4 Wheels 4 Girls

June 28 we drove on the demester hiwy and saw some mooses. AND EVEN A BABBY ONE!!!. At first the baby looked like a log but it wasn’t. It was bright orange. The mom looked like a mom moose. We saw touw moms i din’t see oue only my perentse saw it we saw a bow moose. We sat and watched the boy moose for a long time. He had really big horns with velvet on them. Dad saw him pick up one of his back legs, turn his head, and scratch the back of his head, between his horns. And on way bacck we saw a bold egol. AND on the way back me and dady tock a walk an the tonda. There were a lot of green bushes with red and green plants on the ground. It was so muddy and buppy on the demeseter highway that the RV was coverd with mudd.
(Mom helped me a bit with my typing)

Dad and I walked out onto this rocky ridge in the tundra

Editor’s translation:
June 28 we drove on the Dempster Highway and saw some mooses. AND EVEN A BABY ONE!!!. At first the baby looked like a log but it wasn’t. It was bright orange. The mom looked like a mom moose. We saw two mom mooses. I didn’t see one of them, only my parents saw it. We saw a boy moose. We sat and watched the boy moose for a long time. He had really big horns with velvet on them. Dad saw him pick up one of his back legs, turn his head, and scratch the back of his head, between his horns. And on way back we saw a bald eagle. AND on the way back, me and Daddy took a walk on the tundra. There were a lot of green bushes with red and green plants on the ground. It was so muddy and bumpy on the Dempster Highway that the RV was coverd with mud.

The result of driving the Dempster Highway

June 28 started with a long, overnight thunderstorm. We awoke to rain, clouds, and mud. Our plan for the day had been to leave Dawson City and make our way across the “Top of the World” Highway to Alaska, which we had heard was incredible, offering mountaintop views out over the tundra and mountains to the north, the river valleys to the south. But, it would be a crime to drive such a beautiful highway in the clouds. So, Plan B. Plan B was to work a full day and depart the next, which had a nice, sunny forecast. But lightning during the night had knocked out the cell phone tower. Apparently there is only one phone tower in the Klondike, and it provides all phone and internet services for a huge region. We were told that it could be a week before service was restored, and the nearest town with internet and phone would likely be Whitehorse, six hours south. Hmm, Plan C was beginning to look like a day of card games and mud castles.

But then Jean came running from the crowded campground office and urged me to come talk to a guy about the Dempster Highway. The Dempster runs north from Dawson, up through a large territorial park, across the arctic circle into the Northwest Territories, and ends in a river delta near the Arctic Ocean. It is a long, long packed-dirt road, and we had ruled it out early on for traveling with the RV. Anyway, this guy had just made the trip up and back, and we talked about the road conditions and the scenery along the lower stretch of the road, about what a big family with a big RV and a crappy Plan C might be able to do in a day-trip up the Dempster.

So we unloaded all the bicycles to save them the beating they would take on the dirt road. We gassed up the camper and off we headed for the Dempster Highway.

At the beginning of the Dempster Hwy

It took several hours to make it up into Tombstone Territorial Park, and the scenery was fantastic, even in the clouds and rain. The road went up a glacial mountain valley, alongside streams and wetlands. A low pine forest covered the valley floor, much like we had seen all throughout the Dawson area. Then we crossed the (Pacific/Arctic) continental divide and entered the sub-arctic tundra. The trees disappeared and the ground was covered with chest-high bushes and shrubs. Everything was green (except for the very-blue snow here and there), and everything was much more alive than I would have guessed for the frozen north.

The seemingly bare mountains were amazing. And there were critters, many critters. But I will leave that story for Luciana.

On June 27th, the day Stella got her ears pierced, we walked around in Dawson City. We went in lots of cool shops while Dad and Jean worked in the RV.

We looked around in a few stores, and then Stella and I read a magazine and Ellie and Ana read books. It was nice and relaxing.

We sat in that store for about an hour, and then we went to look at a really cool 100-year-old building that was falling apart. One wall was made from old, flattened out steel barrels. There was a sign next to it that said, “Please don’t laugh at me!” It was cool.

This wall was made with old barrels

We didn’t buy anything, but it was still a fun day shopping in Dawson City! 😛

June 27th, I woke up. I was going to get my ears pierced! Our parents said we would go into town a little later than nine, but when we left was after lunch! So I had to be really patient and wait for almost the whole day.

When we finally left, I was really nervous. We went in to another store to ask where the ear-piercing place was. They told us, and we went. We went about a block, and the place was on the corner. Suddenly, we were inside, and Dad was telling the lady that we had a girl who was going to get her ears pierced. I was just pretending that I wasn’t there. The lady was in the middle of cutting someone’s hair, so she said we should come back in fifteen minutes. That calmed me down. We went across the street to a gift shop. We looked around, and I saw something I really liked. They were shoes, and really nice ones, but they were 50 bucks. So I didn’t get anything.

After fifteen minutes, Dad asked me if I was ready. I said yes, because I was, but I was also very not ready. I was really scared. When we got back into the ear-piercing place, I picked out the earrings I wanted and sat down in the chair. Before I knew it, it was done. I got my ears pierced in Dawson City!

My ears are pierced! Yay!

June 26, at the Dawson City Museum, we went to a show in the train building. It was about a lady named Lillian who was traveling to Russia. She was walking to Russia because she wanted to go home. She was from Poland. She didn’t like to talk to people. She wanted to be left alone She almost froze because it was so cold. She met these people when she came knocking on the door and she was sick. They gave her some medicine and they told her to stop at eight cabins on her way. My dad says they put her in a nice warm jail with nice warm food for the winter so she wouldn’t freeze. My favorite part was when a reported said, “So I heard you married a bear.” The last time anybody saw her was in Dawson City.

There were three trains in the train building. There were two buckets on a train. One carried sand and the other carried water. The sand was to drop down in front of the wheels so they don’t slip or something, I don’t remember.

June 26th, we walked around in Dawson City. On our way to lunch after the museum, Dad said he wanted to show us something really cool. We were walking down the sidewalk when suddenly we stopped in front of an old church that was tilted every which way!

St. Andrews church, built in 1901

Then, right after lunch at Sourdough Joe’s, (which, by the way, was delicious!) Dad showed us two more buildings that were tilted against each other! They were also super cool. 🙂

Those are some leaning buildings!

I really enjoyed our day in the city!!!

On June 26 we got up and had breakfast. We got ready to go out and walk around in Dawson City. Me, Ana, and Daddy went to unhook the RV. We did that and still waited. Me and Ana looked for rocks. Then finally every one came out and we started our walk.

Dawson City still looks a lot like it did 100 years ago

First we went to see the Yukon River. Then we went to the Northwest Territories Visitor Center. We looked around and we watched a movie about the Dempster Highway. After that the lady gave us each a huge poster that had caribou on it. After that we thanked her and then we went to the Dawson City Visitor Center. We asked about horseback riding and they said there was none here. They gave us a piece of paper that told us that there was some fun stuff at the museum.

We went to the museum to learn about Dawson city. When we got there we were late for the gold digging activity. Mommy paid for our tickets and then we caught up with the rest of the group. We were met by a really nice lady who told us how to find gold. She showed us the gold that they found. It was just dust. They found it in two months. It was just a small amount of dust.

Learning how to pan for gold

After that we went to go and look in the museum. Me and Ana got bored so we ran around. Daddy got real mad. Then we went to look in the gift shop. We read some books and then Mommy came and said let’s go to the miners meeting.

When we got there there were a lot of people. Then two girls dressed up like men and a real man came out. They had picked out somebody from the crowd. They told this story that some man tried to kill them and then the other man told the same story and then the person that that tried to kill them said he was trying to scare away a bear! Who would believe him? He was trying to scare away a bear. Then they said who thinks he should be hung? About five people said yes. Then the same man said who thinks he should be a free man. More than six people said yes. After that we left to go ot and explore some more.

We went outside into a tent were we would learn about how to get to Dawson city. We came at the last part. When we got inside the tent the people let us have the their seats. We thanked them and sat down. The lady that was dressed up like a woman back way back when the gold rush gave us each a piece of homemade bread with really good jelly on it. After that they told us that the people that wanted to get here had to bring all these things on the piece of paper. There was really a lot of stuff they had to bring. All together each person had to bring a thousand pounds of stuff all the way to Dawson We looked at the list for a log time. They also told us that they had these ladder backpack things that they would have to bring up. Greta tried it on. It looked really hard to carry. They also said there were no guns allowed and if they did not have something from the list they were stranded up on the mountain. They asked us if we knew how to make sourdough. We said no. Greta read how to make sourdough. After that we said good by and thanked them.

Imagine carrying a hundred pounds on your back with this backpack