Greetings from the Paris of the Yukon!

  Dawson City, Yukon, Canada
Wednesday, July 8, 2009

 

David on July 7, 2009

We are blessed to be traveling with wonderful and diverse people for many different backgrounds.  They are interesting and easy to get along with with great personalities and good senses of humor.  Yesterday we had to have our bags out at 5 a.m.  Yes, you read that right!  We had to board the bus by 5:50 and although they may not have been been shining smiles, no one was an outright grump and everyone was on time...including David.  Speaking of David, he has been a great traveler and for most of the time enjoys learning about the areas we are traveling through.  He has made friends with most of our fellow travelers and knows more them that we would ever learn.  He is definitely a social animal.  He has been a big hit and love the attention.

After leaving Tok, yesterday morning we picked up the Taylor Highway and began our way to Eagle, Alaska.  Our first stop was at 8 am in a small village called Chicken, AK.  

The chicken on the water well.

 

A building in Chicken, AK

 

The 'new' out house

 

Chickens for tomorrow's soup!

 

Eating hearty

 
 The last time we passed thru here 8 years ago there was a 4 hole outhouse with one door and a wood slab to sit on.  Now there are 4 individual outhouses with toilet seats and 'tiled' floors.

The 'new' out house

  It has really gone upscale! 
We had a delicious treat of chicken soup and tuna sandwich (David), cranberry/orange scone (Bobbi) and warm cranberry/apple pie (John). 

Eating hearty

Shortly after leaving Chicken...named Chicken because the miners who named it couldn't spell Ptarmigan (the state bird)...we left Taylor Highway to wend our way to Eagle. We had taken bets just as we left Chicken as to how many vehicles we would pass coming toward us on the highway.  I bet 16; John bet 27 and David's guess was 29.  The winner was Jim E with 21. We were on that stretch of road for 5 hours!!  We saw some beautiful vistas along the way of fireweed and gorges as well as other pretty things.

Beautiful fields for fireweed

Views from the road

 

Our bus

 

 We stopped once more at Polychrome Mt. to have a stretch and rest stop and break out the lunch boxes.  John commented that it was only 10:30 but I reminded him that we ate 5!  

Eagle City Hall

Eagle school and fire house

 

Eagle School and fire house

 

A cabin in Eagle

 

The electric company of Eagle

  

a good looking garden in Eagle

  
Once we got to Eagle we saw the terrible devastation brought on by the ice floods in May of this year.  It was an extremely cold winter and the ice buildup was very thick.  April was very warm and then there was a lot of rain in May.  That caused the ice to break up quickly and the Yukon River to flood.  When I read about it in the news, I did not realized it would effect Eagle as much as it did. 

Another view of the grocery

 

The grocery store that didn't make it!

 

A B & B off its foundation, too

  
In fact it effected the whole of the Yukon River.  Since there is only one person who actually lives ON the banks of the Yukon all year on, and his home is quite well up and off from the river bank, he was protected.  It was the summer people's homes and businesses that were destroyed. 

 

Food cache to protect from bears

 

The Fish and Wildlife Camp

 

church along the Yukon

From Eagle we boarded the Yukon Queen II to take us upriver to Dawson.  The Yukon Queen is a luxurious hydrofoil with a very delightful and knowledgable crew who took very good care of us for the 5 hour trip up to Dawson City.  They served us a delicious meal and gave us a running commentary about the folklore, history and geology of the river.  The seats were comfortable and there was room to move about and the ride was definitely smooth and interesting.    ]  

Landslide marker for Dawson City

  

Yukon Queen II

David took a trip on the Klondike River today.  He saw lots of birds and had some wonderful pictures so I am sharing a few with you.  His photos keep getting better and better.

David's river guide

 

God guiding the river guide

David is in the white hat

  

beautiful view from the river

bald eagle

  

gull

David and the guide

  

a typical refurbished storefront

We are blessed to have a very interesting and delightful time.  Blessings, Bobbi