Day 7 (August 29, 2021): Yukon Farewell and Good Calgary Times!

Our last day in Canada’s North! And a partial day, at that. We just had time for one last activity, before taking our flight to Calgary at noon. The Yukon Transportation Museum was of much interest and, being located next to the airport, we had decided to leave it til flight day. At 10AM, the museum’s opening time, we returned the rental car at the airport and walked over to the museum with our carry-on luggage, which the staff kindly stored for us while we visited. The museum has an eclectic collection, covering anything and everything “transportation” in the Yukon over the last century and a bit. And with such a large territory, many transportation themes have played integral roles in Yukon’s development. Our most interesting finds are detailed below. 

By 11AM we had viewed the collection essentials and then walked back to the terminal building. Whitehorse airport only has a half-dozen daily departures these days, but four of them were clustered to leave around noon. So the place was packed!

Our Westjet flight left on time. As we were walking across the tarmac to board it, we heard an announcement that the only Air Canada flight of the day — the one we had been booked on to Vancouver today and which the Air Canada reservation system had offloaded us from and sent us into a tailspin of stress and expense to find an alternative route home — was cancelled due to a mechanical problem. Had we not been erroneously offloaded from it, we would have been left scrambling with the rest of that full passenger load to try to find a way home at a time when every flight out of the Yukon is filled to capacity for days!  So as frustrating as our situation was, as we settled into our Westjet seats, we reminded each other that the Lord works in mysterious ways!

We left Whitehorse on time and arrived Calgary on time. The 7C Whitehorse temperature was replaced by a 24C Calgary temperature!  We took a shuttle to our Element by Westin Hotel, 15 minutes from the airport, and settled into our room. And then the two real highlights of today kicked in: dinner at the home of our dear and long-time friends, the Johnson family, and a coffee catch-up with our wonderful nephew, Josh. 

By the time Josh dropped us back at the hotel at 10:45 PM, we were tired, yes. But we were on such a high from two incredible social interactions, both which served to cap our western vacation like a maraschino cherry on a sundae. Seriously!

Tomorrow morning, it’s back to Calgary Airport for our nonstop flight back to Halifax and a return to the reality of work for me and the start of a new school year for Pam on Thursday. Thanks for joining us on this western / northern Canadian adventure!

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YUKON TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM 

This plaque in front of the Yukon Transportation Museum marks the handover of the Canadian portion of the Alaska Highway to the Government of Canada on this very spot in 1946. 

A local cargo / delivery truck from the 1930s. Inter-community transportation by vehicle was rare, as there were so few vehicles that roads were minimal and maintenance of what roads there were was even more minimal!

Even into the 20th century, inter-community winter transportation was via sleighs such as this one by the White Pass & Yukon Route. The rule of thumb was that they could not operate if the mercury fell below -40C. The problem was that most of the stations along the route didn’t have thermometers! Many used a bottle of whiskey: if it froze, then it was too cold for travel. 

The legendary dog team figures significantly into the Yukon’s historical winter transportation network. During the Gold Rush, the cost of a good dog rose from $10 to $500. At the height of the Gold Rush, it is estimated there were 5000 dogs in Dawson City.  To recreate the route of prospectors to the Klondike and into the Alaskan interior for subsequent gold rushes, the Yukon Quest was started in 1984. It is a 1610km race of 50 dog teams and their mushers along the “historical highway of the north” and is known as the Toughest Race in the World. 

Snowmobiles were an obviously revolutionary addition to the Yukon transportation universe. This model is from 1968. 

Let’s talk Yukon transportation in a more modern time: in 1977 these minibuses were introduced in Whitehorse as the town’s first experiment with public transit.  


And within a few years of the Alaskan Highway’s completion, bus service was introduced on the route. Buses like these were called Pony Cruisers and were touted as modern and luxurious means of travelling the Alaska Highway.  But it sure wasn’t cheap:  a one-way ticket was $50, a pricey investment in the 1940s. These buses relied on a network of lodges along the Highway to provide passengers with food and overnight lodging, all part of the impact and development associated with the Alaska Highway. 

White Pass was a prominent player in the Yukon transportation industry. In the 1950s it pioneered shipping containers and an integrated rail / ship network to support them. And that intermodal approach is now the backbone to the planet’s shipping network. The two vehicles above belonged to Klondike Airways. 

 

Bush planes also served as a lifeline in the Yukon, as they did and still do across the North. In the 1930s, the average life of a bush plane was 2-3 years. Weather conditions, engine failure, getting stuck in ice — these things all played havoc with the planes. This model, however, kept going for 12 years. 

This strange US Army vehicle was like a massive train on wheels.  It supported the development and maintenance of the Defense Early Warning (DEW) System across the North in the 1950s, and is famous for having travelled from Alaska to Greenland!

We end our tour of the Yukon Transportation Museum with this DC-3 that is mounted as a weather vane — yes, it moves with the wind!  Few commercial aircraft symbolize longevity in the aviation industry like the DC-3. Many stayed in operation for 50+ years. This one, owned by the now-defunct Canadian Pacific Airlines, served the Yukon from 1942 to 1970

THE REMAINDER OF THE DAY

Our Westjet flight to Calgary was not part of the “plan” for this vacation. It was a last minute purchase to resolve Air Canada’s accidental cancellation of our return tickets and to connect us with another flight from Calgary to Halifax. 

We splurged on business class seats to Calgary and enjoyed a wonderful meal. Just like a Sunday roast beef dinner our mothers used to make! (Not quite as good, mind you!)

Descent into Calgary showed the perfectly measured sections of wheat, barley and other prairie crops that Alberta and the west are known for. While drought has reduced yields to almost nothing across much of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Alberta appears to have fared better through summer 2021.

A wonderful dinner with our dear friends, the Johnsons, brought big smiles to our faces. We met Andy and Nicole when they lived in Halifax from 1996-99. It’s one of those rare friendships where picking up from the past is easy and leaves you feeling blessed. 

And it was a total pleasure to meet up with our nephew, Josh, who just moved back to Calgary from Grande Prairie. He has a very, very cool truck, by the way! What a great guy!