What the Heck is the Yukon?

After spending last year traveling north and south along the rail belt in Alaska, I finally made the right hand turn in Fairbanks and found myself in the middle of nowhere. It looks like I will mostly be leading tours through the middle of nowhere for the summer, which means more days with the same people, longer days and hours and hours on coaches. These longer tours leave Alaska and head in a southeastern arc through the Yukon (the northwest most territory in Canada) and ending in Skagway, back in Alaska, most of the time. The cities we visit are Dawson City, Beaver Creek and Whitehorse, the latter is the only one that really qualifies as a city. As we travel the highways, also facetiously named, we see miles and miles of trees, few cars and no Starbucks. (wait, in Whitehorse there are two Starbucks and one McD's) We have to take lunch on the road with us or visit special roadhouses that cater to the coach tours, otherwise there is nothing available. There are some interesting rest stops with great snacks; the worlds largest cinnamon roll at Braeburn Station, incredible strawberry rhubarb pie at Rica's Roadhouse and amazing cookies in Chicken. The landscape vary between vast river valleys, high jagged mountains and trees so thick you can't see beyond 10 feet. It is a beautiful amazing area but I can't even imagine what winter would be like.

To answer the title question, the Yukon is three things to me. First, it is the territory with a population of 31,000 (about equal to the number of students attending UCD), 21,000 live in the metro area of Whitehorse. It borders Alaska to the west, British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east and the Beaufort Sea to the north. Here they fly the Yukon and Canadian flags and very often you will also see the Alaska and/or US flags; you can pay in US dollars just about everywhere and receive Canadian loonies as change; and on TV there are about 5 stations in French, WGN out of Chicago and host of stations that play American sitcom reruns. Second, the Yukon is the river...stay tuned for the next post. Third, the Yukon is HAL speak for anything east of Fairbanks. Though we stay over in the crossroads town of Tok, AK, if you are leaving Fairbanks on the highway, you are in the Yukon. That means: fewer tours passing through, getting us away from the mass confusion that is Fairbanks, Denali and Anchorage; fewer TD's, which means less gossip and complaining; getting to really know your guests, for better or worse; fewer supervisors looking over your shoulder; and finally working really long hours but actually making a bigger impact. I am enjoying the Yukon and now that I have Dawson City down they are sending me through Beaver Creek next. So much for knowing what I am doing.

Thanks for reading.