Lingering in Dawson City

We like Dawson so much that we didn't want to get back to Whitehorse too quickly.  We thought of heading to Mayo but it turned out that this weekend they were having a Midnight Marathon in that mining city and we couldn't get accommodations.  They start the marathon at midnight, as the name suggests.  So today, being Saturday, we drove to Pelly Crossing where we are currently holed up in a little seedy motel before heading back to Whitehorse tomorrow.  I am rather reluctant to touch the sheets.  There is one station on TV that appears to be some kind of CBC from Newfoundland.  The show on arrival was about mummers in Newfoundland at Christmas time.  No, I had never heard of them either.. Nevertheless even here there is wireless!

But Dawson deserves more blog time before we say goodbye..  A couple of nights ago, we went to Diamond Tooth Gertie's for a show.  This is the only operating casino in the Yukon and we enjoyed a lively half-hour show of song and dance which was much appreciated by all, especially the men.  Here are a few photos.

The corset has a classic shape and is high art.

 Obviously the above caption was written by Richard.

Fortunately Judith was satisfied to lose money on the slots.

 Actually, it was Richard's money that I lost.

Another mammoth tusk -- they are everywhere.

These girls were um talented.

This morning, I went shopping while Richard went out on his own with the camera.  Here are his photos and commentary:

Looking for a car wash. Most seem to be owned by the
Holland America cruise line.

Robert Service lived here and wrote many of his poems while a bank clerk here
and in Whitehorse.

There is a real Dawson Fifth avenue but the Ninth is in the bush.
I was enjoying a quiet hike when it occurred to me that if foxes could walk the main streets
maybe grizzlies could haunt ninth avenue.

The white spot is part of the `Top of the World highway'.
It starts at Dawson across the Yukon river and runs 100km to Alaska.
We traversed 60km of it on our way back from 40 mile river. 

Jack London replica cottage. Just on the right you barely see another fur and food cache.

June  23 and we are ready for winter. The home is authentic.

Apologies for reverting to lecture mode, but this does express the importance of the river.

Preserved North West Mounted Police field gun.
They were prepared to resist an American invasion in the 1890's.

Members of the lost patrol who died on the fort McPherson
Dawson route. Their bodies were recovered by Corporal Dempster,
hence the Dempster  highway that is this route.

Local radio station. There is no newspaper.

Yukon wine growers,

The Grand theatre. I read that a local couple were to be married there on June 30.

Good local food and colour.

Not much to add.

This is in honour of the first french lady to make her presence known in
Dawson. she says that she loved it.

Pelly river crossing at rush hour.

Pelly river.