Fall colors and Dawson City
The drive on the Taylor highway/Top of the world highway, was beautiful. On Friday on the way to Dawson City, we had beautiful weather, and again on the way home. The fall colors were gorgeous. We have not been this way since 2006 so it was nice to see again, but even better with all the colors out. The road was pretty busy with Caribou hunters traveling, parking, and etc. though.
Fall here in Alaska, is breathtaking. It's amazing. I wanted so badly to just get out in the bush, hike, take photos, and enjoy the cool fresh air. Kevin is completely ready for us to move here full time.
We haven't crossed the border here in a long time like I said. This border crossing closes every night at 9 PM, and opens again at 9 in the morning.
The road is winding, and goes to over 4,000 feet at it's highest point. You really can't beat the scenery.
You see Dawson City before you get there. It's a really different town. Obviously it's full of incredible history, but the town today is so odd. It's pretty much the same as it was during the gold rush - minus the tourists. It's about drinking, gambling, and a couple of other things which I'm sure you can figure out for yourselves. This was tough country. Still is.
Douglas and Norman have never crossed the Yukon river on the ferry - only Nibs the rabbit had done that. So they made history this weekend, and finally have caught up with Nibs and his travels.
Downtown Dawson has changed a lot even since we were there last in 2006. They are fixing up a lot of the buildings and that's great. They have made quite a few improvements.
But this house, this is Dawson. It sums it up for real, aside from all the tourist stuff.
memorial to the pioneers
We had fun. We ate and we drank some, and watched a show at Diamond tooth Gerties. We met two of the guys from Gold rush Alaska, Dave and Greg who were nice guys. Hopefully they are doing better this year with their operations. I enjoyed some elk sausage with blueberries and buffalo sausage with cranberries. It was delicious.
But honestly, aside from spending time with our friends, the best part was the drive. It was beautiful and we were so fortunate to have such great weather.
Kevin says next summer when we come back, we should start panning for gold. Just driving through gold country gave him gold fever.
Chicken Alaska is always a fun place to stop. Susan owns this great spot where you can get good food, gifts, and a drink at the saloon if you'd like. It's an important stop if you are visiting Alaska.
We are tired and happy to be home though. It might sound crazy, but I'd much rather be traveling with our camper (the truck camper, not the 5th wheel) than I am having to stay in hotels. It's just no fun for me. The dogs like the camper better, and I like having my own stuff. But the boys enjoyed themselves and were perfect angels, honestly. I know what good dogs they are, but even I was surprised at how good they were the entire time. Except for barking a few times at the dog next door who was trying to dig through the door into our room from his... but that's understandable.
This is a great video to watch - the woman is our good friend Bonnie who made our wedding rings, talking about the "big" nugget she found near Chicken, where we drove through. The 40 mile country is gold country here, and Bonnie and her husband Sam sure have stories to tell about it. That nugget in the video, all 5 pounds of it, is super heavy. You wouldn't think it, but it's a lot of gold to hold! Kind of makes you stop and think when you hold a nugget like that. I think anyone who does gets gold fever, even just a little bit.
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