On to the Yukon and California
On Sunday May 28, 2023 we left Fairbanks, Alaska
to fly to Dawson City in the Yukon Territory of Canada
Dawson City was a base during the 19th century Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899). It sits on the banks of the Yukon River which freezes over during the winter when temperatures stay well below zero for months on end. The weather while we were there was quite pleasant. Parks Canada oversees the historic district in the City of Dawson, keeping it looking as close as possible to how things would have been when it was in the midst of the Klondike rush for gold.
Big plane in a very small airport at Dawson City!
Rob walking toward the terminal.
Yes, that's the very small building!
Welcome to Dawson City.
All the buildings are kept looking like the days of the Gold Rush.
The Episcopal Church.
The Westmark Inn where we would spend two nights.
More of the Westmark Inn with old style false fronts.
The Robert Service building where we would stay at the Westmark Inn.
The Robert Service School, grades K - 12.
The only school in this small town houses about 200 students. We were told that the bright orange and yellow colors were chosen by the Kindergarten class. An architect presented a number of color combinations that would be appropriate and the Kindergartners won the contest to get to choose.
Looking at the town.
Another view.
On our first night we went to a vaudeville style show at Diamond Tooth Gertie's Gambling Hall.
The historic Post Office.
An old, vacant building.
On a walking tour we went inside a number of the historic buildings including this one.
Inside the saloon that has been beautifully restored.
When asked if events were ever held inside our guide told us no, that it is open only during tours. It seemed a shame that the building couldn't be used in other ways.
The ground in Dawson City is permafrost so to keep buildings straight and sturdy their foundations need to be regularly adjusted. In this era of warming temperatures the permafrost is melting, meaning even more maintenance to keep things standing.
This building in other locals would have been made of masonry, but in a permafrost region that doesn't work. This building and others like it are wood frame construction with pressed metal made to look like stone work. This was the first I knew that the Carnegie foundation built libraries in Canada as well as the United States.
Notice the hole under this house?
While we were walking around the streets of Dawson City headed to the museum Rob exclaimed, "What is THAT animal?" There was a large otter crossing the street and it headed to this hole under a house. A local person walking nearby us said, "That is not a usual sight here!?" There were some workers in the garden at the museum and they were all quite excited by this otter and one or two others that it joined. They all said that there are otters in a nearby pond, but they'd never seen them in town before. I wish I'd been quick enough to get a picture!
It took me awhile to pay attention to the repetition of the name Robert Service to wonder just who he was. I've heard words from the poem, "The Cremation of Sam McGee" as long as I can remember. I'd kind of noticed its rhythm and rhyme, but not sure I'd ever read or heard the whole poem, or at least not paid attention to it. Robert Service wrote it, and when you spend time in the Yukon and listen to the stories of the winter cold, the poem takes on new significance. Look it up if you don't know or remember what it's about. Robert Service came to the Yukon to work in a bank in 1908, but when his writing became a source of income he quit the bank and wrote full time. This cabin on Eighth Street in Dawson City is where he lived after he left employment with the bank. He left Dawson City for good in 1912. I bought a book of his poetry as an appropriate souvenir of the Yukon Territory.
Some of the words of Robert Service on the side of a building.
A replica of Jack London's cabin.
Jack London came to the region seeking gold with others hoping to get rich quick, but he only stayed for one winter - in a cabin like this one many miles away from Dawson City on a gold claim. Some folks from California came looking for London's cabin and when they found it they took it apart. Half of the logs were used to construct this replica, and the other half were used to construct a similar replica that is in Jack London Square in Oakland, California. We heard a very interesting presentation by a docent at the museum next to this cabin. I was inspired to read Jack London's Call of the Wild again, and Rob was inspired to read it for the first time. I also became very interested in learning more about this interesting person and visited Jack London State Park the day after we returned to California.
I laughed at this sign at first, then realized it was quite serious!
This trail going through Dawson City is part of the long distance Trans Canada Trail.
A view of the trail as it goes close to the river.
Another river view.
And another.
And another.
And still another.
Getting ready to board our flight from Dawson City to Whitehorse.
We would spend one night in Whitehorse.
We left Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, on the morning of Wednesday, May 31, aboard a tour bus headed to Caribou Crossing, a tourist attraction about an hour away. This would be our last full day of our 18 day Alaska and Yukon adventure. After having lunch at Caribou Crossing and visiting the attractions there we headed to the airport to fly to Vancouver.
We were told the water was not safe to swim in or to drink, but it was pretty to look at.
We stopped here on the way to Caribou Crossing just to have a look.
More beautiful mountains viewed from our stop.
Two Alpacas in the petting zoo area.
Part of the extensive museum of Arctic animals!
You can see some of the many other animals displayed there.
Moose antlers!
Climbing with others up the historic Chilkoot Pass.
The Chilkoot Pass was the route many of the first gold seekers in the late 19th century took from near Skagway over the mountains to Whitehorse before heading toward Dawson City.
Saying goodbye to Susan, our tour guide for the 11 day land portion of our trip.
The Airport Hotel we would stay at before flying back to San Francisco on June 1.
It was pretty wonderful to get off the plane in Vancouver and walk upstairs to our hotel room where we would spend the night before flying home the next day. Our flight on Thursday, June 1, was late morning, so we had no sense of being rushed and no anxiety about getting to the airport in time.
Beautiful art in the Vancouver airport.
Great Blue Heron next to the airport.
I managed to get a long walk in on Thursday morning before catching our plane.
We arrived in San Francisco on Thursday afternoon, June 1, where our son Shawn picked us up in our car. We dropped him off in Richmond and then headed to Napa where Rob had a two day board meeting for the Conference Claimants Endowment Board of the California Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church. While Rob was in a meeting all day Friday, I headed off to Jack London State Park near Sonoma. We have driven by this park in the past, but never stopped. There were beautiful hiking trails and wonderful history there. I took a nice long hike, but only got a cursory view of the history - we both need to return soon to learn more about the interesting life of Jack London.
The state park is the site of Jack London's Dream Farm.
And a section of the Bay Area Ridge Trail runs through it.
A bench along the way.
As I passed it I thought how I rarely take time to sit and rest at such spots.
I just wanted to see as much as I could in the time I had.
Chinese Paper Houses.
A favorite spring time wild flower of mine.
A big, ancient Redwood tree.
A butterfly that landed on my hand.
I made it to the ridge!
Poppies amongst the grass on the hillside.
Poppies up close.
A Dandelion seed puff.
Monkey Flower - a common wildflower in Northern California.
A very interesting old Douglas Fir Tree.
A rattlesnake on the wide trail as I got back to the beginning of my trail.
No Grizzly Bears in California, but there are other critters to give a wide berth to!
One of the historic farm buildings.
Architecture in Napa where I walked a bit on Saturday morning, June 2.
A mosaic on my morning walk in Napa.
A nice smelling rose.
There were lots of roses along my Napa walk, but most of them had little or no scent.
We finally returned to our Colfax area property late Saturday afternoon, June 3. We would only spend 10 days there before heading to Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe to once again spend the summer as campground hosts. Eagle Point Campground where we host was originally supposed to open on June 9, but the heavy snow fall of this past winter caused delays in getting all of the Tahoe area campgrounds ready for campers. The delay worked out well as June 5 was our daughter Ruth's first day at her new job as an Associate Engineer, and it was the first day of 10 year old granddaughter Avi's last week of 4th grade. While Ruth spent the week getting oriented at her new job, I coordinated getting Avi to and from school.
Two turkeys - one young one above the branch.
There was a whole family that I saw on my Sunday morning walk, but these were the only two I was able to catch on camera.
Sunday, June 4, we invited our grandson Alex to join us for a drive up to Lake Tahoe to see if our campsite at Eagle Point would be ready for us on our planned arrival, June 13. Alex has been in the Sacramento area, and beyond, for the past several months working for FEMA setting up and taking down Disaster Relief Centers responding to the winter storms. It would be the last time we would see Alex before his California deployment ended. Alex has been working for FEMA for a little over 3 years and assigned at five different locations: Mississippi; Carson City, Nevada; Maryland; Alabama; and Northern California. We have managed to see him at each of those deployments, with all of them being close to our various travels or home base. We figure we need to follow him around the country, so we're hoping he gets sent to Hawaii, or maybe Guam or Puerto Rico next time - all places we have yet to visit!
A coyote at Sugar Pine Point State Park on Sunday, June 4.
The Manzanita was in full bloom at Eagle Point Campground on June 4.
Up close view of the Manzanita blossoms.
I don't remember ever seeing Manzanita blossoms this full before.
Beautiful Lake Tahoe from the Overlook at Eagle Point.
Alex and me with the east shore behind us.
Mount Tallac still covered with lots of snow!
Lilacs blooming at South Lake Tahoe.
They were long finished blooming in Colfax.
Since Grammy was around, Avi got a ride to school each morning of her last week of school instead of having to ride the bus. The school is a short drive from the house, with a convenient place to park on the way back and walk into Weimar Institute where there are many miles of beautiful hiking trails. Weimar Institute is owned by Seventh Day Adventists and has a high school academy, a health college and a residential health program/retreat. They welcome visitors to their beautiful trails.
A canopy of Manzanita over the Manzanita Trail.
There were lots of wildflowers blooming, including this Penstemon.
Yarrow.
Prettyface.
Mountain Misery.
AKA: Bear Clover or Tar Weed.
The smell of this always takes me back to my childhood where there was lots of it growing on and near our Grass Valley home. My white horse had permanently stained ankles from walking through this plant.
Woolly Sunflower.
California Poppies.
Regina the Queen of King Snakes on her way to hide in a stack of logs on our property.
We don't know if this beautiful snake is male or female, but Ruth thought it would be fun to name this resident King Snake on our property, Regina, meaning Queen.
Mallard ducks flying on a another morning's walk on the nearby Boardman Canal.
A butterfly on the road.
Avi receiving Honor Roll on the last day of Fourth Grade, June 9, 2023.
June 9th was also Ruth's birthday.
We went out to dinner to celebrate her birthday and her new job and Avi's last day of fourth grade.
The sign on Ruth's desk.
As write this it is already the July 4th weekend and Rob and I are at Eagle Point Campground, Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe. I will try to catch up soon with another blog entry, but I wanted to finish the story of our Alaska and Yukon adventure.
Elsie and Straus continue to reside in the house in Colfax where Avi has told us they are not allowed to leave. Looks like they won't be RV cats again any time soon!
Straus on the table.
Elsie on the floor.
Elsie and Straus on their cat house after Avi worked at posing them.
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