My Yukon man

You're from THE YUKON??? This is the exact reaction he gets anytime anyone hears where he's from. Me included. When I met Jason and heard where he was from I think my face scrunched up looking all confused, my eyes got big, my jaw dropped a little.....the Yukon??? Really?! That's near outer space right?


Here is what almost everyone asks him:   
Q: Man, it must be really cold there!!!
A: No actually, it's much colder here.

Q: Do you have to hunt for your food?
A: Ya me and my pet polar bear go out and get it every night....*sigh*

Q: Do you live in igloos?
A: Only when the first frost hits

Q: How far away do your neighbours live?
A: Next door about 10 feet away.

Q: What is there to do in the Yukon?
A: There's more stuff to do there then there is here!!

Q: How do you get around? On a dogsled?
.......ok he DID actually have a dogsled team. CRAZY right?

As someone who was born and raised in the city, there are still things I find mind boggling. Example, every morning, he walked 20 minutes in the pitch black on a trail through the woods to get to his school bus stop. And then it was another hour drive to get to school. He swam in creeks and lakes you could drink from. He at one point had 14 cats, 6 dogs and a chicken coop with 30 chickens! He even hitchhiked on a regular basis to get to and from where he wanted to go. 

But the main thing that makes me wonder what life would really be like in the Yukon is when he talks about the freedom. He could leave in the morning and hop on a snowmobile and just get lost for the day returning home for dinner. I couldn't go to the store by myself until I was 12. He went hunting, fishing, snowboarding, dog sledding, hiking, bonfires, camping, you name it. I was driven to and from school every day. If I was outside, I was in my fenced backyard. And I can only imagine staying out late at night to look up at the beauty that is the northern lights...because I remember looking up and seeing maybe 1 star...oh no, wait, that's a plane.

His backyard looked like this...

My backyard looked like this....

So even though its this strange far away place that you only know of because of 4th grade geography, maybe those Yukoners have something pretty special. I'm lucky to have an inside look at what life is like up there.....

           .....in outer space.