Whitehorse bound...

Have you ever wondered how much you can fit into a Yakima Rocketbox car-top carrier? We managed to fit in 5 pairs of skis (yes, 5...), 3 sets of poles, ice skates, two pairs of snow shoes, a box of boots (4 pairs), yarn for knitting 3 sweaters, art supplies, a big bag of sweaters, a box of art supplies, a bag of ukulele music books, snow pants and a down coat. Oh, and one extra coat...one never knows, right?!
We are delivering Christmas goodies and gifts to kids of friends who live in Whitehorse, including two amazingly good-smelling fruit cakes even though they are meticulously wrapped, homemade toys, and a box of baked goods and jams. We also have a couple of sleeping bags in case of any untoward weather problems, a ukulele, a trumpet and a satchel of trumpet music, a small cooler, painting supplies. We are ready for anything!

Laura and David gifted us with a spare cell phone of theirs, chock-a-block full of audio books…a wide and varied library of mysteries, memoirs, non-fiction, fantasy, humour…enough to keep us entertained all the way to the Yukon and back home again.

We found our house sits through various channels. Our dear friend Lorna thought a good friend of hers who lives in Whitehorse said her kids were looking for a house sitter! A couple of emails later…PRESTO!...we have a house sit from December 15th through January 6th.  Then, through a casual email to inquire about Scottish Country Dancing, we mentioned we were looking for a second house sit. And PRESTO! again....another materialized from January 15 through March 2nd.  We will look after a dog at each, and start our trek home via the US on March 3rd.

The trip ahead of us looks daunting, but also quite exciting. People ask us, rather incredulously,  "Why are you going there for the winter?" We simply say "Why not?" We want to experience the Arctic, in all its beauty and majesty, the dry cold air, the Northern Lights at their best seen from nearby Fish Lake, ski on beautiful trails, participate at the impressive Canad Games Centre for swimming, pickleball, fitness classes. Oh... the darkness, too, will be interesting to experience. The days will be getting longer almost a week after we arrive, and then the golden days of late winter and early spring will be a treat.
 
And we get to see Canada on the way. So...off we go today.......

We will write updates and alert you to them via email as we travel along. If you're interested in following our adventure, check in on this site from time to time. 
We'll be back in April!