Robert Service Cabin, Dawson City, Yukon
We decided to leave Tombstone Campground this morning, as there didn’t seem any reason to hike over unknown terrain, just to justify staying here one more day. We reached the junction with the Klondike Highway before 11:30, bought gas, caught up our email through the open access wifi at the Klondike River Lodge, and washed the Yukon. It was very dusty. We then drove to the Klondike River campground which is about 20 kilometres east of Dawson, set up camp, and drove into town.
As you approach town it looks so very desolate. All the ground is nothing but bare piles of rock and gravel, the dregs from the days of mining by dredging. Right on the outskirts of town there is an RV park with a Laundromat, and a small garage. We stopped, got the tire fixed, and washed the clothes. After that we spent a couple of hours in Dawson, walking down many of the streets – let’s face it, Dawson isn’t all that big!
Among other things we stopped into the Palace Grand Theatre. When we were here in ’97 we attended the Gaslight Follies there. Now the theatre isn’t used for that any longer, and it has been made into a museum. The Gaslight Follies have moved into the casino. We don’t care now, but when we were here in 1997 Graeme and Geoffrey really enjoyed the show, and now they wouldn’t be able to, as entrance is restricted to those over nineteen.
We walked to the Robert Service cabin which has raspberries growing from its sod roof. The restored Jack London cabin is just down the street, with Pierre Berton’s old residence in between. It is strange that this small town has such an interesting literary legacy. We looked at the cabin, but didn’t go into the museum. After that we walked by a few of the other old restored buildings, including the largest of them all, the commissioner’s residence. However, it had just closed, and the next tour isn’t until Friday, so we likely won’t see inside.
After that we stopped for an ice cream cone. I debated whether to get one scoop or two, and settled for two. “Would you like that in a waffle cone, cone, or cup?” the clerk asked.
“A cup,” I answered while Enid was deciding what flavour she wanted. But when the two scoops got into the cup, it looked more like at least three scoops, so Enid and I just shared.
Speaking of raspberries, Enid is now out picking them here in the campsite. There are many wild raspberry bushes here. The high bush cranberries are loaded with ripe berries, but we really don’t have any way to prepare them for eating, so they are safe.
When Enid got back with the raspberries, we decided to eat some of them right away, just in case there is an extra load of wormy protein in them tomorrow! We’ve had that experience before.
We also defrosted the fridge tonight. It has been extremely good to have that, so much better than a cooler. We can keep almost a week’s frozen meet in its small freezer, milk, our bread so it doesn’t go stale so quickly, and many fruits and vegetables.