Two or Three Trips with Ginger

We made it to Alaska! And the downhill!

Fraser, BC. Canada customs post!
Holly happy to be heading out from our roadside camp!

Leaving Annie Lake Road in somewhat high spirits.
Here's that incriminating photo.
Atlin garage sale at the Festival. Picked up some good bargains here!
Tiger gloves are good for sharing.
Atlin lake paddling.
Beautiful Atlin from Monarch Mountain.

Dinner atop the island in Teslin Lake.

One of the things I heard about the Yukon is how great the people are up here. Well, my friend Holly, aka Ginger, aka Orange Kid, aka Holls, aka Hollster, aka Gingerita is one of them. She's all kinds of fun and is pretty much up for anything. There are lots of good folks that I've met, but for some reason she's in a lot of my pictures so I'm writing about her.

Trip One: Atlin Music Festival.
Atlin is one of the prettiest towns in BC, I'm sure. And the music festival is a great time. Good music, garage sales and a pancake breakfast where we shared our picnic table with "the" Stephen Fearing and "the" Colin Linden. One of the venues is a small church, which is where we saw one of our favorite acts: Headwater. Another favorite was Twighlight Hotel, who we saw with the mandolin player from Dehli to Dublin and the bass player from Headwater at a beautiful and small theater. The only act that disappointed was Mammagaroove cause I'm pretty sure they weren't so werid last time I saw them. Dispite the weirdness the tiger gloves were dancing like mad. The pink sunglasses also made an appearance a few times...Rob, my boss, sported them in the beer gardens long enough for an incriminating photo.

Trip Two: Teslin Lake paddle and camp

Ginger and Brook and I borrowed a kayak from our friend Karl and paddled across Teslin Lake to a little island to camp for the night. I don't what to say except that it was my first sea kayak expereience and when I finally figured out how to keep it straight it was a good time!
We then went to the big Tlingit gathering in Teslin. All of the Tlingit groups get together to celebrate, meet with family and friends and share their culture and traditions. It was "Taku River Tlingit Day" and two young guys from Atlin were happy to invite us to the feast that night...of Taku River salmon. We saw women preparing the salmon, we were taught one of the many steps in tanning moosehide by hand, saw the traditional canoes come in and chatted with a YRITWC friend, Carl Sidney. Our stop was too short, as there was a lot going on that would have been great to be part of!

I don't have any photos as I want you to come and experience Tlingit culture for yourself!

Trip Three: Road-ride from Annie Lake Road to Skagway.
It goes like this: Ginger and I left Annie Lake Road (the road I live on) after much frustration on my part getting my gear to work, at 7:45pm to ride to Skagway. We were on the 140km mark meaning that it was that distance to Skagway. And as I would later find out, a LOT of uphill to the summit of the Klondike highway which is at over 3000 meters!
The first day we rode until about midnight...yes, it actually does get dark, unlike I had predicted when I said "let's just ride through the night". My bearanoia was on overdrive and my quads were on underdrive, a terrible combo for such an adventure! We found a flat spot on the side of the road and slept for a few hours. Got up at 6am to hit the road for another 76km of headwinds past mountain lakes, through the moonscape of the summit, over the border and then, for the loooong downhill into Skagway! The border guard was suspicious of us for some reason, I don't know if it was the bikes or he thought that I must have had something hiding in my spandex shorts?!
On getting into Skagway, we got info for the ferry to Haines, relaxed a bit, and then went over to Haines to meet some friends. It was the South East Alaska State Fair weekend in Haines, so we were able to go dancing, have some beers, meet with friends, eat corn on the cob and watch some fun bands.
Have I ever expressed my love for Haines on this blog? If not, I will right now. I love Haines!