I was rudely awakened this morning by Maggie’s passive aggressive “I want to go out” behaviour. Generally this involves pacing, loud yawning and scratching followed by meaningful stares. Did I mention this was at 5 am? Snapping on a lamp I blearily located my coat, hat, gloves, leash and boots while trying to convince Oscar to go back to sleep. Maggie did her business, I curled back into bed and ten minutes later… scratch, scratch, yawn, pace and stare. So I did the whole routine again and she did her other business. By this time Oscar is well and truly awake and I am well and truly sleepy and Richard continues to snore away merrily.
So you can imagine my surprise and horror when a couple of hours later while we are enjoying coffee and conversation with our hosts and a fellow guest after a wonderful breakfast, Maggie takes it upon her self to stroll into the middle of our circle of chairs, hunker down, and start laying and enormous crap on the floor.
If you know me, you know how mortified I would be at this. If you don’t know me, let me say, I was mortified. Very. I grabbed Maggie’s collar and forcefully propelled her towards the door while barking at Richard to “deal with this.” Maybe it was the upheaval or being around new dogs, maybe she was staking her territory, or maybe it was the frozen horse manure she was merrily chomping down on yesterday. Suffice to say Maggie has spent most of the day outside or locked in the bathroom. The owners of the B&B and our hosts, Emile and Eva, were incredibly relaxed and reassuring about the whole incident. I am still slowing recovering from the horror.
I do have to say, if you are ever in Whitehorse and need a place to stay, I heartily recommend Hidden Valley B&B. Not only are they exceptionally cool about the follies of dogs and children (and husbands who lose their key, and then find it in a secret pocket of their jacket) but the rooms are lovely, you have the use of the kitchen, the towels are big and fluffy, there are robes in the room and the food is amazing. We are in the Cappuccino room which is a spacious suite with an ensuite bathroom, a couch and table, stunning views of forest and mountains, a television and a huge comfy bed. Until my rude awakening this morning I was having the best sleep I’d had in ten days.
I will get around to taking some pictures once I get my head around the narrow window of daylight for such things. I did not realize that having breakfast at 9am would mean it was still pitch black outside. Apparently, 10am is a civilized time for breakfast in the north.
After the “incident” we spent the day touring Whitehorse and the neighbourhoods. We met several friendly people, most are imported, like us. I found some boots (finally!) at Coast Mountain Sports in downtown Whitehorse. While perusing the large selection of winter boots at the store we discovered that the salesperson, Brandon, had came from Ontario in October with his girlfriend and dog He also thinks its mad that they are out of winter boots this time of year in some northern states. I suppose it’s possible he was agreeing with me to sell me the boots but I suspect not. So far I’ve found people here very genuine with few pretences.
After my boot success we toured the neighbourhoods of Porter Creek, Granger, Copper Ridge, Arkell and Riverdale. We were hard pressed to find a neighbourhood we did not like. All were surrounded with trees and views of mountains. Even Arkell which is a community of mobile homes was quaint and pretty. I fancied Riverdale just because I am a huge fan of Lord of the Rings and it sounds like Rivendell, but it’s a little more expensive because its closer to downtown. And it’s silly to chose a neighbourhood based on the resemblance of the name to a fictional place. I guess.
While we were back in Ontario we had almost rented a log house outside Whitehorse without even seeing it in person and by strange coincidence, Brandon, from Coast Mountain Sports had visited the place yesterday. He described it in detail and I am even more excited to see it now. It almost seems like a sign that out of the handful of locals we’ve met, one has been to that cabin.
Tomorrow, we visit the Yukon Education office in Whitehorse and Richard begins his re-emergence into the field of education. If you want to know more about the process of getting back into teaching, Rich has a fantastic blog, www.oncemoreintotheclassroom.ca