Return to Whitehorse

From Dawson City it was on to Whitehorse for a second visit.  On the way there were stopped at the bakery that has the "world largest cinnamon bun"  Sharon could not resist, she I heart the cinnamon bun. 

We took a unique tour of Schwatka Lake.  Even the taming effect of the hydroelectric damn still left a current that the boat; The Schwatka; barely was able to travel against.

The Schwatka

The current

Whitehorse still has some of the gold rush motif, but is becoming a modern city, and holds 75% of the population of the Yukon Territory.  It is the home of the "Frantic Follies".  This was the best show we saw on the trip.  It had a verity of show types and the people involved were very talented

Whitehorse downtown

The crew could sing and dance, and play a verity of instruments;

including the saw

 and a dramatic recitation and skit of "The Cremation of Sam McGee


 There are strange things done in the midnight sun
        By the men who moil for gold;
    The Arctic trails have their secret tales
        That would make your blood run cold;
    The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
        But the queerest they ever did see
    Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
        I cremated Sam McGee.
                        :
                        :
                        :
                        :
And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;
    And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and said: "Please close that door.
    It's fine in here, but I greatly fear, you'll let in the cold and storm —
    Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it's the first time I've been warm."

Sam ready for cremation

Whitehorse is also the home to the worlds largest wind vane.

Infamous Dawson, Yukon Territory

Dawson City was the end of the Top of the World Highway.  Now we had to cross the Yukon River by ferry.  The wait for some of the caravan members was 5 hours.  Dawson City has a great history.  This was the destination the gold rush prospectors risked everything to get to.  From here they were able to travel the Yukon River to get to the gold fields.

The Stangers waiting for their turn

Finally on the ferry and coming across

Don and Oreo over looks the city and the river

After the original prospectors left (they were a restless bunch and went on to the California gold rush) commercial mining operations bought the claims and took over the mining.  They built the dredge barge in a large "pond" on site and as they excavated the ground in front, they extract the gold and the tailings were dumped out the back.  This moved both the barge and the "pond".  The Dawson City Dredge #4 operated until the 1960's.  Next year the Canadian government (current owner) will shut down the reconditioning, and the tours.

Reconditioning the Dawson City Dredge #4

Looking down the gold extraction first step; a rotary sizing screen

The next step; mechanical gold panning

The tradition in Dawson City is the casino and dance hall "Diamond Tooth Gertie's".  This time the casino played with real money. 

Gertie

The Can-Can Girls

Chicken and the Top of the World

This is one of the toughest roads we have driven.  This is the road from Tok Alaska to Dawson City via Chicken Alaska (population 13).  It is the best "shake down cruise for your RV I know.  From Tok to Chicken it is not to bad, but gets progressively worse from Chicken to Dawson City.

Here is the road to Chicken

Gravel sure, but relatively smooth and with shoulders

Coming into Chicken

Chicken is/was a gold mining/gold rush community.  Originally the residence wanted to call it Ptarmigan, in honor of the bird they ate that kept them alive during the winter, but no one could spell it.  So they called it Chicken as the ptarmigan looks like a chicken.

A new use for obsolete mining equipment

There are hookups in Chicken but if you buy fuel, you can boondock for free.  so here are the "cheapskates"

The missing cheapskate is me who took the pix

Fuel station/general store/gold panning supplier

Mining is still going on by dredging the stream

Downtown Chicken

This bar not only hangs its hats but has a panties cannon as well

Our hat, no panties

And what did you expect to find?

AN ATTACK CHICKEN!!!!!

And here is the road from Chicken to Dawson City,  dusty, gravelly, bumpy, windy and look at the shoulders (which are soft and will collapse under the weight of a motorhome, as one went off and rolled down the hill the day before).  Guess who to his half out of the middle?

Delta Junction- Finally at the end of the Alcan Highway

The end of the highway, and we still have a way to go and a lot to see.  The Alcan stopped here because the Richardson Highway from Fairbanks already existed. 

The "official" marker

The mosquitoes are big but this bit and "dangerous

You learn not to bend over

Like many of the cities in Alaska, there is a natural history museum.  There is a richness of wildlife in Alaska as these museums show.

Rika's Roadhouse still serving Alaskan travelers as it has since 1904.  It greatest use was during the construction of Alcan, and as a military post during WWII.  It was the stopover for the river ferry.

The original roadhouse

The current dining room

The "welcoming comittee"

Solder living quarters at what now is a park

From the park we get a great view of the "famous or infamous" Alaskan Pipeline

A cross section of the pipeline in comparison with other pipelines going to Fairbanks

The "pig" that is used to clean the Alaska pipeline

Finally our bull moose (although young) seen on our way out of Delta Junction.

Why did the moose cross the road?

Fairbanks and the world of Alaska

Our longest single stay was in Fairbanks.  This gave us a chance to rest, ( and resting involved soaking in the Chena Hot Springs with Don and Sharon), see some of the most interesting and exciting sights and enjoy the spirit of the North Pole.  One of the best excursions was a river cruise on the Discovery, were we "discovered" more on the life of First Nations, and some of the notable people in Alaska

The "Discovery"

We all had a chance to "play" while waiting for the Discovery to depart

Can't get away from the polar bears

Waiting to explore -40 deg temperature of Alaska winters; but Santa is used to it

Here is Jo, Sharon and Don at -40

One of the best known Alakian "notable" is Susan Butcher

 Susan Howlet Butcher was an American dog musher, noteworthy as the second woman to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 1986, the second four-time winner in 1990, and the first to win four out of five sequential years.  She has become an Alaskan notable.  Susan Butcher died on August 5, 2006 after fighting graft-versus-host disease and learning that the cancer had returned. She is survived by her two daughters, Tekla and Chisana, and her husband, attorney and musher David Monson.

Susan, David, and the lead dog Granite

David Monson still maitains the kennel

The sled dogs are trained in the summer by pulling a quad.

The start of the pull

The end of the pull

The next stop was an Athabascan Indian village and demonstrations on their lifestyle. 

Preparing and preserving salmon

Making clothes,  This one is hand made and sells for $10,000

This refrigerated storage, at least in the winter.  Also designed to keep the "critters" out.

The day after the Discovery we visited the North Pole, and Santa's house.  We know that the Santa in the house was a standin as the "real Santa" was leading out caravan

Jo and Sharon telling the faux Santa what they want for Christmas