#4 – Dawson City!

Riding our bikes into Dawson City

We made it! Dawson City was a big part of our Yukon trip and what we were heading for right away. We had a long weekend planned for lots of fun, exploration and some gold panning! We stayed at a RV park on Bonanza Creek, just out of town, and we took full advantage of the programs and tours that were available around town.

Lots of good advice around Dawson

We settled into our site and were enjoying the very sunny hot weather. The drive up was a little bumpy with a couple of construction segments and small detours. Our first full day was spent exploring Dredge #4, one of the largest dredges from its era and very well preserved to this day. We got a guided tour as a part of a small group.

Dredge #4

We also got a tour of the SS Keno, a much smaller paddlewheeler that will go from Dawson up to Mayo to collect ore and other resources. It was a interesting tour through the boat and our guide, a local paddler was very informative and entertaining!

SS Keno

The other big historical site outside of Dawson is the Bear Creek worksite. This was a huge village of workers who would build, maintain and support all these dredges and equipment. They also cleaned up the gold and kept everything locked up. It felt like a time capsule into a long past era of hard work, lots of noise and dirt to produce thousands of ounces of beautiful gold.

Some gold we panned on Claim #6

The other important things to do in Dawson are more entertainment based! We explored the town, did some shopping, biked all the streets. We happened to be in town for the very famous Dawson International Outhouse 5km Race and Dirty Limerick Contest! We saw the launch and were impressed with the creativity of the teams, the “Harry Ploppers” vs “Skid Row”. It was hilarious and a fun activity.

The other big activity for a lot of people who visit Dawson is to have a drink with the Sour Toe at the Downtown Hotel. I made sure we did this, as Caroline was not interested. A shot of Whisky with the Toe and the famous call: “You can drink it fast, or you can drink it slow, but your lips must touch the Toe!” I enjoyed it and am fully certified if you need to see my certificate!

Earned my certificate!

Our four nights in Dawson went by so quickly. We tried to make it into Diamond Tooth Gerties, but with Covid restrictions, they were at capacity, so we did not get to catch their popular show. All the more reason to come back again. We got to see Moose swimming across the Yukon river, we explored the old cemetary on top of the hill, and we got a good feel for the town and met some locals. Overall, we loved it and would come back in a heartbeat.

Next we are off on the Dempster highway to Tombstone park for some hiking!

Click here for some photos from Dawson City and of our trip!

Here is our video from this segment, enjoy!

#3 Into the Yukon!

Rancheria Falls, Yukon Territory

We finally made it to the Yukon Border! We’ve been pushing to get through most of BC quickly as we’ve seen a lot of it, and the wildfires were not good. We decided on the Cassiar highway, definitely the road less traveled to get to the north, but we appreciated the views and experience.

We crossed over the territory boundary and went through a checkpoint to register us and fill out some forms. It was quick and easy. We were happy to be fully vaccinated and elgible to enter!

Our first day driving in the Yukon on the Alaskan Highway was great. Good weather, empty roads and lots to see. We saw a moose and 4 Chinook Helicopters fly over us.

We stayed at Teslin Lake Campground that night and also were able to reposition our camper on the back of the truck as it had shifted to one side a little bit. We’ve gotten pretty good at it now!

Testing out her bug helmet. This was the only time its been used.

Our next day was a drive into Whitehorse and some touring of the SS Klondike, a massive paddlewheeler parked right as you enter Whitehorse from the south. We had a great day exploring Whitehorse and we were staying at an RV site, so we could shower, get some laundry done and recharge the camper batteries!

SS Klondike

Here is a video of this part of our trip. You can follow along on YouTube and subscribe for notifications when we publish new videos.

As well, here is a photo album of our adventures during this segment. Click here for Photos

#2 – Famous Places – Bear Glacier, Stewart BC, and Jade City

Our second and third days on our journey north went through some pretty famous spots. We started on the Cassiar Highway, famous for being a very picturesque highway with lots of beautiful lookouts and stops. Its also known for being a little rough or ‘bumpy’, we which can confirm. 100% correct. We bounced and bumped our way along, visiting Stewart, BC a quirky little city with a big past and a close town, Hyder, USA, that we wished we could visit.

We also drove past Bear Glacier, which has been retreating away from the highway over the last few decades, but still provides a beautiful view of ice and power to move mountains!

Caroline checking out the Glacier

We drove through Dease Lake on our way north and ended up spending the night boondocking in the Jade City parking lot, which offered “FREE RV PARKING” which immediately appealed to us, of course. I also happen to be a huge fan of the tv show “Jade Fever” which explores a family Jade mining operation nearby. During our travel through, we followed Scrappy Larry, a scrap dealer from the show for a while, and saw Larry himself and his son at the Jade City store. We also got to watch Gary fire up “SixPack” their old, broken down work truck that is a big part of their mining operation and show.

Our video below shows some of these explorations and more, with some bonus footage of the Jade City work truck “Six Pack” from the tv show “Jade Fever”

Here is a link to some more photos from this segment of our trip!

A&C

#1 – Heading North!

We are ready with out first video from our grand adventure! We have been exploring northern BC and the Yukon for the last two weeks now and have seen so many beautiful and amazing places. We have driven over 3000km so far and everything has been going great. We are spending lots on gas, but we are appreciating every moment we have.

I’ve got a couple of videos completed and ready to share of our trip so far. Wifi is rare up here, and wifi with any kind of upload is even more hard to find! We are settled into an RV park in Whitehorse for a night to do laundry, have showers and upload a couple of videos!

Our first video is from the beginning of our trip, as we left Vancouver and headed north, with route unknown, as the forests were on fire in southern BC. We drove the Coqihalla #5 highway until 97c and then headed north through Williams Lake and then onto the Hundred Miles Houses. We drove almost 800kms that day!

We hope to be sharing videos and posts a little more frequently going forward. Its been so good to disconnect up north, where the cell phone signal is non-existant. We’ve been enjoying being in the present more, and to slow down lots. We have been to some remote spots, rough roads and beautiful vistas and can’t wait to share them with you.

We’ve got lots more fun content, videos, and photos to share over the next few weeks as we continue to explore the Yukon!

I’ve got some photos from this leg of our trip that you can view here in this link!

Follow along on my twitter account if you want to see a few more up to date photos of where we are! @aaronmueller

Update and New Camera!

Hello Everyone!

Well, its been a while since we’ve posted an update and rightfully so, its been a strange and confusing year in regards to our postponed trip. We’ve had to adapt, pivot and plan for multiple scenarios and situations, but we are still taking our delayed sabbatical next school year. Obviously, everything is dependant on our vaccines, travel opening up and opportunities to go visit our friends and families. We are optimisitic and hopeful that we will have the opportunity to drive north, east and across Canada this summer/fall and perhaps travel internationally for early 2022!

In the meantime, we’ve been planning, plotting and preparing for our trip and have recently purchased a new Camera to help capture fun moments and special places along the way. We got a new GoPro Hero 8 Black:

Its a pretty neat camera with lots of great features (Image Stabilization, Waterproof, 4K) and lots and lots of accessories to help attach it to different things and options for filming. It should allow us to easily capture our hikes, views, drives and adventures. In playing around with the camera, I made a few videos already:

Here is a short video of our evening walk around the neighbourhood. I used the GoPro app on my phone to automagically put this together with intros, edits and music in the background.
Here is a “Time Warp” feature of my morning commute on my E-bike.
And here is my bike ride home!

As well, here is a picture of our truck and camper setup we are using this summer to hopefully drive around Canada. We are so excited and hopeful our trip goes as planned, but we also know we need to be flexible and adaptable and patient as things slowly get back to normal.

We hope this post finds you all well, healthy and safe! We plan to be posting more often as we get into the summer and officially start our delayed sabbatical year!

Cheers!

Aaron and Caroline

Strathcona Park Summer 2020: Waterfalls, Bears, Caves, Boats and Whales!

Come along on our most recent summer adventure to Strathcona Park, near Campbell River, and Gold River, Vancouver Island.

We camped for 4 nights at Buttle Lake Campground, and visited many beautiful waterfalls throughout the park. Lady Falls, Lupin Falls, Upper and Lower Myra Falls, as well as many lakes and beaches!

We also enjoyed exploring the Upana caves, near Gold River and got pretty deep underground!

Finally, we also got tickets to cruise for a day aboard the boat MV Uchuck III out of Gold River, that delivers to a bunch of Logging camps, Fish Farms and remote communities around Nootka Sound.

https://www.getwest.ca/

Enjoy the video below of all our highlights.

Comet Neowise

This summer, there has been a visible Comet zooming through our Solar System. Comet Neowise, which last looped around the sun about 7000 years ago is putting on a great show. Visible to the eye, about an hour after sunset, this Comet is in the North-North-West part of the sky, above the horizon and getting higher in the sky each day.

I’ve been able to view Comet Neowise for a few nights with clear skies and a good sightline. Using my telescope is challenging, as it is not as bright as other planets and a little hard to see and capture. However, using my Android Pixel 3 smartphone, with its special “Astrophotography” mode, I am able to take longer exposure pictures that have turned out well.

And here is a timelapse of the sunset as we waited to see Comet Neowise from Bear Hill, Central Saanich

Hello world!

Welcome to my resurrected blog! I’ve had my own domain since early 2003, and it has gone through many iterations and versions.

I am a Teacher-Librarian at a High School near Sidney BC called Parkland Secondary It is a beautiful part of the world, and I love living there with my wife. We like to garden, cycle, travel and explore our local natural environment that surrounds this amazing peninsula.

I also teach part-time online for the UBC Teacher-Librarian diploma program, a specialization for Educators to become Teacher-Librarians in our public schools. I teach LIBE 477 – New Media and New Technology in the School Library, as well as LIBE 467 – Information Services and Resources.

My professional interests are around School Libraries and transitions to Library Learning Commons models, as well as Inquiry Based Learning and International Baccalaureate learning as we became an IB World School offering the IB Diploma Program for Sept 2018.

I have lived most of my life around the Salish Sea and appreciate all the beauty, splendor and wealth that it offers us. I am especially grateful for the many first nations and their contributions to our special part of the world.

AM July 2018