June 17th to 19th - Dawson City

June 17th- Sun – to Dawson City
You may begin to see a pattern here – about 60 miles down the road this morning we all stopped for HUGE cinnamon buns. We saw them in a film that we viewed yesterday and asked at the visitor center where we could find them. For anyone interested, they were at Braeburn Lodge and would nearly have fed the 4 people as advertised. We took some with us and we are big eaters! We stopped to view Five Fingers rapids but didn’t walk down the 219 stairs to get closer to the river. Terry & I stopped for an excellent lunch at Moose Creek Lodge as we felt it was time for something besides sweets.
We got diesel at Dawson City RV Park before we parked. We were really watching the gas gauge as it was right on the bottom. The price of diesel is very high here - $1.59 per liter – and it cost $199 to fill the tank! We were kind of expecting that but it is still a shock.
Pat called last night to make reservations and they and Dave & Margo ended up having to get different sites as there was someone in the sites that they were originally assigned. Then it turned out that there was no cable TV as advertised so Terry wasn’t too happy. We had dinner and were all going to go into Dawson City but it ended up being only us and Pat in the pouring rain. Of course the sun is high in the sky until after we go to bed – sunset about 11:30 or later – so you don’t feel like it is bedtime.

June 18th – Mon – Dawson City
We all headed to the visitor center this morning. Since it wasn’t raining, we decided to take a walking tour of town that started at 9:30. We had a wonderful tour guide and the one hour tour was loosely based on “Weird ways to make money in Dawson City”. We had a good lunch before heading out of town a few miles to tour Dredge #4. After the tour we viewed an old film of gold dredging and drove a little further out to see a small gold mining operation.
Back to town to the Native cultural center where visited the gift shop but decided not to pay to tour the center. We leaned on a railing for some time and enjoyed watching traffic on the Yukon River in the lovely sunshine.
Rick, Pat, Margo & I went to the Commissioner’s House for yet another informative tour & film. There were some very strong women playing a part in the development of the Yukon. Dave & Terry had elected to have a beer so we joined them after the tour. Then it was back to the RV park for everyone to have dinner.
About 7:30ish we all loaded into the truck again to go back into town – less than a couple of miles – to watch a show at Diamond Tooth Gertie’s which is a show hall & casino. Before we watched the 8:30 show, Pat, Terry & I did a little gambling. When the show was over, we had to get rid of the rest of our tokens while the others finished a drink. Then it was only a short wait until the 10:30 show. After that show, we drove up to Midnight Dome which is a hill with a view over the whole city & surrounding area. It was 11:30 when we were up there and we would have had to wait another hour to see the sun set. It is a big deal here to celebrate the summer solstice (June 21st) on the Dome to watch the sun set and come back up shortly after.

June 19th- Tues
Rick brought over a chicken for me to put in the crock pot before he & Pat left for a trip to Tombstone Park about 25 miles up the Dempster Highway. I got laundry ready and we headed to town where we were going to wash clothes and meet Dave & Margo who were riding their bikes to town. The lovely, new laundry facility was closed due to construction when we got there so we shopped a bit until Margo called us. We met them and continued wandering down the main street in the beautiful sunshine. We eventually had lunch and went back to check the laundry as it was supposed to open at noon. Nope, guess Yukon time is different!! So we came back to use the tiny laundry facilities in the park – 3 washers & driers. We finally got it done, put away and the bed made. Then we picked up Dave & Margo and went back to town for an ice cream cone which we enjoyed on a bench outside the shop. When we got back, Rick & Pat had returned and it was time for happy hour and dinner. Pat made roasted veggies to go with the chicken and I made a salad. Then we introduced Dave & Margo to 3-2-1 cake for dessert.
We did some research for campgrounds in Tok & Fairbanks as we are leaving tomorrow for Alaska. Terry dumped the tanks while I caught up the blog so we can leave early in the morning to beat the line at the ferry across the Yukon River.