DAWSON CITY, YUKON AND GOLD MINING

MAY 23, 2017 - TUESDAY

WELCOME TO DAWSON -- AND WATCH WHERE YOU PARK!!!

THE BUNKHOUSE

We slept here in Dawson. It is an old hotel that was purchased by Ulie, and is slowly being restored!! It is very unique and rustic on the inside --- and I forgot to take a picture of our room!

Ulie, the young man who came with 3 friends from Switzerland to visit Dawson!!! The 3 friends returned home and Ulie now calls Dawson home!! A very delightful young man with a Swedish accent (duh!!). He purchased The Bunkhouse and is slowly fixing it up. He is not married and I told him that if I wasn't old enough to be his Grandmother - I would ask him out!!!

Just as we have witnessed in every community that we have visited - there are churches. Some of them are old and run down and not capable of being in use any more and some are very well maintained. Another proof to me that God is still Alive and His people are spread over the length and the breadth of the earth!

An old "Boot Hill" type of cemetery. We did not walk through this one but notice all of the very old wooden markers. I am sure that there are many stories of life in Dawson buried on this hill!!

The buildings in Dawson are all quite old and if there are any new ones being built they have to be
follow the style of the town - late 1800's style.

Diamond Tooth Gertie's - the place of the era complete with the show girls and their dances and the gambling tables. We arrived in Dawson late in the evening and the next show was at midnight - yes, you read that right - but these two old dudes were tired and we went to bed!!! I guess we should have taken it in since the shows are free until the end of May when tourist season starts. And you know us, FREE is a great word!! But sometimes the need for sleep even over powers free!!

The Dawson Museum

We did tour this and it was very interesting with a lot of beautiful and well done displays depicting the era of the Klondike Gold Rush. And the Ladies of the Night were prevalent during that time and the practice was finally frowned upon in the 1920's!

The view from the DOME ROCK -- a view overlooking the town of Dawson and the mighty Yukon River

And this is Darrell --- a gold miner just outside of town. He has an open pit mine and they find quite a bit of gold in there -- guess he wouldn't be doing it if they didn't find anything. The nuggets in my hand are some of the ones that he found there. But just like most things these days the town has extended the city limits to include his mine and now want him to get permits and all that goes with the bureaucratic end of things and it will probably force him out of business!! You know it seems that everywhere one turns - it is the big guys and the big business that is starting to take things over!!!

Are you getting tired of the green hills yet???? I'm not!! They are just amazing!!

Do we really want to drive about 30 miles out of the way to go to Mayo???

Looks like we did!! The lowest recorded temperature here was -80 F back in 1947 and the highest temperature recored was 97 F in 1969!!! That is almost a 200 degree span, folks!!

We were starting to bemoan the fact that we have not seen very much wildlife the last few days. And there on the Road were not one, but two black bear!!! I believe this picture is of the same bear --- but honestly - there were two!!! They tend to travel quite quickly and the other scurried off in the forest!

Now this is a different bear. We saw him along the road south of Stewart Crossing. I got a picture of his backside going east so it was not very good. We had a tuna fish sandwich that we had picked up in Prudhoe Bay (it was free) last week Friday and this being Tuesday, we were not going to eat it so we threw it out on the road, then watched and here came Smokey again. I am sure his very sensitive nose picked up that tuna smell. BUT - as soon as we started to drive a bit closer he took off across the road again. If he didn't get the sandwich finished on the first trip to the table, I am sure he will return for the rest.