Leaving Dawson

It was tough, but I did it. I got outta Dodge Dawson.

I spent the morning writing in the visitor center, with reasonably reliable wifi. I got there early, so had my pick of plugs. Don't laugh, this is important. I've been writing so much, and generally late in the day that the solar panel is just not quite enough to keep up with the demand of both phone and laptop. I can charge everything while driving, but I tend to stop alot, which isn't that good for the batteries.

So I just worked at the visitor center.

One friendly gal came up to connect her devices, and we got to chatting. Mary Katherine is a writer and was researching a historical novel, name as yet undecided, but possibly something with "Amelia" in it... maybe something like "Everything for Amelia." To really understand what she was writing about, she had hiked over the Chilkoot Pass and then come by canoe from Lake Bennett to Dawson (hear that Warren??), which is the route that many of the Argonauts (aka Gold Rushers) used. She admitted that she only went over the pass ONCE, and had not gone back and forth with a 100lb pack!

I told her about a writing contest for which I'd seen a poster. 2500 words of poetry or prose on the Northern Experience. Could be fun!

I also wrote a bunch of postcards and took them to the Post for mailing. I was a little shocked that it cost $1.35 to mail each postcard to the USA. Somehow, I didn't think it would be quite so expensive! I did ask about "General Delivery" service, and they do that in Canada, just like they do in the US, so that may be how I get my next DakotaPost deliver, but THAT will probably cost about $25 to get to me here. This is one of the hidden costs of being a nomad!

Canada Day is coming

Flags going up along Front Street.

The town was starting to get decorated for Canada Day, with balloons and flags in the visitor center, and banners and more flags on the buildings. I bet by July 1, it would be bedecked. Canada Day in Dawson did sound like a lot of fun, but it would have meant a VERY long drive to get to Whitehorse for my class on July 2, so... I reluctantly left.

It's very possible I will come back.

South on the Klondike Highway

The drive south on the Klondike Highway is starting to feel like an old friend. Having been over it several times now in the past year or so, I'm getting to know the pullouts and interpretive signs. Gravel Lake is one of my favorite stopping points.

Gravel Lake

It's always a pretty spot, but with the constantly changing light show of sun and clouds, and the low sun making the blues and greens "pop," it was particularly appealing. Birds like this lake, too, so I got the spotting scope out with the tripod, and started swatting mosquitoes to see what I could see.

Can you find the three bufflehead chicks in the lilypads?

Turns out it really wasn't much.

There were some buffleheads with baby chicks, which is always a treat, but they were REALLY hard to photograph.

Diving ducks just don't stay put, especially in their constant quest for food. Even the babies have learned their lessons well, and it seemed like they spent more time under the water than above it.

Plus, the lily pads, make it hard to find them in the first place, and they don't just bob up in the same place that they disappeared!

I spent quite a frustrating time trying to photograph them, then finally just gave up and enjoyed just trying to find them in the spotting scope and binoculars.

There was a pair of swans that was waaaay far away on the opposite shore. A lady that passed by on her way to the loo, said, "Oh, they were much closer this morning." Well, unfortunately I wasn't there then so had to make do with peering at them through the spotting scope. Even that was pushing the limits as to what looked like floating white spots with sticks.

Probably trumpeter swans

But it was a treat to see them. There is just something about these birds — maybe it is their pure whiteness, or the way they glide on the water, or their somewhat incongruous necks. Anyway, they are kind of fun to watch.

It had been a nice day, but I was tired and pulled over to get a good night's rest.