Dawson City

Thinking about the toe...

View more photos 

Got to Dawson City this morning, checked into our super quaint hostel(no hydro!), where we're staying in a cabin tonight(give me a chance to stretch out a bit!). Our first shower in days was in a sauna type shower room, where you ladled hot water headed by the woodstove, mixed in enough cool water, and washed with that, all in a room that was a comfortable 40 degrees(complete with skylight). It was fabulous.

So, after registering at our hostel, and that amazing sauna, we crossed on the free ferry which was a neat experience. The current is amazingly stong. Pulled into Sourdough Joe's for lunch, and had fish and chips--battered salmon was a first for me! Spent the afternoon wandering Dawson, and internetting. Went to the Robert Service cabin, where there was a talk being held about Robert Service and his many antics. A member of the audience(a R.S. buff) jumped at the chance to present his interpretation of "The Cremation of Sam McGee", which was animated, and very well done! If you haven't heard of Robert Service, check out "The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill", my personal favourite, here: http://www.geocities.com /heartland/bluffs/8336 /robertservice/bill.html  Decided on Klondike Kate's for supper which was fun. Had a Yukon Gold beer with my poached salmon. It was salmon day in the Yukon! Wasted a bit of time waiting for cocktail hour, then headed to The Downtown for a Sourtoe cocktail. Ingrediants: clear straight spirit of your choice, garnished with a.... toe. A human toe. A pickled human toe. To get the "I had a sourtoe cocktail" certificate, the toe has to actually touch your lips in front of witnesses. The witnesses weren't hard to find(lots of tourists out for the fun!), and the gin(my choice) went down quickly, but the toe stayed at the top of the glass. I had to tap it down 'till it touched my lip, much to the delight of the peanut gallery. My favourite comment was from the senior who went after Liv and I: "If my grandkids could only see me know!" Good times. Back to the campsite and a glorious stretched out(no tent!) sleep, so good rest for the crazy driving day the next day up the Dempster.