Damn it's cold here. But not that bad.

I've just spent the last 3 nights in Whitehorse on a work trip. I was not feeling very optimistic coming up here. Of course I was confident that the work part of the trip would be ok (and it was), but I was not sure how I would cope with being in a small town so far north in the winter.

So I packed my warmest sweaters. I bought new winter boots. And I brought mittens that are good to -30. The temperatures while i was here fluctuated between -26 and -30. Now keep in mind that I spent most of my time indoors. Outside time was limited to smoke breaks and a bit of time outdoors in the evenings shopping downtown.

It is dry here. Which actually made the cold a little more bearable. In Toronto, when it goes cold it is damp. You feel it deep in your bones and you can not get warm no matter how man layers you wear. Here, as long as I bundled up I was fine. The exposed skin on my face hurt a little bit after about 5-10 minutes outside, but I was never outdoors any longer then that.

In the end, I'm actually really happy I got to come here and see this northern part of our country. It is beautiful. And the people are so friendly.

I don't have too many photos, but here are a few to share:

From my hotel lobby. I stayed at the Best Western Gold Rush Inn. I'm not going to write a whole review on it, but let's just say it is exactly what you would expect from a Best Western. A clean bed and a clean bathroom, and friendly staff. Nothing else.

Main Street at night is beautiful. The trees are coated in ice and when they hang the lights off of them it is stunning. I would never be able to capture it with any sort of justice using my iPhone. But I tried.

And I got myself a gift! Earrings made from the ivory of wooly mammoth tusks! My understanding is that when the mammoths died they were preserved under the permafrost and are found during mining.

I would love to come back To Whitehorse in the summer time and see the midnight sun. I was a little disappointed that I did not get to see the northern lights while I was here. Activity was low this week and it was cloudy at night.

So all that is left to do now is pack up my suitcase and head to the airport. Happy to have insisted but certainly ready to go back to Toronto where he forecast for this weekend says plus 10 degrees!

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Everyone needs goals

I say I'm going to do a lot of things. I have a lot of brilliant ideas that once I start I don't finish. Lately I've had an attitude of wanting to go back and actually accomplish some of my old goals. One of the things I've been saying forever was that I wanted to go to Hawaii, take surf lessons, and the get a tattoo of a hibiscus. I've been in love with this idea ever since the first time I saw the movie Blue Crush.

Have you ever looked the cost of tickets to Hawaii though? It's not a trip that we can just decide to go on one winter, we would have to save up for it. And since we like to go south every winter we end up choosing more affordable options.

But now I'm in my new job and I'm going to be traveling so I have the opportunity to rack up the frequent flyer miles. Aeroplan has a cool app that lets you set goals and shows you how far away from reaching it.

So I am 23% of the way to having enough points to get two round trip tickets to Hawaii. I think I can accomplish this by next winter. If not then definitely I will be there in time to book the tickets for the winter of 2014/2015. Within 2 years I will finally finish something I've been saying for 10 years that I want to do. It feels nice.

I also got a credit card that gives me Aeroplan points to keep my expenses separate from my regular life.

So this is my new hobby, collecting Aeroplan points. I'll keep you posted on my progress!

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