bobanddenisewanderlust

We had a very busy day touring White Horse. We started at  a little after 9AM at the Visitor Center where we received a free pin, a free parking pass for 3 days, and watched a very nice 15 minute movie on the Yukon.  We picked up some more brochures, then wandered out to walk the river walk along the Yukon River.

We saw this First Nation Sculpture, depicting the Eagle and the Wolfe, the local clans.

We continued on and the trolley passed us.  The plan was to walk down and ride the trolley back.

Next we saw this totem pole.

It is hard to tell, but this is one fast moving river. What is hard to remember is that the river flows north, so down river, is actually to the north! More on that later…

It was a quiet walk on the river, so we meandered on. We finally arrived at the second to the last stop and got on the Trolley($2 one way each) and rode back to the Visitor Center.

We saw these two and three story log cabins, so we stopped to take pictures.

We also saw this mural. There are a lot of murals in town.

We continued on to the McBride Museum of Yukon History. They advertise as showing the Yukon from the gold rush to the birth of White Horse.  Here are Margie and Wayne at the entrance.

We paid for the museum and for the tour of the SS Klondike, a paddle wheeler, which we will tour at 3PM. Our museum tour started with a movie about the gold rush and the town of Dawson City from the perspective of a man whose father crossed the country to the gold rush and lived there the rest of his life.

They had various exhibits discussing people and their history in the gold rush and the area. They also had these stuffed wildlife.

And more murals.

They had various rooms set up with stories about the people involved, such as the optometrist, the barber and the woman, who with 3 children and $3 arrived and set up a sweet shop.

The museum was very ‘alive’ with the descriptions of the people. For instance one man who did a lot for the city, and when he died, requested that his body be shipped back east for burial so that he would not spend eternity in the frozen tundra! It was a very interesting museum, since you could look at something that the person used and then learn about the person’s life.

Here is some info about the Yukon. Note the population figures! That is for the entire territory!

Moving on…. the lady at the visitor center told us to be at the Adaka Cultural Festival at 12:00 for free lunch sponsored by the people of the First Nation. So we headed over to the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre. We arrived and saw a lot of cars ( for White Horse) and walked around to the back of the building where there were tents set up next to the river. They were offering free classes in the tents and the building, things like weaving and beading.

We entered the building and there was a nice buffet, free for everyone! Lunch was pasta salad, potato salad, roast beef, awesome salmon, and tasty raspberry cobbler for dessert. Everything was delicious!! We walked out back and sat on the concrete to eat.

Once we finished eating, we went into the building and went through the “gallery”. The gallery was sort of like an upscale county fair, where the crafts were judged. These items were exquisite!  At the entrance was the winner, a three dimensional painting of moccasins, which I was not allowed to take a picture of, on sale for $3500.  Here are other items:

This sculpture was done on an caribou antler.

This carving was done on wood, and accessorized with rocks and buttons!

There was lots of bead work.

This carving was impressive as it is three dimensional.

There were several of these drawings done on maps! Interesting!!

Finally, my favorites:

Above, this was made with an moose hoof, owl feather and muskox horn. Below is made of  polar bear, bison and porcupine quill.

We left and went to Canadian Tire, where Margie and Wayne had bought an alarm clock which did not work. We ran back to the motor home and walked the dogs.

We returned to town at a little before 3 PM for our tour of the SS Klondike, a paddle wheeler. 

Above, first class parlor. Below first class dining room.

The crew ate with the second class passengers. Our tour guide was new, so it was not the best tour we have ever been on… but the ship was interesting.

After the tour, we went into a tent on the same property and watched a movie on the paddle wheelers. It was interesting, especially about how they took the boats in and out of the water in the fall and spring.

Since it was sunny, we crossed the bridge and went up by the hospital to look across to the town.

We returned to the motor home, had dinner, watched TV and Bob ordered a new bladder for the bed.

Filed under: Uncategorized |