Alaska with the Brewer's 06

Betty Brewer said:

Jeff and Sue,
The goal of my journal is to take people with us and to forge a path you might want to repeat. It does actually take a bit of time and daily effort( work) to do this journal so I really appreciate that people are  reading it and enjoying the trip with us. It is beautiful here!
Betty

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Betty,

Make no mistake, we are watching closely and immensely enjoying your posts and pictures!  Please keep up the great work!  It is appreciated very much.   

Howard

UK-RV said:

Thought you may like to know.....Santa and Mrs Claus are not at Santaland on Mondays or Tuesdays....even they gets days off.

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Paul,
Since I have not been there  yet,  where do Mr and Mrs Claus live?  No , I mean where are you?  Since we are in Dawson City, I think our paths may be getting close to crossing. Keep us posted.

Betty and Terry and et all

Here are some general pics of Dawson City, YT....I especially liked the German couples RV, or I should say their Tow car.<G>

Hi Betty

Santa is at the North Pole silly !! - thats North Pole, Alaska (190 miles north of Tok, 15 miles south of Fairbanks).

He and his good wife reside at Santaland - conveniently located next to Santaland RV Park.

RV Park / Giant Santa = http://www.santalandrv.com/bigsanta.shtml
Gift Store = www.santaclausehouse.com

I sent Ann-Marie a "Letter from Santa" last year - read a version here - http://santaclaushouse.com/SCH/notgooda.html

It was hilarious when she opened the mail that day.

In fact, I sent a testimonial to them stating how good it was - I noticed last week that they have it on their website - see http://www.santaclaushouse.com/santatestimonial.html

You can order the letters online (or at Santaland) and they get mailed just before Christmas, with a North Pole postmark.

Really good value for around $8. Of course, when you see all the Christmas stuff they have, you will be very lucky to escape having spent $8.

Oh, they have a couple of reindeer out the back too.

Paul

PS we are now in Tok (diesel $3.12) and will be heading to Dawson tomorrow - depending on the roads, as we've had some bad ones down from Fairbanks today.

Hi Betty & Terry

Even though I may not write too often, Arlyne & I really enjoy the blog and pictures
.
Ned & Lorna, and Russ also. "Someday" we hope to do it and I have saved all of this thread for future reference. Thanks again to you all for the great pictures and descriptions.

See you in the fall,

Jerry & Arlyne

Day 21? ?June 13, 2006? ?Pelly Crossing to Dawson City Yukon, Canada?

Thank you to all for your kind words about our trip log.? Terry? has taken? the photos posted here in our journal? with his new camera.? I am the writer, he is the photographer. So far we think at least 2 people have considered purchase of the Panasonic FX30 based on his pictures.

We continued along the Klondike Highway and I felt parts of it were like a Disney decorated corridor with bright magenta flowers on both sides of the road and yellow dandelions sprinkled in as well.? My pictures didn't do the flowers justice so I won?t include them.? You?ll have to come here in June and have a look yourself.? At the lunch rest stop Terry took a photo of an interesting rig with a couple from Germany. We struck up a conversation with a couple of young kids in a pick up loaded with supplies and water.? I thought they might be river raft tour trip leaders but it seems they were fire fighters who have been sent to Dawson City.? ?Lightening storms are predicted and 21 firefighters from Vancouver were given a phone call and within an hour were on a plane to Whitehorse and now are driving to Dawson City.? The lady at the visitor center said one of the worst fires in the Yukon? occurred in 2004 and it? burned nearly 3% of the Province?s total forest and conditions were quite similar to those seen now.? A water bomber plane was also flown in.? They want to be prepared.? Their mission is to protect people and structures.? They let the forest burn as nature intended. We continued down the rather rough potholed road and encountered our first real road construction.? Traffic was stopped one way and we watched heavy equipment do it?s thing.? The delay was only a few minutes but they watered the road just before we passed.? Talk about muddy.? We were able to judge the depth of the potholes and road ?whoop de doos? by the distance Lorna?s bike bounced from the back of their car being towed.?
We arrived safely and camped at a very nice (but graveled) campground just outside of town.? ?Off to the visitors center and bought a pre purchased ticket book to save money on admissions to their many museums and sights.? Dawson City is completely restored to the early 1900 styles.? Board sidewalks and cute little storefronts abound.? We visited the SS Keno which is a Sternwheeler (circa 1920) It is not nearly as impressive as the Klondike but interesting to see the differences. The Northwestern Arctic Tour people were there and have us thinking about a trip to the Arctic where we could put our toes into the Arctic Ocean.? We?ll have to see.? In the evening we drove up to the Midnight Dome Road for a spectacular view of Dawson City below and the tailings from all of the mining. Tomorrow we visit the mines and the museums.

Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven: 151
Temperature:? ?High? 87? ? ? Low 55
Wildlife sightings: chipmunks
Camping costs: $ 23.00 per night? 30 amp/ water? ?GuggieVille RV Park 2.5 km south of town
GPS Coordinates:? 64.04128, -139.39413?

Terry's photos incuded in an earleir post.

Hi Paul

We are in Dawson now and will be here for a day possibly two and staying at Guggieville Campground.  Would like to meet both of you and visit. 

I enjoyed seeing the German couple's rig.

What I did not enjoy, like others here, was the bun picture earlier.  I mean, it was unfair the way it popped out without warning, in the middle of other pictures.  Sort of like subliminal advertising.  I think it was more than chance that we were out of pastry by next morning. 

Here are some pics of the Dawson city ferry crossing the Yukon River. You must either use this to proceed to Tok or backtrack to Whitehorse & take the Alaska Highway.

Betty & Terry,

Sheila and I both enjoy your travellog and pictures. We are reliving our trip in 1998 and looking forward to our hoped for return in '09, although Sheila may want to go back to the Maritimes before going back to Alaska for a third time. 1st time was a plane/train/cruse deal in the mid eighties.

Keep up the good work. I tried keeping a journal but posting was near impossible in '98 and I ended up with only about three pages. I know it is a lot of work. Thank you for taking the time to share your adventure.

the best of travels,

ken

Smoky said:

What I did not enjoy, like others here, was the bun picture earlier.  I mean, it was unfair the way it popped out without warning, in the middle of other pictures. 

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Smoky & Betty:

I do not understand the issue with the buns. It is a lot easier to resist a pastry 3000 miles away than it is the ones in the campground office here every morning :

Day 22, June 14, 2006? ? Dawson City, Yukon? Canada
Well here we are tourists again.? We are 3 weeks into an Alaska trip and not yet there.? Dawson City?s economy is divided among tourism 48 % and individual present day? gold mining companies 48% and the remainder subsidiaries of mining companies.? We took an early morning walking tour of the town with a guide who was born in Dawson City and is now 27 years old.? She told us of present and past history. We visited the bank, the Red Feather Saloon, the mortuary, the Post Office and learned they have an historic building code so that all new building in Dawson must fit the 1900 circa.? We learned on the tour that the local mortuary actually counted who might be sick and pre dug their graves as winter frost made digging graves during winter impossible.? We visited the reconstructed Palace Grand Theatre that? was the center of activity in early 1900?s, Most recently it served as the place for the local high school graduation. Lorna and I then visited the cabin of Robert Service a poet of the times and listened to a fascinating story of his life.?

After a quick lunch in our rig we drove the 30 minutes to the Number 4 Dredge for the tour of this massive piece of mining equipment developed in 1912 to mine for gold.? It was the mechanized version to replace individual picks and shovels and sluices.? It only took 4 men to operate the machine itself but many men to prepare the soil for mining.? ?They had to defrost the soil before they could mine it for gold.? Mining was one of the best paying wages during this time of world wide poor economy. As mining continued, Yukon did not feel the depression.? This machine was massive!? ? Parks Canada (Canadian Government) has been very instrumental in restoring segments of Yukon history for all to enjoy.? The last thing we did today was to visit the Dawson City Museum where we learned the most significant fact of the trip.? The Klondike Gold Rush yielded 1,000,000 ounces of gold while the California Gold Rush in 1849 yielded 30,000,000 ounces.? The Klondike find is significant because it was found in such a depressed time and it offered hope and dreams to those who traveled to find the riches. It was s the last gold stampede in modern history.
Speaking of riches?we held a mini forum rally at 7:45p.m. when? Paul from UK drove by.? Seems he and Ann Marie and driven a gravel road from Tok and were covered with dirt.? Terry, Lorna and I went to Diamond Tooth Gerties for the musical review and hoped others would follow but they wanted to kick back.? Since it was Ned?s birthday and anniversary we said he could so what ever he wanted. Russ thought he might sleep through the show.? ?Our Tour Saver coupon was good for one free admission thanks to the word from Paul.

Tomorrow we depart from our friends to head North on the Dempster Highway.? We have the Arctic Circle and Inuvik in the Northwest Territories on our schedule.? ?We will pack a bag and may stay in a hotel overnight and see what the scenery offers.? We may be out of internet service for a while.? The final toast of the show tonight was to ?love life and happiness!?? This was fitting close for the day.

Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven:0
Temperature:? ?High? 88? ? ? Low 53
Wildlife sightings: 0
Camping costs: $ 23.00
GPS Coord:? Same as last night

Betty:

Dawson City looks FABULOUS!!!

Ned - HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!

What a cool place to celebrate your birthday!

Hi Betty,

Is that Paul in the group photo? He said he was going to be in Dawson City yesterday or today.

That's Paul.  He's staying just down the road from us.  Terry and Betty left for Inuvik early this morning and we and Russ are leaving here later today, so Paul and Ann Marie will be left alone in Dawson City until Terry and Betty return.

Thanks Ned. Glad to hear that Paul and Ann Marie were able to meet up with y'all.

WOW - they didn't wait long to get that photo up did they ?

Ive already had a 'telling off' from Ann-Marie for letting them take the photo with so much dirt on my jeans? ;D

She spent the evening wiping down EVERY surface in the coach and hoovering EVERY fabric too - the dust from Top of the World Hwy got everywhere inside the coach - ive never seen anything like it, or roads like it ANYWHERE.

We averaged 30mph for the day and used a lot more fuel than expected - i drive into Dawson on fumes.

Of course, I forgot to take my own advice to close the vents in the car and cried when I opened the door - powdery dust was everywhere - inside windshield, thick layer on seats and a cloud just 'hanging' inside the vehicle.

We had a slight mishap with a new bottle of washing-up liquid, which fell from a cupboard and spilt on the bathroom carpet - so I spent nearly 2hrs dabbing it with kitchen roll (if anyone has advice on removing washing liquid from carpet we would appreciate it).

Just to mention the TOTW Hwy again - we left Tok and had paved roads (with lots of red warning flags) for around 30 miles, it then went to dirt road which was very poor quality and then to loose gravel road. We crossed the Border and enjoyed paved road for a few miles before yet more gravel, but it was a bit more compact. The tricky part here was the holes they filled with sand - as soon as a wheel hits that, the coach just slides left or right - fun !!

Anyway, good to see you guys last night - we're about to watch the England match, but may see you before you leave.

All the best,

Paul and Ann-Marie

Some of us didn't sleep well last night and have decided to stay one more day so Paul and Ann-Marie you will have company for another day.? We will see you later.? There are still a few things that I would like to do and see in town so won't be rushed by staying another day.? Since we have wifi or Russ's connection to the internet we are all "happy campers".?

Today I went to see the Danoja Zho Cutural Centre which presents the culture and history of the Han First Nation People.  During the gold rush they were uprooted from their native lands which in turn changed their way of life.  They are really trying to go back to some of their traditions and to learn their native language.  This has become a race with time since there are very few of their people left that can still speak the Han language.  It was a very interesting museum.  The other place that I went to was the cabin of Jack London, the author.  He only lived in the area for a year but that year is the basis for many of his books including "The Call of the Wild".

Day 23 June 15, 2006? Day trip Dawson City to Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada

? ? ? ? ? ?Well folks today we? detoured? from our trip to Alaska and what an adventure.? We started off to breakfast at 6 am and were on the road by 7 am heading up the Dempster Highway.? This highway was completed in? 1979 by the oil companies? to? provide a road to? their oil and petroleum fields.? It is unique in that it is built upon a gravel berm anywhere from 4 foot to eight feet high to insulate the permafrost from the road.? Without this gravel base the perma frost would thaw and the road would? sink into the ground. It is gravel? almost all the 460 miles. One could take their motorhome on it but it would be filthy from the underside up and inside out.? The highway heads north of Dawson city and ends at the northernmost of all of Canada's cities, Inuvik.? I saw the most spectacular scenery I’ve ever seen today.? The massive ecosystem of tundra and miles and miles of untouched wilderness were beyond anything I could have imagined and pictures can’t capture the magnitude or the size of this land.? Not a phone pole or electric lines,? Just nature.? There were places I could stand and turn in a circle and see mountain ranges after mountain range for 360 degrees.? It is pretty this time of year as the snow-melt contrasts with the fuzzy green of the tundra.? The scraggly trees point all directions as the perma frost cause them to freeze and thaw and point in all directions.? It was a long day and we traded off driving .? During the first 10 miles of this road we saw 1 bear, one deer, one porcupine and scenery to die for.? When it was my turn to drive we rounded a corner and there right at the side of the road sat a bear smiling.? He posed for Terry who threw his coffee cup, The Milepost on the floor? in excitement to catch the shot.? Wow.? We crossed four mountain ranges.? We saw several Arctic hares(rabbits), two things I think were mink but Terry thinks they might have been marmots.? We’ll have to look in a book to identify them for certain.? ?At mile 252 from our start we reached 66 33 lat long.? This was the ARCTIC Circle for heavens sake.? “Who’d a thunk!” as Margi would say!? I thought we were going to Alaska this summer and today I was on the Arctic Circle and heading north.? We had beautiful but windy weather.? It was about 73 and sunny.? We passed several viewpoints and campground along the way.? Now we even get to cross 2 rivers on ferries.? The first one was scary but no big deal.? Just drive on ride a minute and we’re across the Peel River.? The next crossing at MacKenzie River was a bit different.? There was a car in front of us so we waited and we waited and we waited from 6:45 to 9:15 pm for the ferry to arrive.? We could see her sitting across the river, just sitting.? Finally I struck up a conversation with a trucker who said it is a new captain and he thinks it’s too windy to cross so we shall wait? until the wind dies.? This could be all night.? It is 85 miles back to a campground we are in the car with no sleeping bags) and no place to go ahead. Finally the ferry loaded us and we were the first ones on and first off and flew down the road at the 90 KM? per hour speed limit.? Boy did the dust fly behind us.? When we arrived in Inuvik, we find our? little Arctic Chalet to stay the night.? Seems the Petroleum Conference is in town and all the rooms are filled.? We stay in the Trapper Cabin with no water and the bathroom is up the road so far we take the car to brush our teeth.? We love having a motorhome!? But we are troopers and tired.? We? had the? gal call and hope to get on a flight to Tuktoyaktuk to visit native culture and step into the Arctic Ocean tomorrow.


Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven: 0? Car driven 460 miles fuel= $1.41 per litre, only? one station along the? ? ? ? ? entire road.
Wildlife sightings: 2 bear, 1 caribou, 1 porcupine, 2 mink/marmots?, 2 rabbits,
Temps:? High 73? ?Low 53
Camping Costs:? $50.00 for a room with no bathroom!
? ? ? ? GPS loc: 68.128908, -133.667955