Leg 8

6/4/14
Norm's Ride
Teslin, YT to Haines Jct., YT

We rolled into Teslin, I got gas and caught up with John and Mike.  Then we went across the street and checked into the Nisutlin Trading Post.  Not much going on in Teslin, but the next morning we enjoyed free donuts and coffee before our departure.

We rode the short distance (104 miles) to Whitehorse, YT.  Whitehorse has been the capital of Yukon Territory since 1953.  We had several things we wanted to see here including the SS Klondike sternwheeler;  visit the Welcome Center and receive our free pin, and the MacBride Museum. We were delighted to see a McDonald's as we entered the city, so we decided to stop and have something to eat.  So far it's the cheapest meal that we've had.  Then we headed over to the SS Klondike National Historic site.  It was amazing.  It sits beside the Yukon River and was built in 1929 by the British Yukon Navigation Company.  She ran aground in 1936 at the confluence of the Teslin and Yukon rivers.  After that she was used as salvage parts to build a new ship, the S.S. Klondike II.  We had a wonderful time exploring the three decks of the ship.

From there we headed towards the MacBride Museum, but after spending so much time on the SS Klondike, we decided that we didn't have time to visit the whole museum, so we just bought some decals and headed towards the Welcome Center to get our free city pin.  When I was here in 1998, the city handed out a really cool pin.  It was a white stallion rearing up on its hind legs, kind of like the statue of the Denver Broncos stallion at Mile High Stadium.  The new pin is a picture of the SS Klondike.  Guess they wanted to change their image.  I liked the old one better.

We could see the clouds moving in, so we decided to head towards Haines Junction.  The original plan was to make it to Tok, AK, but we messed around in Whitehorse too long.  That was ok.  It was a nice change of pace.

Arriving Haines Junction, Jeff recommended an ice cream/restaurant combination place that he liked.  Frosty's.  It was wonderful. Mike started out with a chocolate sundae. Then he ordered fish and chips.  Dessert first.  My kind of guy.  John and Jeff were more traditional.  They both ordered hamburgers, then banana splits.  They were huge.   When we asked them if they knew of a good motel for the night, they recommended The Cozy Corner.  We headed there.