The beginning is the end is the beginning

"So, are you heading to Whitehorse?" the chipper New Zealand girl sitting next to me on the plane asked. I bert stare her and respond "...isn't this the plane TO Whitehorse?" She bert stares me right back, and an awkward few seconds of us just looking at each other ensued. Thus began the beginning of my journey north, on what I can only assume will be a summer filled with adventure and erotic dance.

I was told in an email 7 hours before my flight out of Winnipeg that I would be driving to Dawson City from Whitehorse in a car that was neither licensed legally or insured, with a final note to "not kill ourselves". Apprehensions rose as this seemed super sketch, but in the end I gave in to the "Everything will work out" mantra, which it did in the end. We arrived to find the car fully licensed and insured with a full tank of gas and the elegant lines that only a 2007 Chevrolet Aveo could provide. 528 km later we arrived at a camp just outside of Dawson City, and I set out to meet my new co-workers that I would be working with for the next while.

The evening had been one of bullshitting and our group project manager giving out rough directions to us for the next few weeks. My official assignment begins on Tuesday so I have a few days to check out some local gold mines and hikes, which I am eagerly looking forward to! My first job is 9 days in length, and involves setting up a base-camp about 15 km NE of our current location and climbing to the top of 9 different mountains while taking soil samples on the way down...exciting stuff right?

It is now midnight local time, and I just climbed to a hill beside camp to take this pic. Dawson City is just as great as I remembered it! It's in the building code that any building built inside city limits has to have the architecture of turn of the century dwellings, which actually makes me feel really at home for some reason.







Thus ends the first day of my summer job! I am most definitely alive and truly feel more and more like it every hour I'm here.

G'night!