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