Haines Junction, Yukon Territory

We loaded the car this morning in a cold rain.  The temperature was around 50 degrees.  I can’t get accustomed to Celsius.  The rain was actually good because it washed some of the dirt off, especially of the running boards.  We drove out of the rain in about an hour and had a sunny but cool day. Too bad we had to drive through another construction project that they had wet down to keep the dust down and the car got muddy again.

Though we drove through some mountains, it was not nearly as mountainous as yesterday.  We didn't see any wildlife today. 

Places to stop for a meal are rare and with long distances between.  Yesterday we lucked upon a deli style place, Jake’s Place.  I asked Jake if he would fix two ham and cheese sandwiches to go but wrap each part separately.  He said sure and started pulling out the ingredients.  He had loaves of bread that had been baked there that were twice the size of what we buy at the store.  He sliced off four big slices and wrapped them in plastic wrap.  Then he pulled out a baked ham and started cutting slices until he had a pile of ham.  This was followed by the long rectangle of cheese like they have at the deli at Walmart.  He sliced off eight slices of cheese.  The ham and cheese were each wrapped in foil followed by plastic wrap.  The ham and cheese went in the cooler with our drinks and water.  This morning we stopped at a little grocery store and got a small jar of mayo and a small jar of pickles.  For lunch today, we had our sandwiches.  The bread was so big we only used one slice each.  Two slices of ham and one slice of cheese went on the sandwich with mayo and pickles.  I had brought some chips and soft drinks with us.  There is enough of everything for at least one more sandwich each, maybe two.  We had our picnic at one of the “rest areas.”  It was so cool and the mosquitoes were so bad, we had to sit in the car to eat.

Our motel tonight is a small, new motel built in the style of an old 50s motel.  It is immaculately clean and has the best view of any yet.  There is also a restaurant and laundromat across the street.  We put clothes in to wash and went to order dinner.  Again the prices were high but the portions were large so we split an order and had all we could eat.  Since it is much cooler here, we switched out our hot weather clothes for warmer clothes.

At the hotel at Dawson Creek, we were going to share breakfast.  This hotel had a restaurant attached and did not offer complimentary breakfast.  We ordered the meal that had two eggs, four strips of bacon, a large serving of fresh hash browns, two slices of Texas toast, a wedge of watermelon and an orange wedge.  That screamed share to me.  I told the waitress we would be sharing and ordered two drinks.  When the food was delivered, it was on a 12 inch dinner plate and the plate was full.  She sat it down in front of Danny, looked at me and said, “Oh.  Did you want another plate?”  I said,” Uh, yea.”  I really wanted to say, “Duh!”

The rest area facilities - no running water, no hand sanitizer, just a hole in the ground. 

The Teslin River and the village of Teslin. 

The view from our hotel.  This is the Kluane range which is part of the St. Elias Mountains.

The Canadian money looks like monopoly money.  The denominations are like ours but the look is different.  There is a $5 bill but I don't have one right now.  There are no $1 bills.  The bottom coin is a $2 coin (toonie); it is a gold coin with a silver band.  The $1 coin (loonie) is gold.  From bottom to top, there is $2, $1, 25 cents, 10 cents, and 5 cents.  If change would require pennies, it is rounded either up or down.