Fairbanks to Dawson City

We headed out of Fairbanks on the Richardson highway 12 miles reaching the town of North Pole where Christmas is celebrated all year round.  The holiday theme is found all over town. Streets are named after Santa, frosty the snowman and Blitzen the reindeer. Street lights are candy canes, wreathes and ornaments are displayed on home doors. We visited Santa at his house, looked at all the range of decorations on display and viewed his reindeers in the yard out the back. 

Every Christmas thousands of letters arrive addressed to Santa at the North Pole. Volunteers help to answer each childs letter.

We made our way to Delta Junction which is where the Alaskan highway officially finishes. The Delta is an agriculture area with Barley the major grain grown. There are also small scale animal farms such as elk, reindeer, yak and bison with the average farm size being 500 acres. 

We turned onto the Alaskan highway at Delta travelling this highway through to Tok which is where we completed its 1422 miles. Having stayed overnight at Tok a few weeks ago we did not spend much time here. We purchased some spare globes that were needed for the RV front head lights before making our way to Dawson City along  the Top of the World Highway.

Along this road we said our goodbyes to Alaska as we crossed the Canadian border into Yukon Terrirtory. The travel was slow along this gravel narrow winding road, following the top of the mountains and ridges.  The highway aptly named, as we did feel like we were on the top of the world, the views of beautiful vistas and alpine valleys were magnificent. Crossing the border we had to put our clocks forward one hour.

We stopped off at the small gold mining community of Chicken which is halfway between  Tok and Dawson. No chickens can be found here but there is a lot of history. This remote village has No electricity, sewer or town water and only three stores.  Climbing down the mountain we arrived at the Ferry which is a free service that takes you across the Yukon River into the isolated town of Dawson City.

This city was declared a national historic site in the early 1960’s and as a result the towns appearance remains unchanged. Many of the gold rush era buildings have been restored or reconstructed. We booked into an RV park in the town centre and then walked the boardwalks and dirt streets having a look inside some of the shops and through the visitors centre. Adding to the atmosphere of the town some shop staff wore costumes.

We went for dinner and saw a live caberet show with Gertie and the Goldrush girls at Canada’s oldest Gambling hall "Diamond Tooth Gerties" before retiring for the night. The following morning we drove up to the midnight Dome for our final views over this quaint western outback town and its position along the Yukon River.  From there we headed to Klondike Lodge where we left the RV in storage for a few days ...  Mile 0 of the Dempster Highway ...   
                                           we are off  to the Top of Canada..... 

Russ at Chicken

Chicken Creek

Chicken Town

Dawson City

George Black ferry to Dawson 

Dawson City

Dawson City

View from Midnight Dome Dawson City

Delta Junction end of Alaska  Hwy

Entering Yukon Territory

Leaving Alasksa

Caberet Show at Gerties Gambling Hall

Moose we saw along the way

Welcome to the North Pole

Old miners cottage at Boulder

On route to Chicken

Parked in front of Santas House

Robertson River

Russ and Rob in Santas sleigh

On top of the World Highway

Santas helpers house





20ft Santa statue in front of Santas house



Santa Claus House



Caberet Show at Dawson City



Dawson City



North Pole Street



Please give me a bath.....   

One of Santas reindeers




Paddle Steamer at Dawson City

 


They breed them big in Alaska



Top of the World Highway



Top of the World Highway



Old truck ready to tackle the ice