Restaurants

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Gabfest at the Sluicebox Lounge

I was invited out last night, but had too much on my plate. So, tonight, I called the person to see if the offer still stood. Yes!

We started off the night at Gerties, then we drove to the home of one of her new friends so she could introduce us. By the time we were passing Bonanza, it was only 9:30, so we decided to go back into town for another drink.

Since we were in chat mode, going back to Gerties didn’t make sense. Bombay Peggy’s, the cozy pub, would have been nice, but it was jam packed. The next nearest bar was the Sluicebox Lounge at the El Dorado hotel, a block away.

It was a charmless place, unless you consider 70s decor and formica tables ‘charming’, but it was clean, open, and reasonably quiet. A pint was a full seventy-five cents less than at Gerties!

The gal I was with is a French national who has been in Canada for several years. We met briefly last fall as she was moving in. Imagine what sort of courage it must take, even after spending a year in Whitehorse, to pack up for a remote location like Dawson in the winter!

She had both positive and negative things to say about winter in Dawson and seemed to have generally found the experience to be pleasant and worthwhile. A part of me wants to try it, just once, but another part of me knows that she doesn’t do well in a world of constant twilight and inclement weather.

Her winter gave her a chance to get to know the Dawson establishments that stay open late into the fall and even through the winter. I ribbed her about how casually she led me to the Sluicebox Lounge when I know that the gal I met last fall wouldn’t have imagined herself in such an establishment. It just goes to show how a place can slowly mould you into the kind of person it needs you to be to survive there. She hasn’t changed, she still doesn’t drink, but she’s comfortable in locales she never was comfortable in before. I experienced a similar transformation during my month in Scotland.

It turned out to be a fun night and I’m glad I found a more quiet place than Gerties to go to when I’m in a chatty mood!

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Out and About

It’s amazing what you can do in a couple of hours on a HOT Dawson afternoon!

I needed to pick up a package in town (more on that in my next post), so I decided to treat myself to lunch, opting for Sourdough Joe’s. The food, while excellent last year, was much improved, especially in the French fry department! I enjoyed a chicken burger made with a real chicken breast as well as sweet dark brown Quebec-style fries. Lunch with tip came to a reasonable $14.

Next, I went to pick up my much anticipated package and then off I went to meet up with my friends G & F, whom I met the day I arrived in Dawson and took to the dump.  We crossed the river on the ferry so they could show me their digs at the hostel. They weren’t happy with their accommodations so I suggested we drive back to Bonanza to speak with the manager to see if she could give them a good deal for their last three weeks here. Of course! That settled, I promised to go pick them up Saturday morning to move them back here and then went back into town to drop them off at the library.

Now, I have a half hour left to play with my new toy. Care to guess what it is? Andy Baird is not allowed to guess, if he’s reading this. 😉

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Spinning Fruit

Tonight, one of my friends invited me to go to Gertie’s. I’m going tomorrow for the pre-season opening show and had some work to do, so I said I would ‘think about it, but to save me a spot.’

I finished what I was working on an headed over an hour later. Another friend was there as well as an RV park guest (my neighbour, in fact), and we spent some time gabbing over drinks and pizza. Finally, I decided to go try $5 worth of luck in the penny slot machine that paid me back last time I was at Gertie’s.

I fed the machine my bill and selected ‘maximum bet’, which was 45 cents. The machine spun. And spun again. And again. I was a bit bewildered, assuming that it was broken. The guy next to me laughed and explained that I kept on winning free spins! Someone said that I had ‘won big for that machine’ and that didn’t register; I was just too amused by the spinning bars, fruits, and diamonds. That was enough fun for the night and as the machines spun I hit the ‘cash out’ button so that I could get back $4 and play the other 55 cents.

Next thing I knew, there was a casino employee by my side handing me one of those big cups that hold coins and tokens for the slot machines. Seconds later, the machine starting spitting out tokens at me. *clang, clang, clang, clang, clang* I’d had this happen to me at the penny slots in Vegas, but there I was being paid in quarters. This machine was paying me in tokens worth $1 each. It finally stopped with my container about half-full.

I hurried over to the cash out booth and while the machine there calculated my gains, I applied for my free season pass.

Care to guess how much I ended up making on my 45 cent bet?

I walked away from the teller with $67, meaning that I came out of Gertie’s tonight with $62 more than I’d walked in with! Not bad for penny slots!

It’s rare for me to gamble, even on penny slots, so I’m pretty sure I’ve exhausted my luck for life! 😀

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First Ice Cream of the Season

This afternoon turned out to be ‘proper’ Dawson weather: sunny and HOT! It was time to go get my first ice cream of the season!

I parked at my favourite spot at the corner of 3rd and Queen because it’s a conveniently central location:

I then walked the half block to the post office:

I doubled back to Queen, crossed, turned right towards the water, and turned left on Second to go to the bank:

After taking out some money, I cut across Second and a vacant lot, crossed an alley, and came up beside the row of buildings that holds the ice cream shop:

Turns out they’re only opening at 3 for the next little while and I was a few minutes early, so I decided to take a quick stroll around town.

I headed back to Third and Queen and took Queen all the way to King:

I turned left at King to head back towards Front Street and the water, and took this shot of the Dawson Visitor’s Centre (log cabin) across from which is the NWT and Dempster Highway information centre (blue roof):

I took a left at Front Street and ambled down the two blocks that would take me back to the ice cream parlour. There, I went all out, since prices have not changed from last year, and had two scoops in a waffle cone. Summer has officially begun! 😀

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A Change of Plans… and a Dawson City Homecoming!

I got twenty kilometres up the Klondike highway today and decided to push on to Dawson, then do a circuit by toad and tent in late June or early July when more things will be open. It’s been a pretty lonely winter and I just couldn’t wait to see my friends again! It was a long, hard haul as the trip from Whitehorse to Dawson always is, and the numerous frost heaves have left me terrified to open any of my cabinets!!!

As expected, everyone was shocked to see me pull in today and there were so many hugs all around! I washed the rig and then got squared away in what will probably be a temporary spot. I don’t care, it has sewer! 😀 And I can get online with my Telus key!

An invitation to go out for a drink came quickly from two of my French-speaking friends, so we headed over to Bombay Peggy’s, a cozy pub I never got around to visiting last summer! I savoured a Yukon Gold as we each three shared our story of our winter adventures. Oh my, how I missed French! I think I spoke it twice this winter and that’s it. 🙁 Reading books and watching movies wasn’t nearly enough; there’s something to be said for a good gab fest in your native tongue!

I’ve put on some laundry and will be heading over to the public showers since I have a ton of stuff packed in mine and there is debris scattered all over the dressing room floor. I’m too wiped to even start to sort it all out. At least, I’ve had a hot shower every night since Les played with my water heater in Prince George. The water heater is still misbehaving, but I can coax it into submission thanks to his adjustments. He and it must have had Words. 😀

I can’t believe that was just a few days ago and that a week ago this day I awoke in Nanaimo! I’ve done 3,400km in that time. I didn’t mean to go so quickly and I honestly wasn’t ‘rushing.’ I really savoured this drive, much more so than the one last fall, and I had fun driving the RV for the first time! It was an awesome trip and an equally awesome summer lies before me. I’m really going to be able to get back on track financially and maybe even get some painting done.

Everything on my journey from Campbell River went well with the minor hiccups of the fuse and the windshield hardly worth mentioning. I boondocked solidly except when I had a chance at free power and lacked for nothing; I had all the heat and hot water I wanted, and when there was cell service I got work done. I read a lot, cooked a bit, and really got a taste of what life with the new layout is going to be like (even if I missed my dishwasher!). This week my good life has had no shortage of good days and I am the happiest that I have been in a very, very, very long time.

And, so, a second Klondike summer begins!