Tinkerblue

Passionate for Pies

We have been two previous trips to Eastsound this summer and each trip we have tried to have pie at Passionate for Pies. Each time we've missed it.

Not so today. Today we cycled into town and found Passionate for Pies.

All the pies are made using local organic fruits, veggies or meats. The pastry is made with organic flour and butter. instead of white sugar they use agave nectar, molasses, honey or rapadura. Don't ask me what rapadura is, I don't know and I'm too lazy to look it up.

We each had a beef pastie and we shared a slice of Jumbleberry (raspberry, blackberry and blueberry) pie. So good.

Where Are We Now?

So, it's a long weekend in BC. Many, many months ago we made plans with friends to spend the weekend in Penticton. Float down the river, ride the bumper boats, play mini golf, eat ice cream cones on the beach, basically enjoy a hot summer weekend. I didn't book a hotel room mainly because all the hotels wanted full payment for bookings over the long weekend,and they're non refundable.

We weren't keen to book a non refundable room, because flying is ruled by weather, and work sometimes has to take priority. We didn't want to be left paying for rooms that we wouldn't end up using. A 24 or 48 hour cancellation policy would have been doable. But not no cancellation at all. By the time we all confirmed the weekend, the hotels were all booked.

Plan #2 - the Oregon Coast. But there's been lots of fog and that's a problem when you're flying in a small plane. So that option was out.

Plan #3 - Cavanagh Bay, Idaho. None of us been there before. We've heard there is a great campground, a lake for swimming and canoeing, a nearby resort with a cafe and a pub. But yesterday our friends look like they'll pretty much had to cancel. They haven't definitely said they are not able to come yet.

We didn't want to go to Cavanagh Bay without them, because it will be more fun with them. So plan #4 - Eastsound on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands. There is an old fashioned fly in in here this weekend. And Eastsound is a nice little village with a choice of cafes and restaurants. Friday Harbor is not far so we can fly over there for a day. And the San Juans are less than 30 mins from home, so if our friends are able to come, they could be here after work and by dinner tomorrow. We didn't leave home until 730pm tonight and it was still daylight when we set up our campsite.

Keeping our fingers crossed they'll make it down tomorrow.

Celebration of Light

On Wednesday Hubby's parents brought their boat over from the Island. Hubby, Adera and I met them at Granville Island and headed out into English Bay for the 3rd night of the Celebration of Light fireworks.

2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the Celevration of Light, originally called Symphony of Fire.

We saw the presentation Journey by Mexico. Personally I think it got off to a slow start, but by the 2nd piece of music it was awesome.

Saying Goodbye to the Yukon

 

When Hubby and I took off at 10:00am yesterday morning from Whitehorse Airport there were only 2 planes and 1 helicopter left from our group of 108 flying machines.  It was sad to see our Century parking area so empty. It's been an awesome trip and I'm sad that it's done.  

 

I've finished uploading our 900+ photos to Flickr.  You can check them out at this link.  There are quite a few duplicates and quite a few of them are out of order.  I'll try and get them organised in the next day or so.

 

So whats next?  2009 was the Cross Canada Flight.  2010 was the Yukon Midnight Sun Challenge. 2011 will be the Northern Wilderness of Saskatchewan.

Takhini Hot Springs and Braeburn Lodge - The Cinnamon Bun Strip

The Yukon 2010 Midnight Sun Challenge was officially done after the reception on Friday night.  Most planes left Saturday morning to try and beat some nasty weather.  We had already decided that we would stay an extra night and leave Sunday morning as the forecast for then was much better. I think we counted 12 planes and 1 helicopter that stayed on.

Adera's commercial flight back to Vancouver was also not until Sunday morning, so we drove out to Takhini Hot Springs and Braeburn Lodge. Yep, we drove.  Hubby said he wasn't interested in flying - words I never thought I would hear him say.

 

The hot springs were okay. They were hot - 40C/104F.  They were relaxing.  They didn't smell like sulphur. The water is drained every night, and the pool is scrubbed once every 24 hours. But it was just a big concrete pool.  

 image takhini hotsprings
 

Not sure what I was expecting.   Well yes I do.  I was hoping for something like Mataranka Springs (outside Katherine, in the Northern Territory, Australia) or the outdoor onsens in Japan or the Liard Hotsprings (as seen in the image below) - a more natural setting.  Ah well, concrete pool and all, Adera, Hubby and I enjoyed our hour or so of relaxing far from the airport. 

 

It's hard work soaking yourself until you are all prune-y.  We worked up quite an appetite.  So off to Braeburn Lodge we went.  Hubby has been talking about Braeburn Lodge and for a few years now. He's been up to the Yukon twice previously but had not yet made it out to Braeburn. So we had to go. There is an airstrip right there, but we drove like normal people!

 

Braeburn Lodge is famous for their monster cinnamon buns.  Seriously they are the size of a dinner plate, or hubby's head.

 

Between Adera, Hubby and I we split one bowl of soup, two hamburgers and one cinnamon bun.  And it was still way too much food. 

 

Adera and Hubby napped all the way home, while I got to drive. Hubby figured since he'd done all the flying, I could do the driving.
 

 

An Unexpected Day in Whitehorse

Friday was supposed to be our third and final day of fly-outs.  But the weather had other ideas and all our flights were cancelled.  We had be scheduled to fly to Atlin, BC.  Just south of the Yukon/BC border, Atlin is called The Switzerland of the North.  Oh well.  Next time.  

Instead we spent the morning getting ready for the closing reception and awards.  A slide show of photos from the last week, certificates for completion of the trip, awards to determine etc.

 

Hubby and I had a little spare time for some last minute sightseeing.  We walked up the side of the Yukon 
River to the rapids and fish ladder.

 

The fish ladder was built in 1959 after the first part of the Whitehorse Dam was completed.  The ladder allows the migrating chinook salmon to  bypass the dam and reach their spawning ground in the southern Yukon River.

 

The chinook run occurs late July to early September.  When we were there it was still a little early and there were not a lot of fish in the ladder.

 

At 2 metres deep and 366 metres long, the Whitehorse fish ladder is the longest wooden fish ladder in the world.  

Hubby then went back to the hotel to work on his presentation and I went to the Old Log Church Museum. Built in 1900 it is one of the oldest buildings in Whitehorse. I'm a bit of a sucker for the old log buildings, I think they are way more beautiful than our modern day buildings, although I do like our modern day amenities.

 

It's also the place to hear the legend of "The Bishop Who Ate His Boots."

  

White Pass and Yukon Railway

 

Thursday we took a day off from flying and rode the White Pass and Yukon Railway that runs from Skagway to Whitehorse. We did not travel the whole route, just a small part from Fraser BC to Bennett BC to Carcross YK.  

 Lake Bennett
 

"Built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush, this narrow gauge railroad is an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, a designation shared with the Panama Canal, the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty."

 

 St Andrew's 
 

"The WP&YR railway was considered an impossible task but it was literally blasted through coastal mountains in only 26 months."

 lunch stop
 

"The WP&YR climbs almost 3000 feet in just 20 miles and features steep grades of up to 3.9%, cliff-hanging turns of 16 degrees, two tunnels and numerous bridges and trestles. The steel cantilever bridge was the tallest of its kind in the world when it was constructed in 1901."

 

 "The 110 mile WP&YR Railroad was completed with the driving of the golden spike on July 29, 1900 in Carcross Yukon connecting the deep water port of Skagway Alaska to Whitehorse Yukon and beyond to northwest Canada and interior Alaska."

 

Haines Junction and The Lowell Glacier

 

Haines Junction was our fly-out destination for Wednesday. Haines Junction is located at Milepost 1016 on the Alaska Highway, on the edge of Kluane National Park and Reserve. There is not really much to do see in Haines Junction.  It's really more of a base for people who are hiking or climbing in the area.

Our main stops were Our Lady of the Way Catholic Church, built in 1955 from a converted American army Quonset Hut.  A common site at military camps during World War II, the Quonset hut was a steel arch rib frame covered with corrugated metal sheets.

 

Village Monument.  All the tourist brochures claim that, "the Village Monument is one of Haines Junction's most photographed structures.  Known affectionately by locals at The Muffin."  It may be one of the most photographed structures (after all we took lots of photos of it), and it may look like a muffin, but the locals were not so affectionate about it.  The idea is that all the large mammals of the area are represented against a backdrop of the mountains of Kluane National Park.

 

Antler Street Sign.  A local family hang a set of antlers on the street sign near their house in 1986.  After a particularly nasty wind blew the sign over, the Village supplied a larger post, and the family added horns and antlers from all animals of the region - Dall's sheep, caribou, elk, bison and moose.

 

But the absolute highlight of the flight today and of the whole trip? Flying over the Lowell Glacier. Absolutely amazing. This was only a small section of a smaller glacier.  It was too cloudy to fly over any others. But so worth it. We took a lot of photos and some video.  I'm waiting for hubby to upload the video.

    

Dawson City

Tuesday was our first official fly out day since we arrived on Saturday. Dave was the flight lead to Dawson City. The flight there was about 2 hours, through some rain and low visibility, about 3 hours on the ground in the rain and then a 2 hour flight back again. 

 Dawson City - note the wide dirt roads.  It was pretty muddy in the rain.
 

Dawson city was the heart of the Klondike gold rush in 1896 and was referred to as the Paris of the North. Over 30,000 people came to Dawson City to stake their claim on the surrounding creeks, with names like Bonanza, Eldorado and Last Chance.

 

It was wet and we didn't have a lot of time on the ground, so here are a few quick highlights:

Robert Service Cabin - Robert Service was the bard of the Yukon. A bank clerk and a poet, he did not move to the Yukon from England and Vancouver until his late twenties/early thirties.  But because of his most famous poems, The Cremation of Sam McGee and The Shooting of Dan McGrew people often mistake him for a hard bitten Klondike prospector. His arrival in the Yukon was 6 years after the gold rush. 

 

Straight's Auction House and Second Hand Store.  Built in 1901, groceries, hardware, tobacco, furniture, clothing, guns and ammunition were sold here.  But what made us laugh, was that in the walking tour guide it said, "In 1998, it was sold to a Yukon businessman who continues to stabilize and maintain this well-known building."  Take a look at the photo below.  Does it look like a stabilized and maintain building?

 

Modern Musher meets Fortymile Man at the Dawson City Museum.  Look at the difference in gear etc. 

 

Before we left we had lunch at Sourdough Joe's.  

If we had had more time we would have taken a tour out to Dredge No 4.  It's on the list for next time 

Whitehorse Day

 

Yesterday Whitehorse Tourism created a personalized tour for the Midnight Sun participants.  The tour was set up in such a way that you could join for the day, or just for parts of it. It was really well done.

 

We started at the SS Klondike.  Actually the SS Klondike II was built in 1937 to replace the SS Klondike I whose career came to an end when it run aground on the Yukon River in 1936.  The Klondike II served as a cargo vessel, travelling from Whitehorse to Dawson until 1952. After a brief run as a cruise ship (1952-55) the SS Klondike II steamed into Whitehorse for the last time in August 1955.  It is now maintained by Parks Canada as a heritage site representing an era of riverboat transportation that brought the world to the Yukon.

 

Would you like to race a canoe 1000 miles (1600km) along the Yukon River?  I'm not adventurous enough. But these brave souls are.  We watched and cheered for them as they started out on the longest canoe and kayak race in the world, the Yukon 1000.  It can last 7-12 days with 18 hours per day of solid paddling. I wish them all a safe trip. 2 of the 9 boats are Aussies.  C'mon Aussies C'mon.

 

Dave had been at a pilot briefing all morning but he met up with me for lunch.  We came all the way to the Yukon to have grilled cheese sandwiches and milkshakes in a 50's diner.  It was good.

 

The easiest way to appreciate some of the history of Whitehorse is to take a walking tour with the Yukon Historical and Museums Association.  Lasting about an hour you will visit historic buildings and hear stories of colourful Yukon characters. A couple of highlights from the tour:

 

The Klondike Airways building. Klondike Airways was a mail and freight delivery company.  The company never actually owned any airplanes, they used snowmobiles and trains.  It now houses the Klondike Rib & Salmon BBQ.  Which looks popular, it's always busy.

 

The Log Skyscrapers.  Built in 1947 at a time when Whitehorse was experiencing a lack of accommodation due to wartime accommodation.  58 logs tall, each log has a 9" diameter.  Each floor is now a residential apartment, albeit a small one at 16' x 16'.

I've been trying and trying to load all our photos onto flickr.  But we have the world's slowest internet and in the last 48 hours I've been able to upload one photo.  And we have hundreds.  So this could take awhile.