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Burning Man Flipside

Burning Flipside is the Texas version of Burning Man. It’s considerably smaller with about 2,400 people attending versus 60,000 to 70,000 for the annual main Burning Man held in the Nevada desert. Sara and I have tried to get tickets before but none were available; this year however we were successful! We thought it would be a good opportunity to find out what Flipside was like and equally important take our RV on a test run to see if everything worked.

We thought preparing for this event would be significantly easier since the location is only three to four hours away, versus the three days we need to get to the Nevada desert. This event started on Thursday April 24th and ended on Sunday 27th, whereas the big Burning Man event is a full week. All of these Burning Man events require you to bring your own shelter, food, water and of course all your costumes. Turns out we still had a ton of work preparing all the provisions and the all important “Shade Structure”. No one would dare going to Burning Man without adequate shade structure!

Finally Thursday afternoon on April 24th we had the RV completely loaded and launched for Apache Pastures which is northeast of Austin. We left in a significant rainstorm that added two hours to our journey down to the event. We ended up arriving in the dark to a very wet muddy location. We checked in and after driving around trying to find a place to park the RV without getting it stuck in the mud we finally settled on a decent spot. After setting up our shade structure in the dark we decided that was enough activity for one day and staggered into the back of the RV and went to sleep.

Friday was a day we spent getting to know where everything was and figuring out how to get around. This event was very different to the main Burning Man because the location was all grasslands and trees with a few dirt roads to get around on. At the big event in Nevada the location is a huge flat desert playa where you can get on your bike and go anywhere any time of the day or night. The roads at Flipside were pretty narrow so using our bikes was more difficult and not a good idea at night. Turns out there were a lot of people driving golf carts around the event and you could flag them down for a ride. At first we were not super excited about the event I think because we were so used to the enormity of the Nevada event. As we started to realize getting rides was fairly easy we became more comfortable and we started to find some theme camps that we enjoyed.

Saturday we moved around the event and enjoyed chilling at the RV. The weather at night was fabulous and cool. The daytime temps were on the warm side and muggy but could have been a lot worse if the event was held on its traditional Memorial weekend. Saturday night was the Temple burn. When they start burning things people really get in the  spirit of Burning Man.

Sunday was our last day and we were starting to get a good feel for living in the RV and how everything worked. We realized that thirty gallons of fresh water doesn’t go a long way. We never could get the hot water heater to work which was not a big deal and the air conditioner stopped working that day.  When we got back home a quick call to the Leisure Travel Van customer service provided the easy tips to resolve all these issues. There is a lot to learn with an RV. The pro tip is don't leave cans of chocolate milk in wire pantry rack - they can get pierced and spray milk all over the place!

Sunday night was the main Burn.  This year they built a large three story wooden structure that resembled a Heart. They also had an excellent professional drone show before the burn. After the burn we decided to go to the Lava Lounge. We had fallen in love with the Lava Lounge Saturday night. It was big and not crowded with two DJs, a dance floor, and served several delicious drinks. 

We stayed up late, danced a little, and were honored with the remote that lit the fire at the top of the tent. We visited a number of different camps including one that showed old time movies. All in all, we ended up having a great time and were glad we gave Burning Flipside a go. Monday morning we packed up and had a leisurely drive back to Dallas.

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Vancouver - Parks and Bays

We sadly left the Yukon on Wednesday April 2nd, flying on our new favorite airline Air North. For even a two hour flight you get an excellent sandwich and a hot cookie! At the request of a friend we confirmed the DC3 airplane windsock still works at Whitehorse airport. 

We saw more cars and people in the first two hours in Vancouver than over 11 days in Yukon - it was quite an adjustment!

Our house was beautify decorated with a rich history of the Squamish Nation. We enjoyed reading about the owner's late father Chief Knot-La-Cha and loved the totem pole in the living room. 

Our first day we drove north to Whistler stopping along the way at Brandywine falls park for a picnic lunch and a short hike, enjoying the scenery, the falls and the forest. We visited the 2010 Olympic Park venue to see the ski jump and biathlon areas, it was fun to be back on snow again. The day was finished with a stop at a local bar the Watershed in Squamish. We stuffed ourselves with delicious fish and chips and Canadian beer. We continued to be amazed by the friendly Canadians we met.

Friday April 4th we decided to explore a few of the 250 local parks in Vancouver. This time of the year the cherry blossom trees were blooming, along with daffodils and other spring flowers. We started with Stanley park, which is on the northwestern peninsula of Vancouver city.  At around 1,000 acres the park has a lot to offer, with trails, forest, gardens, beaches, a long seawall and marina for boats and float planes. We spent quite a bit of time in the area with First Nations Totem poles representing a number of indigenous nations and drove around the parameter of the park.

Our second stop was Queen Elizabeth park, in the center of the city. It had beautiful cherry blossom trees and spring flowers and we enjoyed a peaceful few hours in the early evening sun. We had planned to drive home for dinner, but it was rush hour and the traffic was terrible, so we stopped to eat instead. We started driving again once the congestion had died down and the bridges to north Vancouver had cleared. John was interested in ice cream, and we found a store on the route home. The ice cream was incredible and was made in the store by the owners who are originally from Mexico! Sometimes it is good to see where the day takes you. As we were heading home we decided explore for night views of Vancouver from the north shore and found a great spot at a place called the Shipyards. We were worn out when we got home, but it had been a great day. We were lucky our whole time in Vancouver to have such sunny days. 

On our last day in Vancouver we went to Capilano Park which is in a rainforest and has a long suspension bridge crossing a river. The park has several suspended walkways through the forest. It was a lovely few hours in peaceful nature after the city congestion the previous day. For our last lunch of the trip we had a great meal at the Olive and Anchor in Horseshoe Bay. We enjoyed the late afternoon hours in Whytecliff park experiencing fabulous views of the bay on a lovely sunny day.  It was a wonderful end to the trip.

We're back home now and getting ready for the Texas Burning Man event in Austin at the end of the month. Our trip to Canada was very memorable and we look forward to returning to Canada in our RV this summer.

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Yukon - Eagles, Wild Rivers & Dog Sledding

Thursday March 27th we stayed close to home, exploring Fox Lake as a potential northern lights location. As we were leaving the lake campground we saw an eagle fly by and land in a nearby tree. There was so little traffic on the road we were able to half pull off the road and get close enough to use our car as a blind and John was able to get a photo when the eagle flew away. There are a ton of lakes and rivers in the Yukon so there is a good population of eagles. 

We met the owner of our cabin that afternoon, Yvonne was wonderful to chat to and very kindly gave us a large piece of salmon she had caught in Alaska. We thoroughly enjoyed a dinner of salmon and also used it for some great lunch sandwiches!

Saturday the 29th we took a 445km roundtrip drive west to Haines Junction. It was a gorgeous day and our views for the drive were the spectacular snowcapped mountains of the Kluane National Park. Following a tip Yvonne gave us, we took a side road to Kusawa Lake about 100km from the cabin. The snow-covered road meandered through forests, past small lakes and eventually followed the Takhini river. We stopped for lunch and enjoyed amazing views of the river and mountains in complete solitude. 

We drove on to Haines junction and explored a little up the Alaska Highway and the road to Haines. John was enthralled with the views and every time Sara turned around she found him in the middle of the road with his tripod. Good thing there was hardly any traffic! We had looked into taking an aerial flight over the park and glaciers, but the pilot for the only company flying wasn't available. We did stop at the small airport though and got some great views of the mountains. 

We were pretty tired when we got home, but John's Aurora monitoring apps indicated the Bz was south which means the aurora would come down to low latitudes and our location was in the Aurora Oval. All indicating conditions were favorable for more lights to be out. Sure enough we were lucky to get one more night of great Aurora. One of John's cameras has been modified for astro photography and with the hydrogen alpha filter is able to record more red wave lengths. 

After such a busy day we took it easy on Sunday and Monday. We drove into Whitehorse and had a great dinner at the Dirty Northern Bastard with Cora & Matteo. They really had given us some great tips and it was fun to chat to them about living in Whitehorse. We rode the fat tire bikes on the lake the next day and enjoyed lunch and Smores by the outside fire. Sara always enjoys an opportunity to create a fire!  Of course we also enjoyed multiple soaks in the hot tub.

We had looked into dog sledding the previous week and couldn't find an option that would work. We were chatting to our wonderful host Yvonne and she recommended talking to Jeninne Cathers and her dad Ned who lived on the other side of the lake. They have a wilderness adventure business taking people dog sledding, canoeing, and wilderness exploring and camping. We were really excited when Jeninne said yes they could take us out on the lake and would pick us up on the side of the lake five minutes from our cabin. 

We had the most wonderful afternoon! The Cathers family have been living off grid on the lake shore for forty years. Ned has run the Yukon Quest dog sled race ten times and Jeninne has run it six times; at the age of eighteen she was the youngest person ever to complete the race. The Yukon Quest is considered the toughest dog sled race in the world. It's about the same distance as the Iditarod but runs in February which is colder, with tough trails and only six rest stops. They are great people and we loved chatting to them.

Sara drove the sled and was given great instruction from both Jeninne and Ned on techniques. It was really exciting when the dogs listened to her commands and actually changed direction. We stopped midway for hot maple beans and sausages that Jeninne cooked on a fire she made on the snow. It was an absolutely fabulous way to end our time in the Yukon!

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Yukon 2025 - Aurora and Mountains

To start the celebration of Sara's retirement we planned a trip to Whitehorse in the Yukon, Canada for two weeks of northern lights and nature. We arrived Friday 21st March and spent our first night in the Airport Chalet whose historic bar used to be a hangout for local bush pilots after WW2.

The next day we had the pleasure of meeting Matteo and Cora originally from Italy and now living in Whitehorse. They are friends of our fellow world traveler Jim Bennett and gave us excellent tips on what to do around Whitehorse. After picking up what seemed like enough groceries for a month we drove 45 minutes north to Lake Laberge and our cabin for the next 12 days. The cabin was remote, warm and comfortable and surrounded by peaceful nature. Plus it had a hot tub which we used almost every day - It was a very romantic way to celebrate retirement.

The Yukon, a territory in northwest Canada, is wild, mountainous and sparsely populated with around 45,750 residents, 75% living in or around the capital of Whitehorse. It has stunning natural beauty, the Klondike Gold Rush history and unique cultural heritage of the First Nations. At 60 degrees north latitude it also has the potential for stunning Aurora displays!

At 10:30pm we bundled up in our warm gear and heavy boots and drove 5 minutes down the road to an access point to the lake. We spent three wonderful hours standing on the frozen lake enjoying and photographing an incredible Aurora display. The temperatures dropped to around 10F, which is much warmer than our time in Yellowknife a few years ago. It was an excellent start to the trip.

Sunday, March 23rd we took a trip to the Yukon Wildlife Preserve, just 30 minutes south of our cabin. The Preserve has 750 acres and is home to 11 different Yukon species. It is a lovely place with wonderful people, and we enjoyed a 2 hour tour learning about the different animals. We saw wood bison, thinhorn sheep, mule deer, woodland caribou, mountain goats, muskox and the foot of a sleeping lynx! The moose, and red and arctic foxes were hiding. That evening it was mostly cloudy, we went to the lake around midnight and lay on the frozen surface looking at the sky and letting the snowflakes hit our faces. It was very romantic, but no good for Aurora. At the cabin, as we were removing our warm gear we looked out the door of our cabin and saw a cute little red fox looking in through the lower glass pane. She stayed on the cabin deck for about 30 minutes while we quietly took pictures.

The next few days settled into a pattern of exploring the beautiful area during the day and looking for Aurora by night. We typically packed a sandwiches and a thermos of hot tea and would find a place with a magnificent view for lunch. 

Whitehorse is surrounded by beautiful mountains, rivers and lakes and we quickly fell in love with the area. Our first day trip was to McIntyre creek overlook (where we saw eagles fishing), Fish Lake and Haeckel Hill which required a 20 minute drive up a narrow, twisty snow covered road. We were rewarded with great views of Whitehorse and the mountains. That night we were treated to more Aurora with great colors we hadn't seen the first night. The colors of the Aurora are dependent on the altitude of the oxygen or nitrogen content and are very vivid on the camera, and less so to the naked eye. Regardless of the color it's a magical experience that never gets boring!

Tuesday was a relaxing day, with a visit to the local hot springs and an exploration of the side roads looking for potential night time shots. We decided Burma Road could be a good option. We were secretly glad it was a cloudy night because we were exhausted and looking forward to an early night!

The next day was a beautiful blue sky morning and we drove 75 miles to the tiny town of Carcross (short for Caribou Crossing). The views were so incredible we stopped numerous times for photos, and a picnic lunch so it took 3 1/2 hours. We loved stopping to enjoy a view along a side rode and rarely saw other people. It was incredibly relaxing to be surrounded by such beautiful nature. The businesses in Carcross are primarily owned by First Nation Tlingit people. The stores were closed for the winter, and people were working on repairs to the buildings to be ready for summer. We enjoyed talking to a man doing wood work on his store who gave us some tips for photo locations. We found everyone in Canada to be incredibly friendly and helpful. That evening we returned to the location on Burma Road, on the side of the frozen Yukon river. It was another great night of lights, and when we got back to the cabin Sara sat in the hot tub and enjoyed watching the Aurora right over the cabin - what a wonderful day!

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