Holy Man-venture Batman!

WOW! Where to begin! So I am currently in Dawson City, and let me say this little town is SOOOOOOOOO RAD! I love it here! The place is uber rich with history, so much history that the air feels thicker. Dawson City if you didn't know was the center of the Klondike Gold Rush. Que Wikipedia now ….

The Klondike Gold Rush, sometimes referred to as the Yukon gold rush, was a frenzied gold rush that drew tens of thousands of would-be prospectors from all over the world to the Klondike River near Dawson City, Yukon, Canada after gold was discovered there in 1896. The gold rush lasted only a few years, essentially ending in 1899. In total, about 12,500,000 troy ounces (390,000 kg; 860,000 lb) have been taken from the Klondike area in the century since its discovery.

In it's heyday Dawson City had a population of around 30,000, men and women from all over the world. They came here in order to make it rich, the sad part is that only a small few actually did find that gold that was promised. I went to the Dawson City museum today (more on that later) and watched the a short little film about the Gold Rush. The impression that I got was that people thought there was so much gold that they could just scoop it up off the ground with a shovel. In reality, however, those that didn't get here early had to dig into the permafrost to get it. Sometimes they would have to dig upwards to 100 feet into the ground to get the gold. But once you had it you could get what ever you wanted!

In the film the narrator tells a couple local legends about guys with gold. One guy wanted a girl so bad that he paid her, her weight in gold! Another story was that a guy filled a bath tub with champagne and then paid a girl to take a bath in it. Keep in mind that a glass of champagne cost $30, that's $30 in 1899! That have been an astronomical amount! Other prices from the film, $2 for 1 egg; $5 for a glass of milk. Those who didn't get rich from the gold made their fortune in business. And fortunes could be won and lost in a day at the card table. In spite of all that Dawson city was virtually crime free. The Mounties kept a tight reign on things, nobody was aloud to carry a gun, and there wasn't a single murder, and everything was shut down on Sunday! The film said they were so strict about the Sabbath that they even fined a man for chopping wood!

But enough of the history lesson for now, back to my adventures. Let me take you back to Watson Lake … my long dark night of the soul … I was indeed ready to turn back, but I'm feeling much better now, both in body, mind and soul. I think that I ate something manky which gave me a mild case of food poisoning. I wasn't feeling well at all! An upset stomach, plus not being able to sleep (read: too much coffee too late in the day …) plus being a bit lonely = life sucks a bucket full of rancid pig face.

So I journeyed on from Watson Lake to Whitehorse ...

This is in between Watson Lake and Whitehorse

I had to stop half way through and have a nap … after I took the pick above a slept for an hour! In Whitehorse I met up with Kathy's cousin Andrea. I arrived at her place just in time to be invited to an art opening, which was kinda cool. I've never been to an art opening before, it was at this cool little gallery call Gallery 22. Here's a link about the exhibit. The gallery is above this cool record store/tatoo parlor/marijuana gear supply place … if you get my drift. Anyways, it was cool to meet some of Andrea's trendy cool friends. I felt cool myself for a moment then I remembered that I hadn't shaved or showered in 2 days and prolly looked like death casue I wasn't feeling well … Andrea's friends were really gracious and made small talk with me to make me feel at home. I didn't do much in Whitehorse, I'd been there before so it wasn't really new. It's a cool city though. It's very modern feeling … they have not one but TWO Starbucks! How cool is that!

Yesterday (July 8^th) I drove from there to Dawson City, where I'm currently at. The drive here was really nice. I stopped at this place called 5 Finger Rapids. I'll post pics later, but it was about a 10-15 minute hike off the highway to get to the observation deck above the river. And to get there you had to walk down over 200 stairs, not so bad going down, coming back up took a bit of work though :) The country side is full of nice leafy trees and lakes, and the weather was great too.

Dawson City is unlike any town that I've ever been to. Like I said the air is thick with history, and one of the reasons is that buildings look like their straight from the height of the Gold Rush.

They've done a great job making it look a touristy!

Brightly colored “western looking” buldings line the streets, and there are places like Diamond Tooth Girties Gambling Parlor, The Eldorado Hotel and the Bonanza Market. So when I got into town yesterday I checked into my B&B , the 5^th Avenue B&B. (click the link) The family who owns it are really nice and they room is great! After I got settled I went for a walk.

I walked down Main Street where they have all the gift shops and such, They also have a “down town” which has more stores and what not. I went for super at a place called Sourdough Joes, and had Alaskan Sockeye Salmon fish and chips … yummy! … that evening I went to Diamond Tooth Girties. It's a non-prophit casino and old fashioned dance hall where the MC, Diamond Tooth Girtie, sings and shows off her can-can girls. There are three nightly shows, I went to the first two (8:30 & 10:30), and I wanna go to the 12:00 show … maybe I'll do that tonight, apparently it's the best! … They put on a really great show, with lots of audience participation, it's also Canada's oldest Casino, so I gambled away my $5 bill, with no results, but that's ok, it was fun! And the show was great!

After a good night's sleep and a fantastic breakfast, I went exploring. In the morning I went to the big museam, they have a train museam attached to it. They had a demo of a rocker box, (click the link and let Wikipedia tell you all about it) and a live Miners Meeting drama, where one “lucky” audience member gets accused of some crime and it's up to the rest of the audience to find him guilty or not … in this case not … but I would have voted for him to be lynched, his argument was super weak! Hehe … after lunch at the Bonanza Market (I had the best sandwich in the world!) I went in search of the ship wreck grave yard.

After the gold rush ended they had all these paddle wheeler's left over that nobody wanted so they ditched them on the banks of the Yukon River. To get to them I had to hike through the woods along the river. Seemingly out of nowhere you begin to see old boards, and mettle pipes and such. Then you come along 3, possible 4 rotten and decaying boats. On one you can see it's name, and the old steam stacks are falling down. There is splintered wood all over the place, but on a couple you can still see the frame of an old ship. The place had a very eerie feeling about it. It felt like they kinda place where you can't make any noise, and if you were to speak you should whisper. It felt haunted. Not haunted as in satanic/evil haunted. But haunted with the ghosts of the thousands who came up here to seek fame and fortune only to be denied. I think it's possible one of the coolest experiences that I've had in my life. To be all alone in the woods with these ships. It's really hard to describe … like I said, the place is thick with history.

Here's some video and pics from the Sternwheeler Graveyard

After my experiences in the graveyard I went to Robert Services Cabin. He's a famous poet. Kathy gave me a poem by him. It's pretty cool so here it is …

School yourself to savour most

Joys that have but little cost;

Prove the best of life is free,

Sun and stars and sky and sea;

Eager in your eyes to please,

Proffer meadows, brooks and trees;

Nature strives for your content,

Never charging you a cent.

Learn to love a garden gay,

Flowers and fruit in rich array.

Care for dogs and singing birds,

Have for children cheery words.

Find plain food and comfort are

More than luxury by far.

Music, books and honest friends

Outweigh golden dividends.

Love your work and do it well,

Scorning not a leisure spell.

Hold the truest form of wealth

Body fit and ruddy health.

Let your smile of happiness

Rustic peace serenely stress:

Home to love and heart to pray–

Thank your God for every day.

After that I went up to the top of Dome Road. From there you have a fantastic view of the valley and Dawson City, and to cap it off I went for ice cream and had a chocolate dipped waffle cone with Espresso Flake and Rolo ice cream and a coffee … sooo good!

It was a great day! Now I'm just chillin back at my B&B, I'll go have something to eat later, the ice cream filled me up, and I also need to get some groceries for the next leg of my adventure. Whitehorse has a Walmart so I got most of my stuff there … all caned goods and PB&J that won't go manky! … but I want to get some fruit and some carrots to munch on.

Tomorrow I begin my trek up the Dempster. I stopped in at the North West Territories info booth that lady there said the highway was in good condition, and she gave me some good tips. Like make sure you wash your car when you get to Inuvik or it's suck to wash later, and to go slow, which I had planned to do anyways.

So now you're all up to date! My next place with internet is Eagle Plains so I'll be sure to to update you on my progress so far!

~ Until next time!

ps. You all should come up here! At least once in your life time. It's definitely worth the trip … unlike Steinbach!