June 30, 2010 by Rae

Mammoths, Atlatls, and Plane Crashes

I touched a real honest to goodness fossilized mammoth bone on Tuesday. It was about 25,000 years old. And that was after seeing a mostly real honest to goodness, fully reconstructed, mammoth skeleton. I know I’m getting ahead of myself, but have you ever seen a mammoth skeleton???

So, ahem, one of the biggest and most visible attractions in Whitehorse, because it’s right off the Alaska Highway, is the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre. I had no idea what Beringia is/was and thought the place was a tourist trap, so I never really thought about visiting it. But after so much time in the Yukon I’d begun to hear things about the place and it started to work at me. So, after I got in from my Kluane Country jaunt, I decided to go find out just what was this thing called Beringia.

Beringia is a lost continent, a landmass that joined Siberia and present-day Alaska during the last ice age. It was a fertile grassland known as the ‘Mammoth Steppe’ in which giant animals roamed the land.

Stories of those days have been passed down through the ages to the present native peoples of the Yukon. One archaeologist studied those legends to see if there was any realistic basis to them and was lead to the confluence of the Old Crow and Porcupine rivers where there had been a legend of a giant monster slain on those banks. That legend is now a true story, as the skeleton of the ‘giant monster’ was found thanks to this orally passed down story–it was a woolly mammoth! Talk about myth coming to life!

After watching a fifteen minute movie about Beringia we were invited to step outside to try our hand using an atlatl, commonly known as a spear thrower. I’m quite good with a bow and arrow, so I was eager to try this other ancient weapon. I did three throws and the teacher informed me that I was one of the best he’d ever seen! While the others aimed to throw their spears as far as they could, with their first throw failing miserably, I focused on my technique and struck the same target three times, each time with more force. If I’d been hunting for the first time, I would have probably made a kill with at least one of those throws. It’s no wonder I didn’t last as a vegetarian–I’m a natural born hunter! 😀

My tour of Beringia filled me with such awe and wonder. Until yesterday afternoon, the Yukon was the Klondike. Anytime that happened before was of no interest. It was like discovering that an old friend has been hiding a wonderful secret from me.

The centre isn’t very big; there are a couple of exhibits outside and in, but it’s an excellent way to spend an hour or two. You can get a combo pass for the Transportation Museum next door for $9. That’s right, $9 can get you at least two hours of entertainment in excellent museums in Whitehorse. That’s less than the cost of a movie ticket!

The transportation museum was very good; with interesting displays. My favourites were those devoted to the Chilkoot Trail and to the Helen Klaben plane crash. She and a pilot crashed in the frigid Yukon wilderness in the 1960s and though badly wounded, lived to tell the tale. She wrote a book about the ordeal called Hey, I’m Alive, which was made into a movie.

between the Alaska Highway and the parking lot, a family of mammoths plays (dad shown)

this giant beaver apparently existed once upon a time. He was as tall as I am–5’6″!

The Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre

a mammoth skeleton

a giant sloth!

this statue represents the journey from life to death

(about the statue)

explanation of why glaciers are blue

explanation of ‘Beringia’

the displays at both Beringia and the Transporation Museum were excellent and very detailed

as I said, very detailed!

I had no idea that horses were RE-introduced to North America!

the Yukon Horse

Legends of Beringia

close up of the statue

touching a real mammoth fossil!

“please touch” is one of my favourite phrases

these are darts or spears

an atlatl

the dart rests against this rock and then you hold the two almost like chop sticks

plaque about the plane flying outside the Transporation Museum

explanation of the pivoting mount…

this plane always points into the wind

mural showing the different themes of the Yukon–native history, gold minining, the building of the Alaska Highway

kind of fuzzy, but this plaque says that it was on the site of the present day transportation museum that the US Army gave the Alaska Highway to Canada

what an incredible mural of the Golden Staircase!

the first public buses to travel the Alaska Highway started around 1948 and looked like this

the bus operators tried to make the miserable trip seem dreamy

inside of an old ambulance

I only noticed the old ambulance because it’s orange 🙂

LIFE magazine article about the Klaben/Flores plane crash

article about the plane crash

June 2, 2010 by Rae

Pictures from Diamond Tooth Gerties!

I brought my camera to town tonight in hopes of getting a shot of some of the stars staying in town, but it was for naught. I had to settle for Owen Wilson brushing by me too quickly for me to get a picture. Ah, sucks to be me. 😀

After that excitement and a pint, my friends and I headed over to Gerties where I got some decent shots for once!

These are from the 10:30 show. The lady in orange is ‘Gertie’, but not the one I normally rave about. This is the first time I’ve met ‘the other Gertie’, who takes over on Amy’s nights off. She was quite good, but I feel disloyal saying too many nice things about her. 😀

The pics are from various moments in the show. You can see the swirly, multi-coloured skirts and kicking legs in the first few shots as well as some of the tap dancing routine. One of the highlights of the show is when they bring a male audience on stage and make him do a little song and dance. In this case, it was “There was a farmer who had a dog and poker was his name-o. P-O-K-E-R!” with the guy having to play a variety of instruments in tune. As a reward, he was inducted into the coveted Order of the Garter. The guy walking around the audience is ‘Spencer Doorman’, who is ‘discovered’ by Gertie in the 8:30 show.

May 26, 2010 by Rae

What Passes for Entertainment In Dawson City

This afternoon, my friend Nathalie came to me at the front desk and asked the always loaded question: “What are you doing this afternoon?”

The answer was, of course, working on my contract, but I asked her what she had in mind.

“Wanna go gold panning?”

And that’s how we found ourselves trundling down to Claim No. Six, a free claim, where anyone can go play in Bonanza Creek. For me, it was mostly an excuse to go soak my feet and toast myself under the sun. 😀

Nathalie is originally from France, but has been in Canada for several years. She arrived in Dawson last fall, just as I was leaving, and spent the winter. She’s therefore a ‘true’ Dawsonite, and she has a lot to teach me about how things work around here! She also met a miner over the cold season and he told her all about gold panning, so we put her lessons to work. We had fun but didn’t find anything (of course 😀 ).

if you’re carrying a shovel to bury a body, grab a gold pan and no one will notice you

the miner taught Nathalie to pan dirt that’s away from the creek bed; someone knew this also

Nathalie getting dirt for our pans

that’s sand!!!

me studiously listening to Nathalie’s instructions

she’s a funny gal 🙂

Nathalie trying her luck

demonstrating the technique for swirling the water

May 16, 2010 by Rae

Pre-Season Fun at Gerties

Last night was the first set of can-can shows at Gerties, kicking off the summer season. I went with a gang from work, including a gal who grew up in Dawson but is now from Nova Scotia, and whose mother used to have the contract to make all the dresses for Gerties shows.

This year, there are two new dancers, but ‘Gertie’ herself is the same. I was thrilled to see this because the singer/actress was born for the part and is an excellent host.

The shows and costumes were comparable to last year, but the songs were different. The song I remember best from last year was ‘Anything Goes’ (from Indiana Jones) and this year’s most memorable is ‘Moon River’ (from Breakfast at Tiffany’s).

There is something about that ‘Gold Rush’ music that sends a shiver down my spine. Combine that with the colourful swirling skirts and the mile-long legs kicking sky high and I’m pretty sure I won’t be getting bored with Gerties any time soon!

I tried to take some pics and video, as I did last year, but I don’t have the equipment to take pictures in the dark. There are some good ones on the Diamond Tooth Gerties site.

May 6, 2010 by Rae

Sawtooth Mountains to Watson Lake (!)

The rig was cozy this morning, belying how bloody cold it was outside. The day promised to warm up, though, and the sun was shining brightly. I refused to be rushed, enjoying a leisurely breakfast and reading for a couple of hours with Tabitha happily curled up on my lap.

When I did hit the road, finally, it was with excitement at the treat that waited for me an hour or so down the road, a soak in the hot springs!

As I did that final mountainous stretch, with grades reaching 9% and curves hugging Muncho Lake nearing ninety degrees I realised with a shock that somewhere between Hope and Summit Lake I went from being a novice full-timer wannabe to a seasoned RVer. I could do longer and more difficult stretches now because I was comfortable at the wheel of my rig and confident in my abilities. Even the boondocking thing has improved over last year as I’ve learned how to manage my batteries.

With this realisation came the fact that I am out of that grey zone where I was no longer housebound but not yet firmly rooted to my nomadic existence. I belong to the road now and my destiny is in the wind at my back. Second star to the right and straight on till morning, and all that.

Liard Hot Springs hasn’t opened for the summer season yet, so admission was free! I had a leisurely soak in Beta Pool and was just about to float off into a nap when a fish thought it would be funny to come tickle my armpit! I didn’t even know there are fish in the hot springs! Needless to say, my torpor was broken and I decided it was time to head out. The fish’s timing was pretty good since a couple approached Beta Pool just as I headed out.

It was an easy drive to Watson Lake after with very few grades or curves. I drove down the main drag until I saw a spot in front of the defunct Chinese restaurant where I felt I could stop for a couple of hours if I could get online, which I obviously am. 🙂 I’ll be pulling out shortly, will get gas, and then will complete the final schlep to Nugget City for the night.

Most of the following pictures are of buffalo, my obsession with which I discussed in depth last year. 🙂