I found a street sign in an rv park up here in Dawson City, Yukon, that says “Margaritaville.” Really, could there be a place on Earth less like whatever Margaritaville is like? It’s true that even here you can order a shot of tequila at the bar. But, it doesn’t come with a wedge of […]
Month: June 2023
The Price of Adventure (at Tombstone)
On our way to Tombstone Territorial Park in Yukon we drove a short stretch of the Klondike Highway and then the infamous Dempster. Up here there’s constant roadwork in the summer, and by roadwork they mean, “bulldozing the old road and pushing a pile of dirt beside it for a new road.” I was too […]
You Keep Watching the Tundra, Then You Remember to Look Up (at Tombstone)
I said this to Tracy yesterday while we were hiking along the mountains in the northern part of Tombstone Territorial Park, here in the Yukon, a little east of Fairbanks. The sub-arctic tundra here is so beautiful—moss and lichen and flowers—a deep cover that insulates the permafrost right below. Even if the ground weren’t captivating, […]
We Live on a Giant Rock in Space
You’ve had a significant epiphany, right? I’ve had a very few, and I remember each one. The time I realized that the meat in my mouth used to be alive, and it dropped right out of my mouth, with no meat entering again for 15 years. The time I was part of a herd (I […]
Faro: Named for a Card Game
Faro, Yukon, is a tiny little town born from mining, but not the kind we’re used to hearing about up here near Alaska. Yeah, people panned for gold along the Pelly River (Pharaoh/Faro is an old French card game they played), but the big deal was lead and zinc. As in, the world’s largest open-pit […]
An Interior Check, Where the Exterior Is Commanding
I do this about once a year: realize I’ve written a lot about where we are and what we’re doing but nothing about how we’re doing. If you’re curious about previous years’ internal check-ins, here’s one from 2020 in Florida during the our first winter on the road, here’s one from that first summer in […]
Along the Klondike and Campbell Highways
Just a little north of Whitehorse, we left the Alaska Highway for the first time in ages and drove north along the Klondike, then east along the Robert Campbell. These names may seem to slip off my tongue easily (despite my terrible map skills) only because I’ve been hearing Tracy and Melanie plan their trips […]
Cultural Artifacts and Modern Art in Whitehorse
I don’t spend much time inside in museums, which, I know, I’m missing out. This time in Whitehorse I not only went in several but paid attention and took a few snaps. Yukon Visitor’s Center What’s so helpful about visitor’s centers are the people working there who chat with you and give unexpected info you […]
Miles Canyon/Kwanlin
The people indigenous to this southern area of Yukon when European and American settlers arrived are the Kwänlin Dän. It wasn’t until the year 2005 that they gained governance over themselves, which is astounding to me. Not to them, I imagine, sadly. And I’m already tired of hearing the names of the explorers as the […]
Why Do People Camp Like This?
Shana and I have a little thing going where we complain to each other about other people in our campgrounds. Because, as Julia Louis-Dreyfus says, it’s not whining—it’s telling the truth. Yesterday, Shana sends me a text describing something especially odd in her campground in California. A large group of women dressed up in white […]