Tourist Attractions – Page 16

Day 45: A visit with Santa Claus

July 1, 2013June 19, 2015Posted in Alaska, Restaurants, Tourist AttractionsTagged Diners Drive Ins and Dives, North Pole, reindeer, Santa Claus House2 Comments

Day 45: Saturday, June 29, 2013

My reward for cleaning all the dirt and dust from the camper was to go see Santa Claus and North Pole, Alaska.

Reindeer at the Santa Claus House

Beth at the Santa Claus House

Santa Claus House, North Pole, Alaska

Beth with Santa

Feeding the reindeer

Santa greets you outside the Santa Claus House

Welcome to North Pole

The North Pole

Country Cafe, our second Diners, Drive Ins and Dives stop

Lunch at another restaurant from Diners, Dive Ins and Dives was next. Henry had a Bulgogi sandwich at the Country Cafe. It was like a Korean version of a Philly Cheese Steak.

Day 40: Gold Fever in Dawson City, Yukon

June 29, 2013June 19, 2015Posted in Historic Sites, Tourist Attractions, YukonTagged Claim 33, Dawson City, Discovery Claim, Klondike Gold Rush, Midnight Dome, Robert Service

Day 40: June 24, 2012 in Dawson City, Yukon

Blondie and I started the day with a walk along the Yukon River.

During the Klondike Gold Rush, prospectors traveled up the Yukon river to Dawson city by riverboat.

Another riverboat on the Yukon River

On the banks of the Yukon River

Downtown Dawson City

Old buckets from the gold mining dredges marked our campsite

The buckets were also used as planters

In Dawson City it’s all about the gold. To learn more about the gold rush history and see where gold was first discovered here we drove along Bonanza Creek Road to take a walk on the Discovery Claim trail. Descriptive signs and old gold mining equipment line the trail beside Bonanza Creek where gold was discovered in 1896.

We walked on a trail at the Discovery Claim where gold was first discovered

Bonanza Creek where gold was first discovered

Bonanza Creek

Old mining equipment along the trail

An old sluice used in gold mining

An area designated as a free claim area gives anyone access to pan for gold here. If you pan elsewhere you may be claim jumping.

These guys are panning in the free claim area

Dredge # 4

Historic Dredge

Old buckets lined up

What better way to celebrate my birthday than to pan for a little gold? I learned how to pan for gold from a very patient teacher at Claim 33.

Another old bucket used as a planter

Learing how to pan for gold at Claim 33

Almost finished

Gold!

I’m bringing this back home

Panning for gold in Dawson City, Yukon

A drive to the top of Dome Road for a view of the city and the Yukon River was our next adventure of the day. The road is steep and narrow with many sharp turns. Bicyclists were also making the trek up the hill. When we got to the top to look around, they went down the mountain on one of the narrow trails.

Dawson City and Yukon River from atop Midnight Dome

Yukon River from atop Midnight Dome

At the overlook on Midnight Dome

At the Robert Service Cabin. He wrote several books of poems including "The Cremation of Sam McGee" — At the Robert Service Cabin. He wrote several books of poems including “The Cremation of Sam McGee”

Next, a stop at the Robert Service Cabin was in order. Robert Service is a famous poet who lived for a time in the Yukon. My brother Joe gave us a book with a collection of his poems for Christmas and we have been reading it as we have been traveling. “The Cremation of Sam McGee” is one of our favorites. Click on the link to read the poem.

Jack London, author of “The Call of the Wild” also lived in Dawson City.

After visiting with our neighbors from BC in the campground for a little while, we had a birthday dinner at Sourdough Joe’s. Ice cream for dessert was perfect after a hard day of being a tourist so we walked next door to an ice cream shop. Henry had on a Tybee Island Pirate Fest t-shirt and as we were standing in line to order a young man behind us commented that he had been to Tybee Island. Of course we started talking to him and asked him where he was from. When he replied “Nova Scotia” we asked what brought him to Dawson City on the other side of the continent from his home. He told us he was working at a small gold mine in Dawson City. The idea that someone from Nova Scotia who was working in Dawson City had actually been to Tybee Island just blew me away.

Day 36: Fresh Crabs for Dinner

June 22, 2013May 21, 2015Posted in Alaska, Birds, Tourist Attractions, WildlifeTagged Bald Eagle, Dungeness Crab, Haines, Hammer Museum, Oceanside RV Park11 Comments

Day 36: Thursday, June 20, 2013

One of the things on my list of things to do in Alaska was to eat some fresh crabs right from the dock. Thanks to Joyce, the great owner of the Oceanside RV Park where we are staying, I crossed that off my list on Thursday night.

I went for an early morning walk around the harbor and then hoping to see some more Bald Eagles, we drove a few miles down the road to Chilcoot Lake in Chilcoot State Park and along Mud Bay Road to the seafood cannery.

I walked around Haines Harbor in the early morning

Haines Totem by the harbor

Chilcoot Lake

Bald Eagle at Chilcoot Lake State Park, Haines, AK

Mama Bald Eagle on nest in Chilcoot State Park, Haines, AK

Bald Eagle at Chilcoot Lake State Park, Haines, AK

Then we went down to the dock to help clean today’s catch of 38 Dungeness Crabs.

Deadliest Catch!

The guys are hard at work

Joyce and crew cleaning crabs on the dock

A trip to the Hammer Museum sounded like a fun way to spend the afternoon before dinner.

Henry and Blondie at the Hammer Museum

Hammer Museum in Haines, Alaska

This one is for our friend Chuck, president of a small bank in Georgia

This is for Henry and all his buddies at BellSouth

A display of seafood hammers. Our mallet came in handy when we had a dinner of Dungeness Crab

Finally, it was time to eat!

Owner Joyce and the camp host getting ready to cook

38 Dungeness Crabs

Time to eat

Joyce, the owner of Oceanside RV Park, often puts on a crab boil or salmon bake for her guests. Joyce organizes everything, teaches everyone how to clean them, and then cooks them. Everyone brought a covered dish and paid for however many crabs they wanted. After we ate our fill of our six crabs we picked the rest and froze it for later in the trip.

Joyce is one of the hardest working RV park owners we have ever seen and goes out of her way to make you feel at home. If you are going to Haines, Oceanside RV Park is the only place to stay. This is NOT a paid advertisement! She doesn’t even know I’m posting this.

Day 33: Another fun day in Skagway

June 18, 2013June 19, 2022Posted in Alaska, Entertainment, Historic Sites, Tourist AttractionsTagged Chilkoot Trail, Days of '98 Show, Dyea, Klondike Gold Rush, Red Onion Saloon, Skagway, Windy Valley Boys4 Comments

Day 33: Monday, June 18, 2013

While we slept, four cruise ships arrived in the harbor. Skagway was bustling with activity early in the morning as the trains, sightseeing buses, and stores prepared for the onslaught of cruise ship passengers.

The streets were still fairly quiet as I took my early morning stroll through town. I passed by two trains filled with passengers waiting to depart. Later in the day the streets were filled with people strolling along, taking pictures, and hitting the shops.

Pullen Creek RV Park, Skagway, Alaska

The White Pass train waiting to depart

The train across from the cruise ship dock

This train is waiting to hitch up more cars

Historical buildings in downtown Skagway

Downtown Skagway

Totems in downtown Skagway

Downtown Skagway

An advertisement painted on the side of the cliff

Downtown Skagway

This building is part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Inside is a replica of a saloon.

Strolling on the boardwalk is part of the fun

After another delicious breakfast at the Sweet Tooth we joined the throngs of shoppers browsing the shops. You can find anything from the typical made in China souvenirs to beautiful handcrafted, made in Alaska items. After drooling over all the beautifully crafted items I finally decided on a pair of jade whale tail earrings.

At 10:30 we went to the Days of ’98 Show at the Fraternal Order of the Eagles. The musical play tells the tale of Soapy Smith, Alaska’s most notorious outlaw. The show was entertaining and so much fun. The piano player, dance hall girls, ragtime music, and Soapy himself were all great. I highly recommend attending the show if you ever go to Skagway.

At the Days of 98 show at the Fraternal Order of Eagles

Soapy Smith and the three dance all girls

Beth with the Soapy Smith

Henry with the dance hall girls

Here is a video of the girls performing the can-can. If you are reading an email update and can’t watch the video, click Wandering Dawgs to go to the web page and scroll to the video to watch.

When we came out of the show the streets were filled with people. A drive along the Taiya Inlet to the former town of Dyea sounded perfect. Thousands of prospectors hoping to strike it rich during the Klondike Gold rush followed the Chilkoot trail which began in Dyea. The narrow, winding gravel road to the site of the once booming town of Dyea was beautiful. The trail to the town site takes you through woods and neither of us was prepared for the hike so we didn’t actually see where the town once was. At the end of the road were the Dyea Flats with wild iris and other wildflowers adding splashes of purple to the green.

Wild Iris in the Dyea Flats

Field of wildflowers at Dyea

Skagway Harbor from overlook on Dyea Raod

Dyea Flats

If you are interested in learning more about the history of the Klondike Gold Rush, visit The Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Site to find out more.

Henry spent the rest of the afternoon washing the truck while I did some cleaning inside. Watching the cruise ship passengers pass by on their way back to their ship was a great way to relax after a hard day of being a tourist.

Dinner at the Red Onion Saloon was really fun. As I was enjoying my pizza and Henry his Reuben, we were pleasantly surprised to see a band setting up to play. With two fiddles, a bass, a mandolin, a guitar, and English Concertina we knew the Windy Valley Boys would be fun to listen to. Their first song was a foot tapping, buck dancing kind of song that reminded me of the jam session at the Floyd Country Store in Virginia. We ordered another beer and stayed for the entire first set. What a great ending to our day!

If you follow us by email and haven’t visited the web page in a while, click on over to Wandering Dawgs to see our updated page.

Day 32: Father’s Day in Skagway

June 17, 2013February 10, 2015Posted in Alaska, Tourist Attractions, WaterfallsTagged Gold Rush, Skagway, Skagway Brewind Company2 Comments

Day 32: Sunday, June 16, 2013.

Henry’s Father’s Day present was he didn’t have to tow the RV anywhere! He got to relax and enjoy the day.

Blondie and I started the day with an early morning stroll through downtown Skagway. As I walked along the boardwalks gazing at the historic buildings I could imagine what it must have been like during the Gold Rush days in 1898.

This is what I saw when I stepped out of the RV this morning

Pullen RV Park Site 45, Skagway, AK

Looking down State Street toward the Harbor

Skagway Visitor’s Center is one of the most photographed buildings in Alaska

Skagway Centenial Statue. The sculptor was killed in a plane crass two days ago.

Later on, Henry and I enjoyed breakfast at the Sweet Tooth Cafe before going for a drive back up the highway to enjoy the views we couldn’t stop to look at on our way to Skagway.