Dawson City, Yukon Territory

So this is my first post ever on our blog!!!

We've been on the road for two weeks today and it's been so exciting with an amazing amount of things to see and do. What is incredible is the fact that we'll be out for 7 weeks which really isn't even enough time to see and do all we really want to do! I am just grateful to be here sharing this experience with my Mom and Doug. How many people really get a chance to spend time with their Mom or Dad making some special memories?!

We're currently in Dawson City, Yukon which is a city so rich in history that every corner has interpretive boards explaining the goings on. Dawson City was the location of one of the world's largest gold rush back in 1898. The story goes that a man by the name of George Carmacks found a 5-dollar pan of course gold back when finding a 10-cent pan was a great find. Word got out and that set off a  gold rush that people had never seen before. People from all over the world made the horrendous journey here which took them months. The sad part is that by the time most stampeders arrived in Dawson, many of them flat broke, all the claims had been staked. Many of the stampeders booked passage home although some remained making money supplying the gold camps. But those who struck it rich, lived lavish lives with some of the finest things money could buy.

Today Dawson City is a small quiet town with about 1,900 people; quite different from the gold rush days when there were as many as 40,000 people! I can't even imagine the chaos in town plus how about the smell! It must of been overwhelming! There are many of the original buildings remaining with stories about the people who owned them or worked there. Of course there was a red light district in town with many interesting stories about them. What a city this must of been!

We are supposed to be heading up to the Northwest Territories today although one of the river crossings we cross by ferry is closed due to high water and debris. It may not sound like a big deal to us, but those towns in the province rely on truckers everyday bringing them supplies so they are virtually cut off now. We've checked the board outside the Northwest Territories center here in Dawson City to find out the status of the river several times today and it's still not looking good. Hopefully tomorrow it'll be open so we can head north. We'll keep you posted!

Happy Friday the 13th everyone-may it be a good luck day. And Happy Birthday Wendy!