Whitehorse

I really didn't know what to expect of Whitehorse before getting here. I didn't know anything about it, except that there is lots of light in summer, and not so much in the winter. And that it was gonna be really, really cold, so I bought the whole spectrum of clothing layers in preparation. Well, it turned out I knew even less than the little I thought I knew.

The first thing - Whitehorse is gorgeous. The Yukon River flows beside it,and the mountains rise up around it. With the snow everywhere, and the ever-changing clouds, I could just sit and stare at the landscape forever.

After tearing myself away from the scenery, I discovered the people are also too awesome for words. I stayed at the Hide on Jekell hostel. It had a really global atmosphere, with visitors from as close as Japan and Korea, and as far away as Toronto. Oliver and Elena are running the place at the moment - he's from Germany and she's from Russia, and they are great. And we all got to celebrate the hostel's 5th birthday, complete with pasta, wine and a dip in the hot tub. And what dip in the hot tub would be complete without getting out and rolling in a snowbank and then jumping back in? That's a night I won't soon forget!

The people in town were equally fantastic. The organizers of the Rendezvous festival took me under their wing, introduced me to so many cool people, gave me rides around town when they saw me on the street, and were just generally some of the most wonderful people I have ever met. The first event I went to - a Dance Fever Night, where the Sourdough Sam and Queen contestants had to do dance numbers, and the Can Can dancers and Snowshoe Shufflers performed as well - I felt like I was at a family reunion. Everyone was welcoming, and having a great time, and getting involved. I've never seen an event so big with so many people who are unafraid to get dressed up and act crazy.

Through the Rendezvous festival, I also had the chance to enter the hairy leg contest - I think I came in last - and got a block of snow all my own to carve into something. As I can't draw, I decided to make a gigantic HI. As I got into it, I realized the back was going to say IH. With some help from one of Canada's top snow carvers - Don Watts, we got the I changed into an E on that side, so it read EH. It got some laughs, so I'll count it a success.

But it wasn't all play, I ran around with camera in hand and caught the chainsaw chuck, axe throwing, flour packing, beard growing, and professional snow carving competitions. There were others, too, but it's all blending together. I gotta go through the tapes to remember it all. You'll just have to watch the documentary to get the full story :) And in the end, it wasn't even that cold. I didn't even wear all the layers I bought. It hit -30 for a couple of days I think, but there was no wind, so I didn't even realize it was that cold. And I'm usually a wuss when it comes to that kind of thing.

So go check out Whitehorse!