The Yukon: Where the sun resides...

Somehow I selected one of the soggiest weekends in Juneau to escape to the relatively dry climate of Skagway and the sunny landscapes of the Yukon. As it came down in sheets in Juneau on a windy weekend, I slipped my shoes off and went for a summertime run in the Carcross sand dunes near Whitehorse. It's been many full moons since I last dipped my toes into some sun-warmed sand. It felt good to prance around like a beach-dweller.

Once in Whitehorse, I was informed by a girl that the Carcross sand dunes are Canada's fifth smallest desert. Seems a worthy acknowledgement, eh? After I chatted with her a bit, I found my way to a corner store and bought the most delicious oranges I've eaten all summer, took my book to the riverbanks of the mighty Yukon, and took a warm nap in the green grass. The Yukon has the medicine that I craved these past few rainy weeks: a double dose of vitamin D.

Windswept ripples receiving yet another gust of the good stuff: a hot summer breeze.

Living in the rainforest of the Tongass, you'd think I see my fair share of trees. Yet I was a happy-go-lucky soul when I saw these sizeable expanses of aspens leafed out in the Yukon sun.

Bria and her pantaloons blowin' in the wind.


Pleasantness personified: late evening in the Yukon with blue skies, wild peaks, no mosquitoes and one black bear picking his way through the lakeside berry bushes.

Perhaps the best cover for a book I've ever seen. I can't remember the title, as I was mostly focused on this perfectly creepy individual collecting edible fungus in what appears to be the middle of his in-the-woods-trombone-playing mission. My friend Pete, with whom I worked for a few years back in Yellowrock, now lives in Skagway. He uses this mushroom field guide to harvest tasty edible mushrooms in the forests surrounding Skagway. With his harvested mushrooms, combined with the fresh crab caught outside Skagway and the deliciously fresh kale and chard grown in his garden plot in town, we had some extraordinarly finger lickin' good local cuisine. Thanks Pete and friends!