MEMORANDUM: You Are Mortal

Imagine you are in a time machine hovering over a villa in the Roman city of Pompeii.  You hover there and observe the disaster as it unfolds.

Thus we have a day in Pompeii.

Day 8: On the Yukon and Klondike Rivers

On the morning of the 8th day we were taken on a boat trip on the Yukon and the Klondike, pretty neat, but it wasn't what I bought when I bought the tour.  I bought a real trip on a real ferry, the Yukon Queen up the Yukon River to Eagle, Alaska.  But Holland America not only canceled that trip but pull the Yukon Queen off the river.  So much for getting what you paid for.  So here we went on a fake paddle steam boat for a couple of hours and 4 miles of rivers and back.

He we go. Here comes the Klondike Spirit, note: don't go on the third deck it make the boat top heavy.  This blog and photos are about this excursion on the Klondike Spirit.

Dawson from the river.

Fish Camp

Fish Camp

Ferry across the Yukon

Water taxi

Not sure what they are doing, the Yukon has no rapids anywhere near Dawson.

But at least I got to boat by the Steam Boat Graveyard, twice.

Here are some details about the steamboats in the graveyard.

The Klondike River is geographically considered a braided delta where it flows into the Yukon. Not to mention it has been dredged to death because it is here where the waters slow down before flowing into the strong, fast, and deep Yukon and dropped its gold.

Back at Dawson we disembarked and proceeded on.

Day 7: Dawson City Yukon

The one full day in Dawson was used to sleep late and have a long breakfast at the bar in the Jack London Grill which was empty which allowed us to talk with the bar tender for an hour or so for stories and opinions. 

Moose Hide Slide

Dawson City Yukon: Read all about it.

Westmark Hotel

On thing about building on the permafrost is that when it melts it does so unevenly thus a building without an insulated foundation kind leans ever which way. These are call drunk buildings.  When trees do this it is a drunk forest.

Story is Jack London wrote "Call of the Wild" sitting in this bar.

This is the center of night life in Dawson (all seasons).

$25 gets you a shot of whiskey with a dead man's toe in it.  They call it the Sour Toe Cocktail.  Every night between 5 to 50 people ant-up and have the drink.  Yes it is a real toe.

They have two extra toes in the freezer in case someone swallows the toe (happened 4 times) or steal the toe (has happened 3 times).  Six people from Kansas City in our group drank one.  Take a gander of the actual process in this video.

This a wooden building covered in a tin facade. 

RMP office and jail from the 1890's.

We walked the four blocks on down to the tourist area along the Yukon River and the highway through town.  After strolling through the shops and stores the knees got wobbly and we sat and watched the people.

The Klondike Spirit River Boat on the Yukon River.

Up until 10 years ago these buildings housed businesses Then one morning they couldn't get the doors open.

Blacksmith museum (not open due to whim).

Low rent district.

Yukon mistletoe ?

The river boat Keno

Ferryboat across the Yukon.  Note the truck hauling two fuel tanks.