Dawson City, Yukon - 1

July 8, 9, and 10, 2011

Following the discovery of gold on Rabbit Creek (later renamed Bonanza Creek) in 1896, Dawson City became the center of the Klondike Gold Rush and the Yukon's first capital. Today it is many a tourist town, but a new gold discovery south on upper Bonanza Creek is causing a true boom - an upsurge in mining activity.

We pulled into town around 10:30 am, and got a full hookup site at the Bonanza Gold RV Park. We had originally planned to stay in the Yukon Government Campground across the ferry, but once again decided we liked "amenities." Besides, the US women would be playing a World Cup quarterfinal game this weekend, and we wanted to watch it on TV.







Before we even set up, Don drove over to the RV wash rack and spent $4 to wash most of the caked-on mud off the trailer. The folks in the truck camper had just come back from a trip up the Dempster Highway, and their RV was even filthier than ours.

The first thing we did after unhooking and setting up was drive up the Midnight Dome road.






From there we could look down and see the town of Dawson City, the Yukon River coming in from the southwest, Bonanza Creek to the south, the Yukon flowing downstream to the north, and the beginning of the Top of the World Highway to the west.







There was a house on the island in the lower left of the above picture. I zoomed in and this is what I could get.










On the way down from the top of the dome, we stopped at the home and studio of Shirley Pennell, who calls her business sign of the Raven. She does "fiber art," which is a more intricate, artistic form of quilting. She creates scenes from nature, using different kinds of cloth and fibers, and has about 20 of her creations on display (and for sale). I asked permission to take photographs, and she told me, "Pick one." I didn't argue, though it's my opinion that since she doesn't have a website, it might be good for business if she had photos of her work out in the blogosphere. But I selected the piece below:



This work is about 9" x 12", and semi-three-dimensional. The handle of the lower pot and the wires at the tops of the pots stick up from the surface. While she had numerous pieces of work that depicted scenery and animals, this one was my favorite.

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