DAY 25 - Arriving in Dawson City, YT!
Sorry folks, another late post lol we'll try not to make a habit out of this 😂
Yesterday we packed up our things from our airbnb, had our last hot shower and headed out for Dawson City, YT! It was about a 6.5 hour drive from Whitehorse and we weren't really sure what to expect. We decided to grab a coffee for our drive because we haven't had one in forever, and folks, PUMPKIN SPICE IS OFFICIALLY HERE 😍 Call me basic I know, but you can't deny how good anything pumpkin is!!
Anyways, we took off on the highway 2 N (Klondike highway) towards Dawson City. Almost immediately we lost service again. It's crazy how much we take our phones and service for granted, and this trip is teaching us how ridiculously dependant we are on them. But, it's also helping us to become a lot less dependent, so that's a big plus. The roads were alot better then we expected, but they did gradually get worse as we went. We hit many spots of pure loose gravel, and occasionally there would be a sign indication bumps ahead. Eventually, the bumps and uneven roads got to be so often that they ended up switching tactics and just putting some pink flags on the side of the road where you needed to be cautious. Zack and I got a serious laugh out of that at first, thinking wow the roads are so bad and they lost all hope they just put flags up! But after about 5 minutes we both agreed it was actually WAY better than the signs, and they basically map out exactly where the bad road starts and ends lol
We spoke to a lady in the brewery the day before who had been from Ontario originally and moved up here 18 years ago where she fell in love with Thr Yukon. Her, along with anyone else we spoke to, let us know how much we are going to love Dawson City! She had also mentioned how the further north you go, the colours are already changing and it will be more like Fall. So that got us even more excited, and she was absolutely correct! In no time the colour scheme started shifting from dark greens and some golden trees, to predominantly reds and oranges - still with the unlimited, beautiful evergreens of course!
As we admired the stunning views around us, Zack couldn't help but bug me to try our new mind puzzle. See at the beginning of our trip Zack bought two "mind puzzles" basically metal contraptions that you had to work with to get a metal circle unattached. Now I didn't have any interest in them really, he was buying them for himself. After he beat the first one but couldn't figure out the second one, we had switched drivers and he insisted I try them. After about 5 minutes I had miraculously figured both out and Zack was not impressed 😂 Honestly it was pure luck, I had no idea what I was doing or how I figured it out, but it was nice to see the look on Mr.Smarty Pants face lol Since I beat him on those, we had to get a new one. So alas, yesterday was the day the competition began again. I was first up since Zack was driving and let me tell you, it was fricken hard. Everytime I made a move, I ended up right back in the same place. We ended up stopping at a rest stop to make some lunch and of course the rolls reversed and Zack beat it in about 2 minutes!! So stay posted as the battle continues for the true Puzzle Master haha
By this point, we weren't too far away from Dawson City. We made the final trek and before we knew it we arrived. We drove through the city to find a place to sleep and were instantly taken in by everything. It only consists of about 6 parallel streets, but it truely makes you feel as if you are living in the gold rush. It was as if we were driving through a movie set! One thing we did notice right away was the number of pubs, that will be right up our alley 😉
We saw a sign for Gold Rush RV Park that advertised free wifi, so needless to say we had to check it out lol Zack went in, paid for a site and then found out the wifi is a 2hr Max up to 100MB which really won't get us anywhere, but hey it's a cheap campground with a 5 minute walk anywhere.
After a much needed chat with my momma through the rainstorm, we decided it was time to set up. As we laid out our bottom tarp, started unrolling the tent to get it up I noticed a couple wasps on the tarp. Now, I don't know why or what is happening but the western provinces have SERIOUS wasp problems. Anywhere we've gone so far we have had bigger issues with wasps then mosquitos, flies, anything! When you look at all the dead bugs on the front of the truck, you guessed it, mostly wasps!!! So I wasn't too surprised to see a couple around. But then, I noticed another on the grass, and another, until the 35 wasps all came into focus and I caught a glimpse of queen B. Greattttttt, we were setting up our tent on a wasp nest in the ground. Thankfully we knew there were a couple other open sites, so we marched up to the front office, only to find they had just closed. Thankfully though they have an after-hours system, so we ripped off the tab for another site and headed back to set up camp. After a thorough inspection, we were good to begin. Zack began hammering in the pegs to realize that it wasn't just a top layer of rock but apparently atleast another 3" down too. After about 3 cheap pegs getting completely bent sideways we decided to just grab a couple big rocks for the corners and hope the wind dies down. As we just finished clipping on the fly, the clouds rolled in and we knew we had only a couple minutes before it began to hit hard. This is when our neighbours, who had about 8 tents set up and were cooking up a storm, came over to say hello. Because this is an RV campground, it is very open and VERY close. So when I say neighbours, I mean like we could hear them breathing in their tents we were so close to them. So one of the females came over to say hello at this point, and had let us know they are on a guided camping tour around Alaska and Yukon. She was one of the tour guides and let us know that they have a ton of food left and would love to pass them onto us if we were up for it. Seeing as how it was already about 8pm, we hadn't eaten since lunch and it was about to downpour, there was no hesitation!! We took our plates over and they loaded us up with a homemade beef stroganoff. We could not thank them enough for how helpful that was. And apparently it also helped them considering they have been living off small bits of left overs trying to incorporate them into their next meals lol
We decided to finish up the tent quick before settling in and eating. As Zack was reangling the truck so we could pump up the Airmatress it began to spit, then a little harder, then a full on downpour. Thank god the tent was up with the fly, so I grabbed our dinner and we hopped into the truck. It was so nice to sit there and enjoy a hardy dinner, which was absolutely delicious! We both noted that if it hadn't have been for them we probably would have been eating crackers for dinner.
After the rain let up, we finished the tent and blew up the Airmatress. It's been a struggle with the Airmatress because we have one that plugs into the truck, so you have to try to maneuver it to fit each time. Zack has been doing an exceptional job everytime! This time it was so close I had to hold the pump and end of the Airmatress just outside the tent. Last night Zack not once, but twice, closed the front truck door out of habit ripping the pump out with it 😂 we got a reallly good laugh the second time as Zack yelled out that he didn't know what he was doing and was so ready for bed hahaha Once it was all set up, we crawled into our cozy tent where Zack played some guitar and I planned out our next day. The tent was so light it felt like it was already morning or about 6pm at night. At around 9:45pm the front of the tent started to have a red glow and I know we were missing something. So I crawled out of out warm, nestled sleeping bag to unzip the window and unleash an awe-inspiring view(Zack here for the quick edit.. there was no crawling out from under the sleeping bags. Melinda took all the sleeping bags with her to unzip the window leaving me fully exposed and freezing on the deflating airmattress LOL). The whole sky was lit up with streaks of orange and red as the sun went down. It lasted until just after 11pm when the "night" sky took over and still remained rather light. It was a really cloudy night so we knew it wasn't worth it to stay up, but we are hoping it clears up over the next couple nights and our chances are better to see the Northern Lights!!
Yesterday we packed up our things from our airbnb, had our last hot shower and headed out for Dawson City, YT! It was about a 6.5 hour drive from Whitehorse and we weren't really sure what to expect. We decided to grab a coffee for our drive because we haven't had one in forever, and folks, PUMPKIN SPICE IS OFFICIALLY HERE 😍 Call me basic I know, but you can't deny how good anything pumpkin is!!
Anyways, we took off on the highway 2 N (Klondike highway) towards Dawson City. Almost immediately we lost service again. It's crazy how much we take our phones and service for granted, and this trip is teaching us how ridiculously dependant we are on them. But, it's also helping us to become a lot less dependent, so that's a big plus. The roads were alot better then we expected, but they did gradually get worse as we went. We hit many spots of pure loose gravel, and occasionally there would be a sign indication bumps ahead. Eventually, the bumps and uneven roads got to be so often that they ended up switching tactics and just putting some pink flags on the side of the road where you needed to be cautious. Zack and I got a serious laugh out of that at first, thinking wow the roads are so bad and they lost all hope they just put flags up! But after about 5 minutes we both agreed it was actually WAY better than the signs, and they basically map out exactly where the bad road starts and ends lol
We spoke to a lady in the brewery the day before who had been from Ontario originally and moved up here 18 years ago where she fell in love with Thr Yukon. Her, along with anyone else we spoke to, let us know how much we are going to love Dawson City! She had also mentioned how the further north you go, the colours are already changing and it will be more like Fall. So that got us even more excited, and she was absolutely correct! In no time the colour scheme started shifting from dark greens and some golden trees, to predominantly reds and oranges - still with the unlimited, beautiful evergreens of course!
As we admired the stunning views around us, Zack couldn't help but bug me to try our new mind puzzle. See at the beginning of our trip Zack bought two "mind puzzles" basically metal contraptions that you had to work with to get a metal circle unattached. Now I didn't have any interest in them really, he was buying them for himself. After he beat the first one but couldn't figure out the second one, we had switched drivers and he insisted I try them. After about 5 minutes I had miraculously figured both out and Zack was not impressed 😂 Honestly it was pure luck, I had no idea what I was doing or how I figured it out, but it was nice to see the look on Mr.Smarty Pants face lol Since I beat him on those, we had to get a new one. So alas, yesterday was the day the competition began again. I was first up since Zack was driving and let me tell you, it was fricken hard. Everytime I made a move, I ended up right back in the same place. We ended up stopping at a rest stop to make some lunch and of course the rolls reversed and Zack beat it in about 2 minutes!! So stay posted as the battle continues for the true Puzzle Master haha
By this point, we weren't too far away from Dawson City. We made the final trek and before we knew it we arrived. We drove through the city to find a place to sleep and were instantly taken in by everything. It only consists of about 6 parallel streets, but it truely makes you feel as if you are living in the gold rush. It was as if we were driving through a movie set! One thing we did notice right away was the number of pubs, that will be right up our alley 😉
We saw a sign for Gold Rush RV Park that advertised free wifi, so needless to say we had to check it out lol Zack went in, paid for a site and then found out the wifi is a 2hr Max up to 100MB which really won't get us anywhere, but hey it's a cheap campground with a 5 minute walk anywhere.
After a much needed chat with my momma through the rainstorm, we decided it was time to set up. As we laid out our bottom tarp, started unrolling the tent to get it up I noticed a couple wasps on the tarp. Now, I don't know why or what is happening but the western provinces have SERIOUS wasp problems. Anywhere we've gone so far we have had bigger issues with wasps then mosquitos, flies, anything! When you look at all the dead bugs on the front of the truck, you guessed it, mostly wasps!!! So I wasn't too surprised to see a couple around. But then, I noticed another on the grass, and another, until the 35 wasps all came into focus and I caught a glimpse of queen B. Greattttttt, we were setting up our tent on a wasp nest in the ground. Thankfully we knew there were a couple other open sites, so we marched up to the front office, only to find they had just closed. Thankfully though they have an after-hours system, so we ripped off the tab for another site and headed back to set up camp. After a thorough inspection, we were good to begin. Zack began hammering in the pegs to realize that it wasn't just a top layer of rock but apparently atleast another 3" down too. After about 3 cheap pegs getting completely bent sideways we decided to just grab a couple big rocks for the corners and hope the wind dies down. As we just finished clipping on the fly, the clouds rolled in and we knew we had only a couple minutes before it began to hit hard. This is when our neighbours, who had about 8 tents set up and were cooking up a storm, came over to say hello. Because this is an RV campground, it is very open and VERY close. So when I say neighbours, I mean like we could hear them breathing in their tents we were so close to them. So one of the females came over to say hello at this point, and had let us know they are on a guided camping tour around Alaska and Yukon. She was one of the tour guides and let us know that they have a ton of food left and would love to pass them onto us if we were up for it. Seeing as how it was already about 8pm, we hadn't eaten since lunch and it was about to downpour, there was no hesitation!! We took our plates over and they loaded us up with a homemade beef stroganoff. We could not thank them enough for how helpful that was. And apparently it also helped them considering they have been living off small bits of left overs trying to incorporate them into their next meals lol
We decided to finish up the tent quick before settling in and eating. As Zack was reangling the truck so we could pump up the Airmatress it began to spit, then a little harder, then a full on downpour. Thank god the tent was up with the fly, so I grabbed our dinner and we hopped into the truck. It was so nice to sit there and enjoy a hardy dinner, which was absolutely delicious! We both noted that if it hadn't have been for them we probably would have been eating crackers for dinner.
After the rain let up, we finished the tent and blew up the Airmatress. It's been a struggle with the Airmatress because we have one that plugs into the truck, so you have to try to maneuver it to fit each time. Zack has been doing an exceptional job everytime! This time it was so close I had to hold the pump and end of the Airmatress just outside the tent. Last night Zack not once, but twice, closed the front truck door out of habit ripping the pump out with it 😂 we got a reallly good laugh the second time as Zack yelled out that he didn't know what he was doing and was so ready for bed hahaha Once it was all set up, we crawled into our cozy tent where Zack played some guitar and I planned out our next day. The tent was so light it felt like it was already morning or about 6pm at night. At around 9:45pm the front of the tent started to have a red glow and I know we were missing something. So I crawled out of out warm, nestled sleeping bag to unzip the window and unleash an awe-inspiring view(Zack here for the quick edit.. there was no crawling out from under the sleeping bags. Melinda took all the sleeping bags with her to unzip the window leaving me fully exposed and freezing on the deflating airmattress LOL). The whole sky was lit up with streaks of orange and red as the sun went down. It lasted until just after 11pm when the "night" sky took over and still remained rather light. It was a really cloudy night so we knew it wasn't worth it to stay up, but we are hoping it clears up over the next couple nights and our chances are better to see the Northern Lights!!
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