DAWSON CITY, YUKON TERRITORY

June 7-8:  The last two days have not been what we planned at all.  Still unable to solve my problem with getting my photos on my overloaded laptop, it dawned on me that this was a college town, HQ of the University of Alaska, where there MUST be a computer store that handles Apple products.  My deepest insight proved correct and I was on the phone with them as soon as they opened for business.  Yes, they could help me.  I was there in 15 minutes.  We decided to put in a new hard drive four times larger than my present one and get a new gigundo external hard drive to back it up.  It took all day and all night for them to do the installation, data transfer and backup, but my new setup was ready and running smoothly next morning.  In the meantime, Gale and I now had some free time.  We lunched at the Creperie, Fairbanks’ numero uno restaurant, where some French youngsters throw together some pretty good pancakes.  managed to get on to Chena Bend Golf Course of Fort Wainwright, an Army base in Fairbanks.  Teeing off at 4:15 PM, we had a delightful round on a lovely course, with practically no one else around.  75 degrees and sunny, of course.  No bugs!

After picking up my computer this morning and successfully loading in all the photos I had taken in the last two weeks, we visited the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum in Fairbanks.  This collection of cars and fashions dating from 1898 to 1936 was absolutely mind-boggling in its extent and quality.  This magnificent collection is about 60-70 autos  (only three of which do not run), each immaculately restored to showroom splendor.  Where it occurred, the cars are tied in to Alaska history, with films and stills.  Fashions of the times, mostly women’s, are displayed throughout, accompanying each period for which the adjacent automobile was being manufactured.  Some of the cars are one of a kind, some one of just a few survivors of long-lost automotive glory.  Every one is a gem!

DIRTY GERTY AND FRIEND

DAWSON CITY

"DRUNKEN" BUILDINGS, DAWSON

We finally departed Fairbanks, heading southeast on the Richardson Highway, before turning north on the Taylor Highway.  Tonight we decided we would drive late and see if we could find any large mammals that may come out more in the evening.  We stopped by an enticing small pond, glowing in the evening light, so I could wet a line one last time in Alaska.  No luck with the fish, but a male rusty blackbird sat right above me watching the action.   Further down the road, we found two bohemian waxwings, a lifer for Gale.  Just after passing through the small mining town of Chicken (remember Chicken?  So called because the residents couldn’t agree on how to spell ptarmigan!), a black bear ran across the road, followed by a coyote.  By now, it was after 11:00 PM and even the sun was threatening to go down, so we decided to call it a night as well.

DAWSON CITY, YUKON TERRITORY

July 9: We completed the 100+ miles to Dawson City, Yukon Territory, by traversing The Top of the World Highway.  This dirt road follows an old trail across the western Yukon mountains, mostly around 4,000 feet in elevation.  That’s high enough here to be alpine.  We crossed the border into the USA (highest elevation, and probably loneliest, boundary in the US), then went for a walk on the tundra.  American pipits, horned larks, savannah sparrows, typical breeding birds of this type of habitat, were all present.  The views were exquisite, the countryside massive and grand, but we were tired and just wanted to get to Dawson.  Yukon Tourism had kindly set us up in a suite at the historic El Dorado Hotel in downtown and we basically folded into our accommodations for a break.  Once revived, we ventured out and wandered around the town, clopping our way down all the boardwalk sidewalks.  Dawson has no paved streets, no traffic lights and many of the buildings are original from the 1890s gold rush time.  Somehow, this wooden city never burned to the ground since its inception in 1897, when gold was discovered along the Klondike River.  Its history is a fascinating story of insane boom, near complete bust and revival to its present status.  I love Dawson, because it has retained its charm, character and spirit, with a cozy friendliness that welcomes strangers into its heart.  

We dined at the old Downtown Hotel, gamely walking through the swinging doors of the old Saloon of the Jack London Bar and Grill.  After plunking down our pouches of gold dust, we dined on nicely prepared chicken schnitzel.  For after dinner fun, we took in the show at Diamond Toothed Gertie’s Saloon, Casino and Dance Hall.  Surprisingly, the vaudeville and can-can show was so good, we stayed for the second performance as well.

July 10:  Wandered around town some more, enjoying some old “drunken” buildings that had settled unevenly, due to lack of foundation insulation and resulting melting of the subterranean permafrost.  The confluence of the heavily silted Yukon River with the clear Klondike River leaves a bi-colored flow for several hundred yards downstream until the mud takes over.