Bob decided to lay back today so this
was a Sharon & the Jacobs museum day.
We had decided a long time ago that if the brochure said “3 hours to go through
this museum,” Bob was done in an hour, Don and Joy in 2 hours and Sharon in 5
hours. So we compromise.
We started at the Beringia Museum. We've always heard about the isthmus of land
that used to connect Asia/Russia to Alaska, well this was it! The tour we took focused on the climate
change and temperature when animals appeared and disappeared. There were actually mammoths still living
3,700 years ago on an island north of Siberia, while the Egyptian rulers were
doing their thing! To put these on a time
line is very interesting to me. And, looking
at this from a scientific perspective without bias was very interesting. The “ice age” we refer to is a “glacial”
period, not the deep “ice age.” Animals that developed and some were able to evolve for different areas while others were not. So much
to cover, so little time.
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| the land that connected us |
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| Joy's friend, the giant squirrel, on the trail! |
The Yukon Transportation Museum was our
next stop. I love transportation
museums. More and more, I’m feeling a
part of the history, but not here.
Because we have been so immersed in Alcan Highway and gold stampede history,
this reinforced the hardships of “getting there.”
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| We've seen this picture many places, but here was the sleigh also. |
Switching gears, we next went to the Old Log Church Museum. Again, we've heard a lot about the dedication of the early missionaries and bishops traveling around to visit the peoples. In addition to many artifacts, we heard the story of "the bishop who are his boots" here. Lost and without food, they literally ate their boots to survive. We continue to marvel at the lengths all of these northern people go to, whether to survive as First Nations people or for God or gold.
At the Whitehorse Visitors Center we
turned in our Yukon Gold Passbooks. We
have been collecting stamps at various sites we have visited in the Yukon. For 10, you have a chance at 2 oz of Yukon
gold! For 20, 5 ozs!! We had 14, but figure a Yukonian (?) will win
so they can make create ad campaign, and pay the tax. There were 6 stained glass windows in the foyers
that I really liked. Home improvement project???
The fish ladder we saw was the longest
in the Yukon. Remember from before? Helping the salmon to get around the
hydro-electric plants built on the rivers?
There were few fish actually using the ladder when we were there, but we
understand the principal and loved the salmon art work created by school
children.
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| Paint, nails and o-rings |
The Klondike steam paddle wheeler was the
first we’d gotten to tour. This one was
wood steam propelled rather than coal, a much more plentiful source of
fuel. Having artifacts in each of the
areas made it so real. Boxes and crates
of cargo with labels make it much easier for me to connect. The dining
hall, food prep areas, “staterooms” and lounge areas are much different from
the cruises of today, but very elegant for the times.
Don and I were talking today about the simpler
way of life up here as opposed to the hustle and bustle, “things and possession”
way of life at home. They are
considering going “fulltime,” RV talk
for living and traveling in their motorhome all the time.
We have disconnected from our “stuff” at home and would be easy to just
keep going, but to go home and “sell all to hit the trail” might be a
challenge. And, for us, we would miss out too much on a growing family!!
We head south through British Columbia
tomorrow, planning to stay at 2 different provincial parks. Part of our simpler way of life.
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