Fairbanks to Dawson City

 


A 7:30am departure from our hotel to the Fairbanks airport. The airport is a good size, but we seemed to be the only passengers! After check-in and security there was a very good and reasonable coffee place that also did breakfast sandwiches. It was a charter flight just for our group and the plane turned out to be a 737 so almost everyone had their own row and the flight left 20 minutes early!! And to top it off, we even had a view of Mount Denali!!! Dawson Creek airport is very small. We were the only plane, and customs was a breeze. We were all saying that if only all flights could be like that.

Apparently it had rained that morning, but it was a beautiful sunny day about 23C with a very strong breeze. On our drive into town we passed pile after pile of tailings from the Placer mines. We had a short tour of the town on route to our Hotel, the Westmark Inn Dawson City. It’s in several older 2 story buildings, brightly colored. The rooms are comfortable and have fans and A.C. Internet is just in the lobby area and isn’t too strong.

I took a walk over to the visitors centre to pick up a map and get some information. Then I walked along Front St, the main street along the river. There was lots going on as this is the street with many of the shops and restaurants, and there was a farmers market on a park by the river. There was also a gold panning contest that was fun to watch. The ice-cream shop was highly recommended so I had an ice-cream cone for lunch. There is no longer a working steamboat here, but I took the free ferry across the Yukon River and back. There is an old steamboat that is now a museum. I also walked along the riverfront trail built on top of the dike. There are a lot of lovely restored buildings and some historical ones like the Robert Service cabin and Jack London museum. The streets are packed dirt and very wide. The sidewalks are wooden. The town really has a frontier feel!

A group of us went to Diamond Tooth Gerties that evening. There is a bar with the theatre in the front and a casino in the back. There is a song and dance show featuring the can-can. A fun show. When I left to head back to the hotel at 10pm, the sun was still well up.











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