Whitehorse is the largest city in the Yukon with a population of over 22,000 people. (Watson Lake with a population of less than 2,000 is the second largest community. Actually, there are more moose in the Yukon than humans - a fact that is told jokingly by locals but is the truth! Unfortunately, the closest we came to a moose this trip was in the entrance of our hotel.) 
Whitehorse has nice hotels and the people are incredibly friendly (including the Royal Canadian Police, as Elizabeth can attest to). A woman who has lived in the North for many years theorized that the friendliness of these northerners was due to the fact that they welcomed seeing new faces in the spring and summer after living through the long winters of isolation.
Kay and I have stayed in Whitehorse for the last 3 summers. It sits on the banks of the Yukon River, and last summer, we took a boat trip on it through MIles Canyon which lies south of the city. 
One of the first things that is noticed about the Yukon is the swift currents that boats must manage 
- currents that must have been an incredible challenge for early gold rush explorers to the region. In spite of its magnificence, the Yukon has not been utilized to draw tourists 
from the south - a situation that one local told us would probably be corrected if the "Americans were in charge" of its development.
In Canada, natives are referred to as "First Nation" peoples, and their influence, especially in the arts, is evident. A large mural 
decorates the side of a large building in the center of town. Unfortunately, many of these people also suffer from addiction, lack of education, and poverty which precludes them from self-sufficiency. As we traveled through western Canada, we saw many families existing on government subsidies, especially in isolated areas such as Tuk and Telegraph Creek in British Columbia.
We stayed for a couple of days in Whitehorse to rest before starting south towards home. On September 5, we left Whitehorse and drove to Haines, Alaska. 
