Timely Package

I have a renewed sense of faith in our nation's postal system based on the following account. In late November, students began suggesting an ice hockey game should be organized where staff could play students. After several requests from students, I decided not only to coordinate the game but play as well. The last time I was fully equipped and on the ice was about 22 years ago. I only played a few years of house league hockey. That said, I thought it would be fun and a way to do some relationship building since most players are my students. During the first week of December, I decided to contact the hockey guru of the family so I called Wayne. Not Wayne Gretzky but my brother in Moncton who has a passion for the game and whose favorite NHL team is Pittsburg. He's also been playing for many years and I appreciated any advice he could provide. He graciously volunteered to do some shopping and to send everything except a hockey stick! Most equipment was purchased at used sport stores with the exception of a few items. The game was scheduled for December 16th and the parcel entered this great country's postal system on the morning of December 7th. The mild-mannered Canada Post employee warned the package would most likely reach it's destination at the earliest on December 19th via regular mail.

Despite this cautionary remark, Wayne diligently followed specific instructions to send it by the most frugal option available. As Game day approached, students were asking daily if the "box" had arrived. As a result, I began checking the mail daily with anticipation but by Wednesday December 15th it had not arrived and disappointment was a real possibility. On the 16th, the principal was kind enough to release me from my regular duties to help the school's Christmas concert. My key responsibility was to ensure the lights worked properly. This new flexibility in my day allowed me to check the mail one more time during the day. I called in advance to confirm the mail's arrival time at 10:30 am. The package was there! I carried the lighter than expected parcel directly to school on my shoulder. One student greeted me at the door and said, "Is that your equipment?". I barley said "yes", when I realized he was already carrying the box down the hallway. When I caught up to him, he had already opened the box and was surprised by the jersey. The crest on the front depicted a whiskey bottle with the title "Gibson Whiskey". I never heard of Gibson Whiskey and neither did he but that would soon change. There were many wise cracks before, during and after the hockey match. The hired referee even joked that I would be paying him with bottles of Gibson Whiskey instead of cash.

The photos below are pictures of the outside and inside of the arena. The Zamboni is parked in a little white garage beside the building. The ice is created by simply opening a couple garage sized doors to let the freezing air in; this process leaves a much smaller carbon footprint when compare to traditional southern arenas. The building does have heaters for those attending the game. The player with the name "Cote" on the back is not a student, but an RCMP officer who played on the staff side.

Update

Baby's due April 4th and we're all very excited! Looking forward to the Christmas Holidays. We're still teaching at school and living in the Church. Ruth's in Grade 1 and loves both her teacher and P.E. teacher. Tomorow's the last day for Movember and people calling Dan "Hobo" at work.

Movember

Movember is an opportunity in November when men can grow facial hair to raise money to combat prostate cancer. If you are a man and want to help it's not too late. http://ca.movember.com/

Spring Break

April 2 - 11 was our "March Break". Spring Break typically conjures images of sandles, beaches and warm sunny weather. However, as they say when in Rome do as the Romans do and so I did as the locals did and set my sights on Whitehorse. It's a popular vacation spot for many northerners and a chance to get some more supplies. As a result, my vacation was comprised of bear spray, camping and unpredictable mountain weather.

Whitehorse is a city of approximately 23 000 and the main employers are government and mining. Many junior mining companies have been converging in recent months on a large gold discovery south of Dawson City along the Yukon river last summer.

The last two pictures offer a glimpse of the Dempster Highway between Whitehorse and Fort McPherson. The "highway" is actually a gravel road named after a Mountie callled William Dempster. In 1911, constable Dempster was assigned with task to locate the "Lost Patrol". http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/hist/hh-ps/lost-perdus-eng.htm. In 1958 the Federal Government made the decision to build this 671 km road through the Arctic wilderness from Dawson City to Inuvik. Oil and gas exploration was booming in the Mackenzie Delta and the town of Inuvik was under construction.

At about 50 km outside of Whitehorse we noticed a place to buy some cinnamon-buns. It was called Braeburn Lodge. Just to make things interesting, we planned to stay the night in Whitehorse with people we never met. David, Kara-Lee and their 3 children and are friends of the Hanthorn's; their house is pictured below.
Braeburn Lodge presented an opportunity to purchase some tasty treats as a thank-you for our soon to be hosts.
Upon entering the establishment, there was nobody at the service counter and only a couple of locals sitting at a table slowly drinking their coffee. They motioned to me to enter the kitchen. I cautiously walked in and eventually found the cook. I asked for a dozen cinnamon-buns. He replied with a heavy German/Swiss accent that he couldn't make that many. I negotiated 6. After waiting 20 minutes the pastry chef came out with two makeshift cardboard trays of baked goods and he layed them down on the counter. He said, "that will be $51.00" and with that I could hear the two locals chuckle in the background. Although I was surprized by sheer size of the pastries, I was even more dumbfounded by the weight not to mention the cost. Heather, Ruth and almost ate one bun and found ourselves full!

The pictures of the church show where we overnighted on the return trip home. Again, we didn't know anyone from this church. Arrangements were made by the Hanthorns. We pulled into the church around 10:30 and the phone rang at 11:00. A lady from the church was looking for the pastor to find out which songs would be selected for the next morning. She was on the worship team. In the end, she offered her home for us to shower the next morning. She explained she would be sleeping in late, mentioned the 3 dogs she owned, and to just walk in because the door would be unlocked. The next morning as I pulled up to the address, Heather precariously said, "I'm not so sure about this." Then, all of a sudden, a lady dressed in her Sunday best burst out the door with a big smile and was frantically waving. Now that was a warm welcome! Heather responded, "Okay, I'll be fine." and she quickly got out.

The next three pictures are views along the Klondike highway between Whitehorse and the Dempster Hwy turn-off.

The next 16 pictures shown are from Kluane National Park and more specifically: Kathleen lake, Kathleen Lake campground and the Auriol ski Trail. I wanted to ski the 7 km loop, but since it was pooly marked I ended up doing the 15 km trail which took 5 1/2 hours to complete! I lost my bear spray skiing down and crashing on one of the many steep slopes on the return portion of the loop. Fortunately, most of the bears were still in hibernation.

The last 7 pictures are views along the Alaska Highway between Haines Junction and the Mount Logan Look-out Point as per the map I had (You can't actually see Mt. Logan. In order to do that you must fly in). Due to active tectonic uplifting, Mount Logan is still rising in elevation. Before 1992, the exact height of Mount Logan was unknown and measurements ranged from 5,959 metres (19,551 ft) to 6,050 metres (19,849 ft).

The Alaska Highway (also known as the Alaskan Highway, Alaska-Canadian Highway, or ALCAN Highway) was constructed during WWII. It runs from Dawson Creek, BC to Alaska via Whitehorse. After the Japanese invaded Pearl Habour, the US feared another attack from the same nation over the polar region. As a result, this 2200 km hwy was built by the U.S. army in 9 months and construction was completed in 1943.

R and R

The last week of February was an opportunity to spend some time with Heather's cousin Rebecca and family and to participate in teacher workshops. It was -22 when we departed Fort McPherson and -3 on arrival in Edmonton. We last visited them in 2006 when Rachel was a baby. Now Rachel is 4 and she has a little brother named Noah who both hit it off with Ruth. Rebecca graciously took care of Ruth while Heather and I did school visits and attended the teacher's conference. Rebecca is a great cook! Although Chris was away for work most of the week we did have a chance to connect near the end of our visit; he's as witty as ever! Also while in Edmonton, Ruth and I visited the Aviation Museum, which may be soon shut down due to a condo developer.