Carrie’s Ramblings

Farewell campfire
Carrie posted in Uncategorized on July 15th, 2007

Why does it seem like people throw really good parties when you’re leaving?

Last night Heather and I hosted my Farewell potluck/BBQ/campfire. I invited pretty much everyone I had ever met in Whitehorse which made for an interested collection of people. I had some friends from the hostel and Ultimate and neighbours and co-workers…it was so much fun!

The weather was honestly the first day of gloriously warm, summer weather we have had all summer. Ryan and I had spent the day climbing in Golden Canyon where the sun was on the rocks and the breeze kept the bugs down. Then when I got home it was so hot (yes, that’s right, I said ‘hot’) that Heather and I took the mountain bikes up the trail to where the beaver had damned the MacIntyre Creek and went for a swim. SWIMMING IN THE YUKON! Not only that, Heather being the total Hippie that she is and me being the total Hippie wannabe that I am (Yuppie with a granola edge) decided that the middle of the day would be a perfect time to go skinny-dipping. The green space where we were mountain biking is right between the subdivision of Porter Creek and Takhini North behind the college and I was concerned that someone would see us. She said, “Who’s going to see us way out here?” but I thought of the fact that I walk by there twice a day walking the dogs and usually run into other people! But we were safe and enjoyed a little dip in the pond. I might have giarrdia now but oh well.

But the weather was so perfect for the BBQ! We sat out on the deck and consumed copious amounts of beer and wine and had good steaks and BBQ’d pineapple and perogies as well. Corn on the cob, some salads and of course ice cream for dessert. We just sat and talked and enjoyed each other’s company. But was as soon as the sun went behind the trees we had to run and get more layers on. It was freezing!!! We got the fire going and I had jeans and a sweatshirt and vest and toque on…I could have been warmer if I had put socks on but I refused to go that far and just warmed my barefeet on the firepit rocks:) Again we sat and talked and drank some more…it was nice. Soon it was getting dark and we thought it might be time to wrap it up only to realise it was 2AM! Because it was only dusk outside we just didn’t realise how late it had gotten! But I had such a good time and I was glad that so many people came and enjoyed themselves:)

The thing about Whitehorse though is that even though all the people were there because I had met them along the somewhere, everyone seemed to know everyone else through other means too. They dated friends of others or met up at the music fest or worked at the college together or whatever! Forget 6 degrees of separation this was like .7 degrees. It’s just too bad that we waited until I was leaving before having such a good party!

Only in the Yukon can you go to a great band at the bar at night, see a Horned Owl on the light post on your way home (very Harry Potter-styles), sleep in until 10 the next day, relax in the hotsprings, spend a couple of hours doing some great climbing, come home and jump on the mountains to skinny-dip in the middle of day, be close enough to friends and family to have a huge party that night and enjoy a campfire in your own backyard while wearing your toque and sipping hot tea. All we needed to do was throw some whitewater in there to round it off!