JIM WELLER (1:123/140) wrote to ALL at 19:20 on 18 Jan 2006:

 JW> A Southerner's comical (?) point of view.

 JW> Off the Leash
 JW> By George Bowser

He's not always right but not far off.  He obviously was not told that
Whitehorse's original name was Closeleigh and his expression of the dark
time is overexaggerated but this is a city where one can enjoy life. 
However, the dog race starts in Fairbanks.

 JW> I have just returned from Yukon. They say there is magnificent
 JW> mountain scenery all over the place. However, I cannot confirm this
 JW> because I was there at night. "Night" in that part of the world is
 JW> November through March.

 JW> Also, I was disgusted to find out that Yukon Gold is, in fact, a
 JW> potato. In Acapulco they play a similar trick on visitors, but by
 JW> the time they find out that Acapulco Gold is not a yellow precious
 JW> metal, they don't really care.

 JW> Interest in the Federal election in Whitehorse was at an all-time
 JW> high, i.e. they had heard about it. If you have political opinions
 JW> in a small town like Whitehorse, you keep them to yourself, or risk
 JW> acquiring the reputation of being a windbag and an ass. That is to
 JW> say, a politician. People were talking about the weather.
 JW> Apparently it was unusually warm_a balmy minus 12_and there was a
 JW> danger of a snow shortage, which will affect the dog sled race from
 JW> Yellowknife to Whitehorse. 

 JW> Dog sledding is a very Canadian thing to do. I have never done it.
 JW> It may be on the list of things that no gentleman should try at
 JW> least once. (That list, as it now stands, is limited to two things:
 JW> country dancing and incest.) My acquaintance with dog-sledding is
 JW> limited to seeing the tourist version at Chateau Montebello. My
 JW> companions and I enjoyed seeing the teams assemble and depart with
 JW> their passengers, but we were taken aback by the sight of what must
 JW> have been the remains of the dogs' dinner lying on the snow nearby.
 JW> It was a beaver tail. Not the doughy, sugared kind you can buy as a
 JW> tasty snack at Westmount Winter Carnival, but the real thing, sans
 JW> owner. I cherish the forlorn hope that somewhere in the Montebello
 JW> woods, there is one very angry, tail-less beaver, but I doubt it.

The dogs here would not have left the tail.:-)

 JW> In any case, the outdoor lifestyle thing appears to be limited to
 JW> the warmer months. There weren't many people outdoors in January. A
 JW> popular item seemed to be the remote car starter. Empty cars would
 JW> suddenly spring to life as you walked by them, which can be a
 JW> little startling. 

 JW> I asked our host what draws people to Whitehorse, and he told me
 JW> "lifestyle, mostly. They like the outdoor lifestyle - hiking,
 JW> canoeing, etc." He added, inexplicably, "there's a lot of lesbians
 JW> here." I didn't see the connection, unless of course they
 JW> misunderstood the word "Klondike."

 JW> There were originally rapids near Whitehorse, and the foaming water
 JW> reminded an early visitor of the manes of white horses. Thus the
 JW> settlement changed its name from what the locals called it: "No
 JW> Swimming." Subsequently, the water was harnessed to provide
 JW> electric power, and the rapids are no longer there. A bid to change
 JW> the city's name to "Dam" was quashed.

 JW> George Bowser is one half of the musical comedy duo Bowser & Blue. 

 JW> http://www.westmountexaminer.com

Take care,

Steven Horn (steven.horn{at}gmail.com)
Moderator, ALASKA_CHAT 
--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+