Yukon. First impressions.

After a 5 hour layover in Vancouver, which included two local beers and dinner, good company meeting up with my cousin Beth- the reason I'm here- and another team member Mattias-a post doc from Penn State/Germany- we boarded a nearly empty plane to Whitehorse.

The flight was uneventful, most people slept. I watched a movie. Not a particularly good one, and I had to fast forward the last ten minutes (I didn't miss much).

As I felt the plane descend slightly, I glanced out of the window. It was midnight, but the sky seemed to stay on the brink of a beautiful purple, pink, and yellow sunset. It was a bit cloudy, but through the clouds I would see glimpses of jagged mountains with snow. It was beautifully different and exotic.















The pilot filled us in on our arrival to Whitehorse (in the standard French and English), and we prepared for the landing. The Yukon River wound through the landscape surrounded by more snow-capped mountains. The air became foggy, and trees were much more populous than city lights. I think Whitehorse was actually on the other side of the plane, because I saw very little evidence of people out the window.

On the ground, it had been raining. The temperature was beautiful. The fog still covered areas, but the sky was as bright as a normal rainy day in Albuquerque (not at midnight).

Whitehorse airport became a happening place very quickly, teeming with laughter, loud talking, and hugs. I didn't realize how many people were actually on our plane until then!

Because of the rain we found a quick ride across the street to the Skky hotel and unpacked the necessities for the night. The hotel is very swank and comfy.
This is the bathroom! Look at that shower! And a jacuzzi! (edit: I am disappointed to learn field work will not be conducted here and I will not be staying in this hotel with a tempurpedic mattress, 250 channels, and a jacuzzi and mini-bar. I never get to go on the fun digs.)










Today our plans are to finish watching this World Cup match between Portugal and Brazil, have some breakfast with THE Yukon Paleontologist Grant, who is part of our team, see a bit of Whitehorse and then head to Dawson.

I'll try and post pictures from the plane, the hotel, Whitehorse, and Dawson as soon as possible.

Cheers!

(also, Beth has convinced me to contribute to the social networking craziness that Nat Geographic is making her do. I was going to protest, until we saw that IndianaJana was not taken for Twitter. So now I have a twitter account to post single-ongoing crazy times that we encounter)