Back in the wild city of Whitehorse

   My first weekend back., Marcel and I went for a beautiful drive to take some pictures of a hockey team playing on a lake. We drove to Emerald Lake, which is near Carcross (orginally called Caribou Crossing for obvious reasons) west of Whitehorse. The mountains are more prominent there and the lake was surrounded by white-caps. It was a sunny day and we listened to Vinyl Cafe (stories of Dave and Morely- classic Canadian literature) on CBC during the drive. I tried out the moccassins I made in a university Outdoor Ed course that don't work so well in the slushy weather of the south. Here they are like a warm house for my feet without the weight of heavy snowboots. I'm going for more walks lately just to feel the snow under my toes. We have also been skiing many times since we've been back since the weather has been so mild (in the teens, rather than -20s or -30s.).

 

   Marcel has also been thrown into the world of The Quest since we've been back. He has to write up a 24 page supplement for it which is pretty much a whole newspaper on its own. So on top of his regular sports writing, he spends his nights reading old supplements of bygone Quests and coming up with story ideas (some of which he can hand out to his coworkers for help). It is only two weeks until he leaves and he has also received some great advice in an email from the past sports reporter... one thing mentioned is to buy "dozens of handwarmers- the ones that you crack and they heat up. Use them in your boots, in your mitts, in your jacket-- they are even great to put in your camera bag to prevent your battery from dying". We were also told to get him a warm sleeping bag. He has to book a hotel room for his stay in Dawson and in Fairbanks, but other than that I think he is supposed to get sleep whenever possible wherever possible.