I have a friend who is embarking on a bicycle journey around North America where she is planning to rely on the kindness of others for her basic needs. Though I think that this is amazing and very realistic, the thought of it pulls me very far out of my comfort zone. I like to be self sufficient and don’t particularly like asking others, especially strangers, for help.
Cue the universe laughing as we arrived for our weekend in Whitehorse and our car rental had mysteriously been cancelled. Our AirBnB was located an 35 minute drive south of town and we had reservations at the hot springs 20 minutes north of town. After an hour or so of exhausting every other option from car shares to renting a U-Haul, I called our AirBnB hosts to let them know of our plight. Little did we know that Marion and Phil would be the first of many Yukon people who showed genuine hospitality and generosity, making this a weekend that exceeded our expectations.
Marion immediately volunteered to cancel her afternoon clients (she is a foot care nurse) to pick us up. We convinced her that we would be fine to enjoy our afternoon in Whitehorse and took the bus to the weekly farmer’s market and found a local brewery.
After work, Marion drove us to our home for the next 3 nights, which was located on the beautiful Marsh Lake. The next day we rode bikes to the trailhead of a hike that gave us a panoramic view of our neighbourhood.
We had a siesta because we knew we would need some sleep to be able to do our main reason for coming North for June 21: enjoying the midnight sun during summer solstice! First we watched the Oilers historically force game 7 with new friends next door to our AirBnB. Next we set off for a 11:30pm kayak on the lake. Other than the overcast skies and mosquitos the size of hummingbirds, it was all that we hoped it would be.
Today Marion and Phil continued their kindness by driving us to the hot springs to enjoy a relaxing morning, then dropping us for more exploring in downtown Whitehorse. A definite highlight was a stop at Miles Canyon on the way home.
The scenery of Whitehorse is beautiful, but it is definitely the people that make us want to return one day. We have an early morning trip to the airport tomorrow, then only 1 week of work before we head out on our next adventure… running a bookshop in Scotland!