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Today was a day to review years’ past. First up was a visit on the Riverboat S.S. Klondike. It was a sternwheeler that came into use in 1937 to replace it’s predecessor that sank. It was the largest riverboat to cruise the waters of the Yukon River until it’s retirement in the 1950’s. We were able to walk through parts of the boat and see some historical films on the use of riverboats during the golden years.

Our next stop was the MacBride Museum of Yukon history. Here we had opportunity to learn more about the early settlers. We read more on the people involved in building the Alcan Highway and those who followed the trails of Klondike gold! The hardships they endured, all in hopes of striking it rich! Of course, those who did were few and far between. The museum also had an amazing display of preserved animals, from birds to the largest of animals, the grizzly bear, they were an educational display that gave you great perspective into the size of some of the animals of the Yukon.

We finished the day off at a chance discovery of a dinner theatre in town every Thursday night. A wonderful meal of arctic char surrounded by many locally-grown items, it included a duo playing jazz on pianos, while telling the story of the Klondike gold rush of the late 1800’s. We enjoyed the company of two couples from Newmarket and Aurora, north of Toronto who were on the bus portion of an Alaskan cruise.

Tomorrow, we take a side trip to Atlin, BC.

Today we had a pretty drive up through to Whitehorse. We had a few pretty lakes along the way, and roads were fair too. Arriving at Whitehorse, we decided on a campground on the outskirts of town called Pioneer Campground and managed to get a site up in the trees. After setting up, we took a visit into the visitor centre followed by a drive around town to get our bearings. We drove along Miles Canyon, where we were able to get out and walk across the river on a suspension bridge. We certainly were high up above the water!

While we were touring around the town, we passed by Walmart – and as Paul says “Oh look, Walmart opened a store in a campground!” In all our years of travelling the country and seeing campers (sometimes us) overnight, we have never experienced it to the degree that this store has. You wonder if it is this busy at this time of the tourist season, what must it look like in the middle of July? Some of these rigs looked like they had been set up almost permanently! Where do the paying customers park?

Next up, historical sites….