Headed to Haines
We woke up in Whitehorse feeling stiff from the long drive the day before, so we decided to knock off the rust with a quick run along the Yukon River. Our “Klondike 5k” paled in comparison to the Yukon Quest dogsled race that we had been reading about the night prior, but it was a nice way to see the city and get some fresh air before hitting the road.
Before leaving Canada we made an obligatory stop at Tim Horton’s to claim the donuts that we had earned on our run and fill up our travel mugs with some pretty mediocre coffee. As drove out of town we saw a deer and what we are pretty sure was a coyote (or a fox or a Chupacabra).
We concluded the international portion of our road trip with great weather and stunning scenery. We even made a pit stop to deploy the drone before reaching the United States border, just outside of Haines. We learned that the small marmots and finches in this corner of the world must have nerves of steele as they delighted in numerous near collisions with our truck, keeping both Pat and I on the edge of our seats.
Once in Haines we decided to grab some lunch at the Bamboo room, a restaurant with a lot of history and a sign outside that stated claims of “world famous” fish and chips. We fact checked their claims by ordering a basket of halibut chucks and chips and now fully endorse their claims. For a place that used to be a brothel, they sure do make some mean fish and chips. It was delicious!
After lunch we decided to check out the Chilkoot Distillery. I ordered a gin cocktail called the spruce tip and Pat ordered a flight of their whiskey. Both received high marks. After finishing our drinks and hanging out with some of the fuzziest caterpillars I have ever seen, we headed to Haines Brewing Company. My Grandpa is friends with the owners had alerted them to our plans to be in the area. We were greeted like family when we arrived even though we had never met each other. It was a great reminder of how small the biggest state can be sometimes.
After tasting a few beers at the brewery, we stopped by to the local grocery store to stock up on some essential supplies (beer, PB&J fixings, and ice) and made our way to the AMHS ferry doc. After a short staging period, we were ushered into the belly of the M/V Columbia and put on a car elevator to our parking spot on the boat’s lower deck. I was very impressed by how smoothly embarking the ferry went and we quickly settled into our little cabin.
Pat had taken this exact same ferry on his way up to Alaska 3 years ago, so he gave me an “insiders tour” of the vessel before we even left port. After our tour we sat in the solarium and took in the scenery as we set out on the next stage of our cross country adventure.
