“A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.” — John Steinbeck
Dawson City, which sits on the Yukon River, which I crossed on a kind of raft ferry. — Wikimedia Photo by Michael Edwards.
2001 Memories of a Non-Wandering Wanderer
In 2001, when I make my Alaskan Highway road trip, I didn’t yet have a digital camera, and I took very few photos, most of which turned out badly. So I decided to purchase post cards along the way of the sights I saw – and only those.
My Alaska postcard journal.
So in Skagway, I bought a card depicting the White Pass-Yukon Train. On the return trip back, I noted that our conductor was the same one pictured on my card. What fun I thought, and I let myself enjoy the scenery outside the train. It’s always different looking at landscapes from a different angle, but everything was just as spectacular.
The Klondike Gold Rush took place over 115 years ago, but evidence of its activities are still visible on the Alaskan Highway between Whitehorse and Dawson City. .. A page from my 2001 journal.
Once back in Whitehorse, I quickly retrieved my car and took off for Dawson City, some 300-plus miles away. It was going to be a long day. But the scenery along the drive kept me energized.
The highway mostly followed the same route used during the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush, and evidence of the prospectors’ hopes and dreams were often seen scattered beside the road. And driving into Dawson City on its unpaved roads was like stepping back in time.
My lodging was the Eldorado Hotel, which could have been used in any John Wayne western movie without a bit of extra staging. The clerk, who checked me in, was clearly drunk, but the waitress in the hotel’s café was friendly – and my Jack and Coke to end my long day was healthy.
Funky was the word I used to describe Dawson City. But then I like funky.
Blog pick of the Day. Check it out.
Bean Pat: Janaline’s Art Journey http://tinyurl.com/zy2qcgs I love the creativity of her pieces.
Pat Bean's blog 
I was in the Yukon and Alaska this past summer… very beautiful country!