dancing horses

dancing horses

Sunday, February 10, 2019

A Week of New Things


I am back from a truly wonderful vacation. I spent the time with Cynthia having a blast and having all sorts of new experiences.

If you don't mind I'll share these with you along with some photos.

So sorry that there's no horse related material.

#1. Experience -37 delicious. 

The first day there was bitterly cold and I can honestly say that I have never been out in such cold. Despite that we bundled up and went to watch the start of the Yukon Quest Dog Race. The teams race for 1,000 miles. I can't even imagine doing such a thing.

Cynthia and Renata putting a brave face on the cold

the dogs were flying

I was okay for a bit and then all of my exposed skin was feeling like it was being peeled off. We fled to the car and home. We then headed out for brunch and then drove down the highway to catch some more dog teams. 


Fortunately, the rest of the week was much warmer: -12 to -20 most days. 

#2. Trying New Foods:

I tried a bison burger and it was delicious. Like amazing delicious. Like the best burger I have had in a long time. And I am fussy about my meat. I rarely like game (absolutely loathe deer). 

I also tried Elk sausage which was made at a local deli and was really good as well. I did not have one bad meal on my whole trip. 
I also highly recommend that potato & bacon soup
#3.  Blowing Glass:
Cynthia took me to Lumel Studios to see their artwork. It is a funky little place in downtown Whitehorse. Turns out that they do workshops. So I found myself signing up for an hour to make some items. It was so much fun. I could see myself getting into this quite easily (like I need another expensive hobby). 



Cynthia had this gift waiting for me- a white horse from Whitehorse.
It's a example of their beautiful art work

I made three things: a hanging ball, paperweight and a wine glass (it has a thumb holder)


#4. Curling
Curling is not a new thing. I have been doing it for years (you know- the sport on ice with brooms and rocks). In fact I got Cynthia and Andrew into it a few years ago. They joined the Whitehorse Curling Club and needed a spare the week I was there. It was a lot of fun- the club is lovely and the people are fun. 

But what was more exciting was that we scored 8 points in one end. This is a big deal in curling. It means that all of the rocks from our team scored in that end. Think of it like a hole in 1 in golf (only more rare) or getting a dressage score in the 90's. A curler can go their whole life and not score 8 points in one end. 

 I stole this picture from the FB page for the club. 
We had our picture taken and the details are submitted to Curling Canada for awards. It was all very exciting. 

#5. Hike to a Glacier

I have a whole blog post about this hike but it was stunning. And hard. Really hard. 

But beautiful. 




#6. Dog Sledding! 

I honestly never thought that I would ever do this. We went to Alayuk to do a 2 hour dog sledding through some beautiful scenery. When we arrived they supplied us with the winter clothes to be safe. My driver was this young and very handsome frenchman. 

When he said " come to the back room and I will get you the clothes you need' I looked at him and said 'Sure you can dress me'. Proving, once again, that I can be really awkward even at my, ahem, mature age. 

The dogs were beautiful and well trained. Two of the dogs in my sled were going to the Iditarod dog race. 
ready to go

The patriarch, named Willow. I loved him- he had such presence

at break time some dogs were impatient

while others relaxed and enjoyed some attention
I got to actually drive these beautiful creatures. That was quite the experience. 
I actually took this while being a passenger. 

 It would be fun to try with Guinness but we simply don't get enough snow. 

#7. Hot Springs
No photos but hot springs are wonderful things. It's amazing how mellow you feel after soaking in these. It took all the pain out of sore muscles (that come from trying these things). 

#8. Northern Lights
I did get to see the Northern Lights. Not the really fabulous ones but still it was cool. Trying to get photos was interesting (i.e, hard). 







There were other things I did (like the wildlife preserve, shopping, exploring).  I fell in love with Whitehorse. It was beautiful and everywhere you went there was something to do. Ed and I are going back in September and will be doing some new things (like paddling the yukon river). 

Honestly, if you have a chance, go. You will not regret it. 

I know I'm glad that I went.

29 comments:

  1. What a fantastic trip!!! 😍😍😍 So many amazing experiences, I'm so jealous.

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  2. I love your glass art! I've only seen the northern lights once, it was a spiritual experience.

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  3. It sounds like a fantastic trip! wonderful adventures

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  4. Mmmm I love bison burgers! Sounds like such an incredible trip with so many fun activities! I’d love to see some sled dog racing and the northern lights one day too - maybe eventually! Glad you had a good time ;)

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    1. You should definitely go! The dog racing was so much fun.

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  5. Wow! You fit so much into a fairly short time! My grandfather blew glass, but it's not something I've ever gotten to try. Nor curling (I don't think it's very popular in my area).
    Dog sledding looks so exciting! And I've heard the dogs absolutely love their job. Must have been so fun!

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    1. I am very good at vacations. :D
      Curling is a lot of fun. You should try it.

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  6. That sounds like such a fantastic trip, so glad you had a fun time out! Adding Whitehorse to my bucket list...I've only ventured as far as northern BC and only in the summer - winter in Whitehorse looks amazing!

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    1. You are pretty close though- it took me 13 hours of travel to get there! You should go. :D Especially now that you have all that snow experience.

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  7. So is that minus 37F or minus 37C? Either way, sounds plenty cold to me! Sounds like a great time, and way more interesting than a trip to a southern beach!!

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    1. Ceclius. But at a certain point there ceases to be a difference (at -40). It was a different vacation for sure but wonderful.

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  8. Wow. I’m packing to move to whitehorse. What an amazing trip!

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    1. I think it would be harder with horses....not that there aren't any- but I think I prefer warmer weather. Definitely worth a visit though.

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  9. Looks like you had an excellent adventure! I'd love to do most of that sometime. Glad you're back.

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    1. It was a wonderful adventure. I'm glad to be back too though. I was missing my family. :)

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  10. Oh I'm so jealous!! What an absolutely AWESOME trip. The dog "track suits" are awesome. I LOVE that you got to try dog sledding. SO COOL. I love both bison and elk and your food experiences had me drooling. Glass blowing is on my bucket list. AND Northern Lights?!?!?! Wow. Just wow.

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  11. I'm glad you got to experience some real cold! I'm going to wait until summer to do a trip up north. Summers are supposed to be amazing up there.

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    1. Ed and I are going in September. That should be lovely.

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  12. I love Alaska! I think it's one of my overall favorite places. So this whole northern look just had me grinning. What a lovely trip.

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    1. I figured you would. What a beautiful area it is.

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  13. It's all so damn gorgeous! You've totally convinced me. I will totally go to Yukon one day now. It's officially on the list!

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  14. What and amazing trip. I'm jealous of everything you got to do.

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    1. it was pretty fabulous. I loved how much I got to fit in!

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  15. Amazing vacation. You have some cool friends!

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