Day 9

We were sad to have to leave Dawson City first thing in the morning. We went to the General Store when it opened for supplies and then caught the ferry across the Yukon River. The 'Top of the World' highway was amazing. It travels along the tops of the mountains and was a big surprise to us. We tried to capture the concept for you in a short video.

 

When we got across the border we stopped at a town called Chicken. They say it got that name because the miners couldn't spell ptarmigan. We had a coffee there and carried on.

Our final destination of the day was Harding Lake, 30 miles shy of The North Pole. We got a nice campsite and had a peanut butter sandwich and a walk to the lakeshore. Nice campsite for $10 US.

Day 8

We started the day with two goals. One was to attend the open house at the Slow Rush Kennels where we would learn a lot more about preparing for the Yukon Quest or Iditarod. The other was to see Diamond Tooth Gertie and her cancan dancers. We did both.
To get to Slow Rush Kennels we had to take the ferry across the Yukon River. It was free and the wait was only a few minutes.

Once on the other side we climbed up the hill and along the way came to a lookout where we got a picture of Dawson City.

I guess we are bonding. We traveled further along the road and arrived at the Kennels. The owner has 48 dogs on site. All of them look to be in marvelous condition and the equipment on display, including the dog truck and cold weather clothing and various sleds was really something to see. But the museum that she put together is unbelievable. We'll be paying a lot more attention to the next Iditarod race now.

We went to town and split a clubhouse at the pub before taking a drive up the mountain on the other side of the river for the opposite shot. They call it the Dome.

After our trip to the Dome we headed for Gertie's. It was great fun. Especially when Gertie tried to seduce me.

Don't worry. I made it home safely and tomorrow we are back on the ferry and heading for Fairbanks along the Top of the World Highway. The road rides along the top of the mountains and offers spectacular views. Hope to show you some soon!

Day 7

After having some of that camp coffee that tastes so good we headed for Dawson City. The road is much better after the Faro turnoff. Did you know Faro was named after the card game?

We stopped a number of times – once for cereal in a cloud of mosquitos at Little Salmon Lake, then again at Carmacks for sandwiches at a municipal campsite.

After Carmacks there is a pullout for pictures that is located right on the Yukon River’s edge (picture). Jane thought that was kind of dangerous for kids and pets.

Dawson seems like a great little town, so we have bunked out at a motel for an extra day to see the Cancan Girls at Diamond Tooth Gertie's tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

Day 6

From Watson Lake we headed up the Robert Campbell Highway. I don’t recommend this highway to anyone, but I wanted to see Faro. The road was as unsafe as the Natives are telling the government. It was unbelievably bad with frost heaves that could tip your car over and growth along the edge of the road allowing moose to walk right out in front of you. At one point the washboard was so bad my spare tire hanger under the truck came unhitched and my spare tire was dragging. It was rough but we made it.

At our first break we pulled over into a gravel pit. I heard what I thought was a long moaning moose call, but when I went to investigate it was a wolf on the road. I went back to get my camera, but by the time I got back he had gone quite a ways and was just a speck in the camera lens.

Faro was a dilapidated mining town. Once the largest open pit lead-zinc mine in the world, the Anvil mine closed in 1998, but 50 people still work there on the cleanup they expect to last for 500 years. It looks funny to see houses and apartment buildings boarded up and rotting while new houses go up next door.

The Johnson Lake campsite at the turnoff to Faro is in the same condition, but we had a great spot on a beautiful little lake.

 

 

Day 5

We got up at Summit Lake and decided to head for the Yukon. Along the way we plan to shoot some wildlife and some Rocky Mountain scenery.

We saw geese, buffalo, deer and sheep and a lot of great mountains and rivers.

As the day went along Sturgis felt better and better until we arrived at Watson Lake where the Sign Post Forest is. Sturgis was then his regular obnoxious self once again.

Day 4

Well Sturgis' face didn't improve, but we were ready to leave the Beatton Campsite at 7:00 so decided to go on to Fort Nelson and see the Vet there. On the way things got really bad. The swelling took off and he was hot with a fever. Pretty scary.

When we got to Fort Nelson we were lucky to find out who the Vet's assistant was when he was in town because he wasn't. The assistant's name was Val. She works for DHL. She got permission from the Vet over the phone to administer Amocil. Sturge was much better in no time at all.

We got a few supplies and traveled up to Summit Lake for a camp out in the mountains.

Day 3

We started out in Prince George with the plan to get through Fort St. John and camp on the other side. As we travelled we saw that Sturgis was having more pain in his face. His right eye was bulging out and his cheek was swelling. We kept a close eye on him. We figured out that scuffles with Kilo must have resulted in a bite to the inside of Sturgis' mouth.

We decided that we would take Sturgis to the Vet in the morning if he didn't significantly improve.

Day 2

In the morning we went to Bill and Krystal’s for Bill's special waffles (we got the recipe) before continuing to Prince George. They were delicious!

  When we got to Susan and Bill's in Prince George, they were home with Sierra looking after Tessa and Chad’s dog, Kilo. We also met Susan's little dog Roxy. Sturgis was his normal obnoxious self.

 

 

But Sturgis wasn’t the only one that was obnoxious!

 

Day 1

Saturday, July 20, 2013 was the first day of our vacation. We had staged all the items on our list in the entrance of the house. I took the garbage to the transfer station and cut the grass with enough time to load the pickup by 9:00 a.m. Shortly after that we headed up the Sea to Sky on our way to Quesnel.

A stop on the Sea to Sky allowed me to practice with the new Sigma 70-300 lens I bought for shooting wildlife and scenery. My subjects were the motorcycles going by on the highway. I caught a picture of this girl by panning as she drove by.

Here’s another practice shot with the same lens when we stopped for ice-cream cones at Clinton.

We made it to Quesnel and got a room at the Sylvan Motel before calling Bill and Krystal and arranging for breakfast at their house in the morning. Then we went up to Dave and Karen’s for a beer.