Kristine Geary

I am a girl from the North, a Dene woman, from Treaty 11 Territory, Tłegóhłį Got’įnę, Northwest Territories. The daughter of a trapper, a mountain Dene from the Sahtu, I have come from the shores of the great Mackenzie River in the NWT to the shores of the St. Lawrence River in Ontario. My journey began in the North, Norman Wells, where we lived in a one room shack on the banks of the Mackenzie with no electricity, no running water – yes, we had a honey bucket. At one time, we were 18 in the shack, and we slept in shifts. Bears came to our door and my Mom would get her shotgun and take care of business. We lived off the land, in nature and I loved it.

Later we moved to Destruction Bay, Yukon. (Mile 1083 of the Alaska Highway). My earliest memory of helping people enjoy their travels was when my mom worked as a cook at the Destruction Bay Lodge on Kluane Lake and I was her server/helper. When motorcoaches bound for or returning from Alaska would stop for a lunch break, I stood at the doorway of the bus holding a tray of sandwiches for clients as they disembarked. Happy clients would take a sandwich, pat my head and leave coins on my tray. No one every thought I was my mother’s daughter because I was so fair and my hair so blonde, thanks to my Danish father who briefly lived in the NWT, just long enough for my mother to have children, then he was gone. The seniors getting off the bus were so happy and smiling as they talked about all their adventures – what was a cruise ship? We didn’t have television or radio so I clung to their words and couldn’t wait for the next busload to come through to hear more tales of far away places! Little did I know, they were all planting seeds of travel and adventure that would take hold of my soul.

To this day, my heart is full as I work tirelessly to develop new and exciting travel adventures for our Maple Leaf Tour clients, including an upcoming tour to the Yukon! Maple Leaf Tours journeys throughout Canada, the US and the world! We’re on cruise ships, river cruises and European vacations, making memories together. The human connection that I felt with those clients in the Yukon is still with me today as I share my sense of adventure with those I am lucky enough to call clients on motorcoaches today, just as I did as a little girl along the shores of Kluane Lake.

Kristine Geary

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