It is a scheduled stop for the annual dog sled race between Whitehorse and Dawson City.  There was the usual collection of junk scattered around the yard and obligatory bearded older man wandering around outside his slightly battered truck.

180 k north of Whitehorse we stopped at Carmacks, a village of around 500 souls, with a motel and service station with scenery to die for at the meeting of two rivers. 

We crossed the bridge and carried on and it was during this stretch between Carmacks and about 40 k south of Pelly crossing that WE SAW A BEAR!  Celia was driving and spotted him first, a long way off on a long stretch of road with nothing else on it.  It was hanging around at the side of the road on the left and didn’t seem at all disturbed by the approaching car.

BEAR !!!

As we got nearer and as John was frantically trying to get the camera ready, it crossed the road at a leisurely pace so we got a really good look at him.  Then he stopped on the other side and kindly hung about so that we were able to drive past very slowly (John reminding Celia “Don’t Stop!”).  It was a black bear, although they come in a variety of colours, and this one was chestnut brown.  It was big and scary and not in the least bit interested in us.  It was just sniffing around for food and then after about a minute, it melted away into the brush and trees, a bit like the Cheshire cat as it blended into the landscape.

"Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve"

We both agreed that it was a VERY EXCITING experience!  We were only sorry that we didn't get better pictures of it – but hey – wildlife in the wild, we were very happy as we drove on past Moose Creek.  We saw plenty of squirrelly prairie dogs crossing the road and an eagle up above us.  The weather was beautiful and the air was clear, fresh - and we had it all to ourselves.

Five Finger Rapids

Five Finger Rapids was a great stopping point to view the four islands that divide the mighty river into five narrow channels,  and only one of them is navigable – a magnificent sight.  You can imagine the river traffic that used to brave this section back in the old days.

We got to Dawson around 6.30 in the evening – of course it was still bright sunshine as we drove along the river road into the town that sits on the banks of the Yukon river.   Passing open cast mining spoil from the century and more of gold mining that continues to this day, long after the Klondike Gold Rush finished and the poetry of Robert Service and the stories of Jack London have gone out of copyright.

It is a most delightful and surprising place to arrive at after all those hours and all that wilderness.  It is just how you imagine an old frontier gold rush town will look.  Wide dirt roads, that you can turn a wagon with a team of mules easily in, wooden sidewalks, clapboard houses, some brilliant white with dimity curtains and beautiful gardens, some all lopsided and abandoned, where the permafrost has shifted everything awry.

Slow moving traffic and a relaxed looking crowd (when we say crowd, we mean the occasional group of more than 6 people) ambling around.  Individual shops, with their own style of advertising, service and staff.  Bars (lots of bars – but we’ll get to that later!) restaurants, hotels, motels, B&Bs and a couple of campgrounds.

Moosehide Slide

Rising up above the town is Moosehide Slide, a big gash in the side of the mountain.  It’s a big chunk that fell off long, long ago and is part of the migration stories of the First Nation people, the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in  (People of the Klondike) and it was used as a navigation tool for travellers.

There is a free vehicle and passenger ferry here and this is where you cross to go on to the Top Of The World Highway to Alaska.  This country makes you want to keep going ever onwards and it would be very tempting to just keep going but our hire car isn’t allowed on gravel roads and that is all this road has to offer once you get past Dawson City – you have to have four wheel drive.

Wonderful 5th Ave B&B

We’re staying at the 5th Avenue B&B, run by Tracy.  This formidable woman not only runs this place, she also has a 3 year old daughter and is one of the star performers at Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall, several nights a week.

Diamond Tooth Gerties'

We share our digs with the friendly and relaxed Senator for the Yukon who tells us he’s just going to have dinner with the Dawson City Mayor.  (There aren’t many people in the Yukon and the Senator probably knows them all!)

We cannot quite believe that we are in the land of the midnight sun and that the Arctic Circle is only about 300 miles away.

So we celebrate this fact by hitting town and having fish and chips at Sourdough Joe’s.  This is followed by very good Yukon Brewing Company beer for John and excellent Canadian wine for Celia at a couple of the overwhelming choice of saloons available in such a small town.

Everyone is really friendly and because it doesn’t get properly dark you lose all sense of time and suddenly it’s quite late and you’re a bit squiffy – perfect.  This is a fun place to be.

Dawson City
Thursday 19th July

Explored the town and had a look at Robert Service’ cabin.  This is the man who wrote The Shooting of Dan McGrew (a cracking poem of love and death in the Klondike).   Jack London’s cabin, complete with bear-proof food store. (note to selves to re-read the fabulous Call Of The Wild and White Fang).

"Bells?

Visited the tourist office – proper log cabin and John tried on a Mountie hat. We eavesdropped as a Ranger, with a hint of a twinkle in his eye, patiently explained to a French family about the little anti-bear bells that walkers put on their sticks. “Yes, you can buy the bells but they don’t really scare the bears”.  (A Canadian friend had explained to us earlier that “Up here we call them dinner bells”)  The Ranger also told them “You can buy the bear spray if you want, but its better just to stay in a large group and constantly talk loudly, sing, and don’t hang around any berry patches, because the bears love the berries at this time of year.  Anyway, the bear spray only works if you are up very close and by then it may be too late ……”.  At this point John had to be removed from the area to somewhere where he could laugh as loudly as he liked.

You can’t really have a sundowner here so we call it a sunsetter and go out to have a few at the Midnight Sun bar where a band called The Avenue were playing . . . big white hats and all.


After that it was Diamond Tooth Gerties horse shoe shaped hall for the can-can girl show and singing by our landlady.  The show included John and a few other hapless men being dragged up on stage by the dancers to recite tongue twisters and return to their seats with big lipstick marks on their faces and collars – all good fun.

Dugout Bar

Inevitably you end up in the bar with the best music and the most attitude The Westminster, known locally as ‘The Dugout’.  The place was full of characters, some of them behind the bar.

Midnight

Reggie the French Canadian stood out as an adventurer and prospector, with a handsome but somewhat weathered face, a jauntily tied neck scarf and an endless supply of strong cigarettes. He told us he was waiting for a NASA satellite connection that would help him with a big gold strike as there apparently is a mother lode somewhere in these mountains and no one has found it yet.

By the end of this conversation it was definitely time for bed and we wandered home in the bright light at 12.30 a.m. stunned and happy.

Friday 20th July

The reason we are in Dawson is the result of meeting two friendly Canadians called Sarah and Sander at the Rock n Roll Café at Varkala Beach in Kerala, India, just before Christmas. 

Sarah and Sander said Dawson was a great place to visit and that the Dawson City Music Festival is the best and smallest festival in Canada and it would be good fun to meet up there in July.  So, on the back of those conversations we booked it all. 

They were working the festival, that opened tonight, and we met up with them in the beer tent they were helping to organise.

We were invited for drinks with them at Sarah’s Aunt Glenda’s place up the mountain.  It was so beautiful up there, fantastic views and lovely flowers in her yard. The growing season is so short here, but intense, so everyone makes the most of it and grows lots of flowers .They had been visited by a bear in the garden that morning and this is a common occurrence – but not when we visited the house! 

Later we go back down to the festival site.  It really is a tiny festival in the middle of town with a good marquee, a few stalls and a very enthusiastic crowd.  We watched First Nation dancers and then Pokey Lafarge.

Pokey & Celia

Arriving back late we meet a tall First Nation man coming out of our B&B.  We say good night and carry on to our room.

As Celia draws the shade she looks out of the window and the man climbs in the back of his car outside the window and lies down.  Clearly, he is staying in the car and using the shared bathroom down the hall for his convenience.

First Nation Cultural Centre

Saturday 21st July

At breakfast there are two first nation women coming in at the same time as us.  We share a table and they told us they were here for a family remembrance gathering for a deceased relative.  They were looking round the room and you could see they were bemused by what was in it and also curious and slightly wary of us.  They told us they had never stayed anywhere like this before.

Later, another guest was telling us that she had also seen the night visitor using the bathroom when she got up to use it and was not best pleased.  She said that he was with the women who stayed the night and perhaps they couldn’t afford another room or couldn’t find one – who knows.  The landlady’s reaction when told about it was pretty relaxed – probably happens all the time.  Can’t imagine that being tolerated in Blackpool!

Went to the First Nation Cultural Centre, in a beautiful setting on the banks of the river.  Glenda is Curator and works incredibly hard to maintain the exquisite permanent exhibition of artefacts showing the life, craft, culture and art of the First Nation.  We watched a brilliant video made by the people about their lives.

There is also an exhibition of dolls, showing the different styles of clothing and equipment of the many peoples who live in this region and all beautifully made.  Glenda also works hard on education as a key factor to help maintain the traditional values and life here.

The indigenous culture is under great strain and threat here and drink, drugs, lack of education, health and family problems, marginalisation and many other factors contribute to the pressure it is under.

We walked along the mighty river bank eating ice cream and saw a wedding party having an outdoor celebration, complete with piano and player on the back of a flat-bed truck.

Andre Williams

Then it was party time at the festival with rum and coke flowing and dancing with Sarah, Sander, Glenda and friends to Deep Dark Woods, Hooded Fang and Andre Williams.

There were lots of people having loads of fun and you could even buy ‘flying’ bannocks, a sort of pan bread eaten here.  Flying bannocks were of a distinctly different brand, sold by hippies in a tent outside the gates.  Celia noticed that the group of people all wearing “What the fuck happened last night T shirts?”, were big customers.

It was a 2 a.m. finish but hard to tell because the sky was only just a bit dusky so we had a walk round town and the bars were still in business and so were we.

Dawson City 

Sunday 22nd July

Celia was able to get up and have breakfast with Dan the Senator and his wife, but John had to sleep in a little longer on account of it being a late night and, possibly, the after-effects of rum and coke.

Later, we drove up to the Midnight Dome on top of the mountain where you can see 360º, out to Alaska, across the mining area, along the Yukon River, across the town and valleys around.  Truly incredible views.

Bombay Peggys'

Went to a gig at the Palace Theatre, Women of The World – truly dreadful, but the theatre is fabulous.  It’s brand new, but built in the old style of wood with galleries in a horseshoe.  We had to leave early as we couldn’t bear the singing and headed to Bombay Peggy’s, a great pub named after a lady of the night who used to run the establishment back in the gold rush days.

We had been told that the Espresso Martini there was particularly fine – it was.  The result of this side trip was that we didn’t get back to the festival site that night.  Instead we met Clarence and Cynthia who had hit a pot hole in the road on their way up to Dawson whilst towing their caravan and it had twisted off the tow hitch and smashed to bits.  Hence they were staying at our B&B.  We helped them drown their sorrows and so ended another good night in Dawson.

Dawson City to Whitehorse
Monday 23rd July

Our usual trip to the Post Office to send stuff home – good postal service here and no queue!

Beaver Lodge

A last look round town and then another wonderful drive back to Whitehorse down the Klondike Highway with ‘The Bridge’ radio station keeping us company all the way and giving us a soundtrack to the whole Yukon experience that we will never forget, with Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, The Eagles, John Lennon and many more and it just ate up that 300 miles – perfect.

Polite Notice

We stopped at Pelly and Carmacks again for tea, what a campground spot that is. . . gas, grub and a General Store so far from anywhere that there’s a sign with a big gun on it stating “We Don’t Dail 911”.

Arrived in Whitehorse at 6.30 and checked in to the Westmark Hotel, full of pensioners on coach tours.  Went out and ate a Japanese meal and to bed, dog tired.

Whitehorse
Tuesday 24th July

What we do after Vancouver at the end of the month is a bit hazy, ie; nothing planned at all, so we spent the morning thinking about, researching and booking where we want to go in the USA and how we will travel. Mooched round town, had dinner with Sander and got packed ready for our hop to Vancouver in the morning.

Vancouver
Wednesday 25th to Sunday 29th July 

Up early and caught the early flight with Sarah and Sander and said our goodbyes and checked in to the Days Motel Vancouver.

This is a good looking town and Celia insists that the women are the best dressed of any place we have been in the world - so far!

The sun is out, the views are great and there’s plenty to see and do.  We used the excellent buses and visited Canada Place and watched the sea planes darting across the harbour.  We ate great sushi and walked all round down town and went shopping.

We had cocktails at the Pacific Rim Fairmont Hotel as we listened to an excellent singer and enjoyed the jet set life for an hour, before catching the Skytrain back home.

We ate dodgy sushi in a much less salubrious part of town and felt the consequences – that were far worse than any experience in India.  Can’t believe we went through all those countries and then got caught out here of all places!

With Duncan

This Canada trip is really about friends old and new and Vancouver is home to two of Celia’s brothers’ old friends, Jack and Duncan.  Duncan is an actor and is performing at Venier Park which hosts the Bard On The Beach Festival every year, so we got tickets to see Taming Of The Shrew with Duncan as Vincenzo which was brilliant.  Afterwards we went with him to meet Jack at their ‘local’ called the Billy Bishop, for too many drinks and them telling stories about Celia’s brothers.

Toy Ferry

Granville Island in the harbour is a great destination for looking at the fantastic food market and all the shops, so one day we caught the bus and then one of the many little ferries across that whiz all round the harbour almost like cartoons.

With Jack

We had drinks in the very pretentious Back Stage Bar, bought some great food and wine and took it back to our room and watched Olympics – perfect. We were invited to dinner with Jack one evening – delicious salmon and Jack and John played good music.  It’s always lovely to be in a home now and again when you’re on the road.

Vancouver Island

Monday 30th July

Horseshoe Bay

Continuing our theme of friends, we set off for the bus, train and express bus to Horseshoe Bay to catch the ferry to Departure Bay on Vancouver Island.  We were going to meet Joy and John.  They live in Port Alberni and we met them in Varkala, India too.

Detail of the Day:  when you catch a bus in Vancouver be ready to be helped and advised by just about everyone on board – literally the whole bus was having a debate about our connection for the next part of our downtown connection for the ferry. John said it was like a mobile encounter group. Canadians - they can’t help being helpful!

We caught the Coastal Renaissance ferry and had the most scenic journey and were met by Joy and John who drove us out to Port Alberni, stopping at a winery on the way where a deer was casually snacking on a plum tree.

Eating John’s home-smoked sockeye salmon with mayo and crackers with beer seemed like heaven.  They live in a house on the ancestral land of Joy’s tribe the Hupacasath, surrounded by the homes of family and friends.  They are a small tribe of only around 300 people and they work hard to keep their culture intact.  Joy showed us her collection of inherited headdresses and instruments.

Fried Dough

We drank wine and shot the breeze in the afternoon sun and time seemed to stand still as day morphed into evening.  Later, we crawled back to the Somass Motel next door having been well and truly entertained by our hosts.

A slow start the next day with breakfast at the Swale Rock Café for Joy’s birthday, including a local delicacy called Fisherman’s bread.  It is a slab of fried dough and quite delicious. 

Tuesday 31st July 

Drove over to Stamp Falls and walked through the beautiful woods and looked at the salmon ladders where the Chinook and Trout climb to spawn and is one of the best fishing areas.

We visited Joy’s band house with a carved totem outside and family photos and band history to look at inside.  It looks so stark to just type this fact when the experience was so much more and we felt very privileged to be taken on this visit and to meet some more of Joy’s family.

We went to the communal fishing pool where the tribe meet to fish together and saw more of Joy’s friends and family.

Drove around Sproat Lake to a fantastic spot where Snowy Creek runs into the lake.  These are ancestral lands and we had a swim in the crystal water beneath the wooded mountains on a fine sunny day – it was a show stopping moment on this trip.

Salmon Berries

On the way back we stopped at a waterfall and ate salmon berries – yum!

Before we left we were fed on home-smoked brisket and Joy gave us one of her heirlooms; a tiny basket woven from grasses and wood – a treasure.  John gave us a hunk of his smoked salmon to take home too, also a treasure.

John E Karaoke

We got back on the ferry to Vancouver in a happy daze and headed back to a Super 8 Hotel near the airport, where there was a bizarre Karaoke bar which John couldn't resist, and then an early night.

Canada has been just a wonderful trip and we would love to spend more time here but it is eye wateringly expensive, so it’s south of the border for us and tomorrow we fly to Las Vegas (baby).

More photos  . . . 

Dawson City

The Dawsons at the Triple J

"Mellors", Dawson City

Dawson City

Dawson City

Beer Tent, Dawson City Festival

Dawson City

Dawson City

Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Sproat Lake, Vancouver Island