Dawson City part 2

Lily -note gravel streets, wooden sidewalks

The playground

We spent Tuesday exploring the town of Dawson, starting out by touring the SS. Keno, the smallest of the sternwheelers that plied the Klondike rivers.  It is considerably smaller than the SS Klondike (in Whitehorse), and, while it could carry passengers, it was obviously built for work and cargo rather than transporting people. We used our Canada Parks pass to get in free, which made me rather happy. I hadn't realized our pass would be good for Interpretive programs and Historic sites as well as entry into the National Parks. (I used it for the walking tour too). We went for lunch at Sourdough Joe's (yummy chowder), and checked out some of the shops. Lily was fascinated watching the goldsmith creating a ring in one of the many gold/ jewelry stores in Dawson. The kids returned to the same playground they were at the day before (sadly the swimming pool was closed due to boiler issues – it will take 3 weeks to get the parts!) and we got some groceries. Food is noticeably more expensive here, although not as bad as we thought it might be. It’s a long way from anything here, so I'm sure shipping costs are considerable. It makes the area rather interesting in its own right, though. The residents are quite proud of their tenacity and the town’s history but I can imagine that the cost of living here is quite high. There certainly is something magical about it though (maybe it’s that spell of the Yukon that Robert Service writes about that’s creeping in).

Ferry ride on the George Black

At the Dawson YGC

View across the river from the campground

The day flew by and after mailing a letter at the local post-office (the real one, not the historical one) we got in the truck and did one last thing. We went on the ferry across the river to the Yukon Gov’t campground. Now, I’m pretty sure this was, by far, the kid’s favorite activity of the day – the 5 minute ferry ride on the George Black across the Yukon River. They've been on one other, much larger, ferry when we went to the Olympic Peninsula last summer, but were just as spell-bound by this trip. The ferry is large enough to hold two lines of vehicles, but we’re big, and after two pick-ups, we barely fit on.  The trailer tires were right at the edge of the ramp. It was all good, and we completed our crossing, drove less than a minute up the hill to the campground. We checked out all the sites, practiced our yelling, hair-pulling & backing up skills and settled into a nice pull-through for the night. We made supper over the fire and planned our next day. Top of the World baby!  (look it up)