You are my Sunshine

Well, we are in the Yukon. It is 10pm, the sun is still shining, and it does not look like it has plans to set anytime soon. We are staying in an RV park that is owned by Swiss people, and right now outside the laundromat, the accordions are going strong and have been for the last several hours. There are Swiss people all around us, and I have even had a little bit of a chance to practice some of my oh-so-rusty German. We decided to stay because when we drove in there was the most beautiful sight...a little hut with a kitchen sink for washing dishes. I don't know if I've ever been so happy to wash dishes in running water. Magical. :)
We have been camping for over two weeks now, and we take showers at least once a week whether we need to or not. :) We decided that when we felt the need to limit our forays into places like gas stations, we probably needed to find showers. Not always an easy task, but we did find a rather rustic bathhouse where I learned that Crocs are not really good at killing a spider, but running water will wash them down the drain with enough help.
After several wonderful days of driving the Cassiar, we have arrived in Whitehorse. Our time driving through northern BC included seeing glaciers, my first grizzly, a serious black bear, canoeing, and more attempts to vanquish mosquitoes. While our campsites on lakes were truly lovely, their tendency to be mosquito infested has added an interesting challenge to our travels. There are days that we feel like we are in some version of the Amazing Race as we attempt to find water that is not under a boil order, set up a tent without getting eaten alive, reload the puzzle that is known as our car--again, and head off down the road.
We have certainly seen a little more nature since heading out on the Cassiar. We had a cute young grizzly walking around our campground only about 50 feet from our tent. I was so excited until we headed to bed, and I realized that our tent was certainly the closest to where he had been walking. Makes you think...
We also saw a really awesome black bear on the side of the road. He was certainly not yo' mamma's teddy bear, and he got a little perturbed when I turned the car toward him to follow him down the road. (I know Mom, I would not follow him on foot.)
After only five weeks on the road, we finally made it into a canoe. We had been wanting to do a canoeing trip, but given that we have never been in one together before, we figured that we should try a few hours and "test the waters." Haha. We had a great time, even given that the canoe dude's advice to go left because there is a 1 in 8 chance that the wind will come up from the other direction did not really pan out. Against the wind is harder. And yes JP, I paddled. It was really amazing though, being out in the middle of an enormous lake that we couldn't even see all of, and we were the only ones there. Pretty cool. Hopefully we'll get back out on the water now that we know we can canoe together.
Well, we are leaving Whitehorse tomorrow and heading on to Alaska. Whitehorse is a delightful town that we have had a wonderful time sweating to death in. Honestly, who would think you head into the Yukon for 90 degrees. Hmmm... Well, at least we are leaving with clean dishes, clean laundry, and drinking water. Off to the next challenge.