June 19 - now, on mornings that we have to travel we are a finely tuned machine. Up early, organized, packed and unhooked with military precision, but mornings that we do not have to be on the highway, well that’s another story. If we have eaten breakfast by noon we consider it a success. This morning we decided to forgo breakfast and head into Dawson for breakfast brunch (aka burgers and beer) and to do some touring. Stopped at the Visitor Information Centre and picked up a few brouchers and headed for the closest watering hole. The Eldorado Hotel was winning choice (only because it was the only one open) and had a great lunch, served by our waitress, Katie. She was a good waitress AND, we found out, a dancer at Diamond Gertie’s, which was our destination for that evening. She, graciously, agreed to save us a table. We left the hotel to support the local economy. There was the nicest clothing store that Jen and I supported. When I got up to pay for my stuff I discovered that they only accepted cash and my bounty cost more more than the $100 I had on me. The sales lady agreed to save my stuff until tomorrow. Well with our group, confusion is about 80% of our day and this confusion allowed me time to go to the bank and get back to pay for the clothes. Jen and I were walking back to the store congratulating each other on our ability to ditch our husbands to shop unsupervised. Just as we are nearing the clothing store who should amble out? Fucking Ryan and Darren! They tried to get her to tell them how much we were spending 😂. She quickly told them to, “ GET OUT!” Lol! Smart woman! We supported her well! Ryan and Fuzz were walking behind us and Ryan stumbled on the wooden walkway and went down. Fuzz yelled, “ I’M THE SPOTTER! I SAW HIM! HE LANDED OVER THERE!” I don’t think he is the best spotter! Jen and I also asked him to take our picture, he grumbled as his phone was almost dead and he said, “ I can’t believe I’m going to take a picture of you two that I’m only going to delete later”….he deleted the picture later without sharing it! The boys are like schoolgirls, always giggling at something, or talking about side by side tires they are buying or complaining about us girls. Jen said to me, “Remember when it was The Jen and Stacy Show? Now it is the Ryan and ……..” Darren turns to her and says with mild disgust, “Darren! My name is Darren!!” Little more exploring and then we headed back to the campground for cocktails and to get ready for Gertie’s. Keeping with our slow, confused day, we made it to Gertie’s about 15 minutes before the show. We anticipated the occupancy to be half full, imagine our surprise when we called in and it was standing room only! The bouncer asked if we were Katie’s friends and then lead us to the only available table in the place - right up front! Pays to know the right people! What a great show! We had so much fun there. In between the 3 shows that night we visited with fellow campers and gambled. Jen and I tried our hand at Blackjack. I would like to think I’m an above average poker player. We play ALOT of poker and I’ve won more money than I’ve lost, but blackjack is not my strongest game. But my initial $50 buy in lasted me the night, but, alas, I left with $5. Howie watched the Omaha table for the night but there was no openings for him. That was the big boy table. Players at that table had about $2000 in chips in front of them. Howie said one guy started with $200 and cashed out $3000. Fuzz was also recruited to dance with the ladies at Gertie’s. We stumbled out of Gertie’s at 1:30 and had to put on our sunglasses (Tanya Taylor I thought of your bar stories from Dawson!😉). I have to do a quick side story. When I was going to RDC there was a girl that was sitting in front of me ( I think it was a Statistics class) and she turned around and asked me, “Are you adopted?” I assured her I wasn’t. I was born to teenage parents and my arrival caused scandal and I was pretty sure that I was not a project my parents took on without being thrown into. Anyway, Tanya explained to me that she knew a woman from her hometown of Dawson Creek that had pit her daughter up for adoption and she was searching for her and, apparently, I looked exactly like her. So my doppelgänger lives in Dawson! Anyway, back to the campground where Jennifer and I again attempted the elusive all-nighter. Again foiled! But, the next day Howie did have to apologize to our neighbors from Medicine Hat for the noise Jennifer and I made. I was pretty sure we were quiet as church mice, Medicine Hat disagreed.
June 20 - okay, determined to have an earlier start. Darren, Jen, Ryan and I walked the dogs into town (and found Ryan’s chapstick, but that’s another story) just as we entered town it started to rain so we took refuge on a porch at the Chinese Restaurant. We were taking temporary shelter with an elderly couple from Wimbledon, England who we had ample opportunity to visit with while we waited for Howie to come and rescue us. We each shared our routes to Dawson, and they both chuckled and, sheepishly, shared with us that they had missed the turn to go to Dawson and they drove to Haines Junction before they realized their mistake!! Our people! we laughed and shared our driving error as well. After some ferrying dogs back and Howie coming back to town (sorry, I missed a very important part of the story from Gertie’s), we decided that if we had to survive and prosper 150 years ago we would have to be working girls. Shorty immediately declared she would be our Madam and Jen and I were given instructions on what her cut would be (a lot!) and how much she expected us to work (a lot!). Well Ryan and Fuzz kept our Madam well hydrated with red wine and by the end of the night she needed assistance with balance😂. She didn’t even realize Jen and I weren’t working! So the next day Shorty took the opportunity to recover. So the 5 of us went to the Museum and then for lunch. We promised to do some shopping for Griffin (Howie and Terry’s grandson) so we hit up the souvenir shops. While we were paying Jen and I were chatting and said, “Maybe we just go back to camp”. The cashier asked us, “Is this your first time to Dawson?” We answered, “Yes”, she then asked, “Will you ever be back?” We answered, “Maybe not”. She then planned the rest of our day day - martinis at Bombay Peggy’s )an old brothel (we thought Shorty might appreciate a little reconnaissance work), the a beer at The Pit (a local dive bar) and then the Whisky Sour Toe shot. Who are we to disagree this this lovely ladies schedule? One martini at Peggy’s quickly turned into 2 martinis, then to the Pit (the waitress there was not impressed us at all!!) and then to the madness to drink a shot with a mummified toe. Jen took quite a bit of convincing but we all signed up for the opportunity (?!) to have a shot of whiskey from a glass that contains the most repulsive looking appendage I’ve ever seen. We sat beside an American couple and he took this opportunity to declare to his wife that when he dies he wants his toe donated to the bar. Apparently it is a thing! I think I can safely say she will not be supporting his decision, she rolled her eyes and shook her head. Our names are finally called, with trepidation we approach this elderly captain and took a seat. He asked where our shots were? Well, we hadn’t taken them from the bartender (did you really expect us to be organized?!) so after a few trips to the bar we were ready. So the tradition is that he picks this toe up with tongs (pre COVID he would pick the toe up with his fingers), he waves the toe under your nose and says, “You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but your lips must touch the toe”. You then slam the drink back. Incidentally, there is a $2500 fine of you swallow the toe. Rest assured, if I swell the toe it would take 3 seconds and that sucker would be back up! Also, there are 2 toes they rotate between drinks. Who knew toes were such a hot commodity! Finally we headed back to the motorhomes and Madam Shorty. Us girls sat up for awhile but we headed to bed by 11:00 - big day tomorrow! Back to Whitehorse for the second time. Third if you count the Haines Junction debacle!
June 21 - woke up to rain! We were all pretty anxious about the drive. The rain didn’t help. We headed out with trepidation. We met some semi’s that were covered in mud and no motorhomes…..when we got to the construction there was a pilot truck to lead the way. Slow and steady. Those 10 kilometres felt like 50. Made it through with no issues and the rain was a blessing for the remainder of the gravel. 7 hours and we arrived at our next campground- a Nordic Spa and roughly 17,000,000 mosquitoes. We have had incredible luck with bugs until now and holy cow, they are attacking us with a vengeance. The screened in tent we bought is currently worth its weight in gold. To leave the tent it takes a will of iron. Quite a quiet night by our standards.
June 22 - first day of summer and Whitehorse did not disappoint. 25 degrees and unbelievably humid! Ryan made breakfast, I think he has been missing his sausage/bacon and eggs. Us girls played a game of King’s Cribbage, took a walk and then went to the hot tubs. Had to be incredibly innovative to get drinks in but, worry not, we did get cool beverages in. The pools varied in temperature from 108 degrees to 98 degrees. If that wasn’t hot enough, we did the sauna for as long as we could stand it. Probably sweated out all the alcohol we have consumed to date on the holiday. Left the spa and ran the Mosquito Gauntlet back to camp. Cocktails and then to town for supper. Again a great supper. Now that we have experienced some healthy living we are embracing it! Another early night!!
June 23 - this catches me up! We are on the road on the second half of our journey- headed back home via the Stewart Cassiar Highway. So far a successful day 4 bears, a clans a moose. I’ll update the rest of our day later….
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