Yesterday the sun came out, the sky was clear, and I hit the trail for a lunchtime hike. I start my work day at 7am so I have extra time to play with during the day, whether I want a longer lunch, or to end my day early, or if I want to hike!

I was feeling so light and fast, hiking with the confidence of a girl with ice cleats on her shoes (love them), and I really was winter hiking in my shoes instead of boots! (yeah, the fix was temporary, my Achilles just don’t like the restricted movement that boots provide).

I met a couple on the trail from Exeter, Ontario! They had visited Dawson many times but this was their first time in winter! They were looking for the Crocus Bluff lookout so I gave them directions on how to get up the bluff, find the lookout, and then recommended a nice trail to extend their hike if they were up for it.

Then I hiked fast like my soul needed it – the trees, the sunshine, the speed.

I think I did the hike in record time, then had to walk through town to get back home. But I didn’t want it to end! So I kept walking and did the whole length of town too for a nice 5.2km hike.

Not a great picture with the shadow, but here was a dog team chilling by their sled while their owner was working or shopping or just visiting town. A group of school kids were headed up to the dyke to ski too! Lovely day!

The snowmobiles have packed down the dyke for easy walking.

Last night we had a reservation for Bonton. Remember that fancy restaurant in the log cabin here where they have fancy food with local ingredients? Our friend Alex decided to join us, and we had the nice front window booth.

We opted for the 6pm seating (there is also an 8pm seating) and started with a cocktail. Fortunately for me, they have a nice section on their menu for non-alcoholic drinks. I started with the Dim N’ Stormy gingery drink.

It looked like this:

There wasn’t a dish on the menu that we thought we could skip, so we ordered one of each plate to share among the 3 of us. Every week the menu is completely different, with a different theme. This one had strong vibes of Mexico and the southern states, with black beans and cilantro and enchiladas and churros (I forgot to take a picture of the potato churros!)

Here are the rest of the plates (except the yummy churros):

Almost entirely Yukon grown!

Every dish was spectacular. Even the garnishes! There was a fresh basil leaf that I ate, and it had a strong black licorice taste! We weren’t sure what it was, but I googled later and there is a basil with a licorice taste!

OK I’ll fess up, there was one dish I couldn’t do. I thought I liked chicken livers. But the taste was so strong and the texture was too much. I had a difficult time getting through one liver and then I tapped out and offered Jeff my share.

I had another mocktail with fresh rosemary in it! Lovely! And perfectly took away the memory of the liver.

The dessert was amazing. I didn’t know cinnamon and chocolate worked so well together!

There was no one on the seating chart assigned to our table for the 8pm seating, so we lounged for a while! By the time we left, it was long dark. But in the clear night sky, there were stars and planets sparkling every where! We found Jupiter and Mars.

We went home and before going to bed, Jeff took out Hank and said the northern lights were out! I was so tired I lazily took a picture from just the back door.

As great as the day was, my Garmin watch, with all of its health stats, has been recording a bad overnight HRV (heart rate variability) for me for the last few days, which hasn’t happened before. I wondered if it was just because I was feeling a bit melancholy this week? (3 more deaths impacted my world.) But this morning, Saturday, I woke up with thick feeling puffy eyes, sore face (sinuses), a deep voice, and I’m starting to realize I may have a cold? I’ve read that a Garmin will pick up signs before you do, as your immune system tries to fight off something. I’m so rarely sick in recent years, I’m not sure what to expect from this one!

Our friend Kyle woke up the same way today, with a massive head cold, and postponed his birthday party tonight. Which works well for me because I didn’t want to miss his annual Crokinole tournament!

So I’m taking it easy today, and watching the Strongman and Strongwoman competitions live on YouTube. Wow these people are STRONG! Right now I’m watching women lift 300 pound stones up onto their shoulder. Unreal!