June 16-20–Heading back to Dawson City

Monday - Too many clouds for the photos LeRoy wants to take, so we stayed put above the river.
Tuesday – Beautiful day and we moved back to the ‘photo shoot’ location.  Unfortunately, the clouds rolled in.  We picked up a lot of very fine dust today – I have a nice coating on things in the camper.  Mosquitoes were terrible in the evening and morning here!  I could hear them hitting the camper – sounded like rain sprinkles.
Here’s a photo of the ferry crossing the MacKenzie River.  This time the semi was loaded behind us.

Wednesday – We crossed back into the Yukon Territory and this plaque was at the boundary.

 

We also saw a small portion of the aftermath of the wildfire that started last week on our way north. 

Most of us have heard the phrase ‘Do bears s*** in the woods?’  Up here it seems they do it on the roadside – or even in the road.  Lots of ‘calling cards’ but no bears!

Thursday -  I read about this memorial in the Tombstone Territorial Park visitor center and nearly missed it along the road.  Annie Henry wanted a memorial to her husband and their granddaughter commissioned this.  Annie lived long enough to see it.  Notice their ages at death – 103 and 101.

We are near what is known as sheep mountain and it is lambing season.  Sad to say I haven’t see any sheep, but there are prints along the road as well as those of a moose.  Parked for the night with fresh snow visible .

  Friday – We woke to a beautiful morning once again and continued on to Dawson City.

We stopped again at the overlook to see Tombstone Mountain.

Wildlife at last as we saw a moose and her calf!!  We stopped some distance away so photo isn't real sharp.

We took care of RV chores – tanks, water, fuel – when we arrived in Dawson City.  Then to the library for Wi-Fi – a one hour limit here. 
 
We arrived at the ferry at 4 o’clock and sat in line for an hour.

 

 

 

The other side.

 

We found a spot for the night with mountains visible far to the north.  On to Alaska tomorrow!!

June 15–Igloo Church, Inuvik, Northwest Territories

No rain this morning, but it is cold!  Upper 30s – brrr!  Just below my camper door, that gray on the bumper was a river of mud when we arrived on Friday.

These are our sites at the Happy Valley RV Park.  We sort of made our own arrangement because I never could figure out how the sites were actually laid out!  Would only want someone I know parked that close to my back door!

I bought fuel – over $7 a gallon for diesel.  Things are very expensive here.  There is a store here similar to WalMart with a Pizza Hut/KFC counter.  Our medium pizza, which we often get a large in the States for $10, was over $20 here.  We were hungry and it was good!

This was kind of ‘the big day’ since the Igloo Church is the main reason I made the trip up the Dempster Highway again.  Very impressive.  We attended Mass and then were given some history and a bit of a tour afterward.  There is actually an inner dome and an exterior dome.  Until this year you could go up in the dome but no more.

We arrived early and went in with our cameras.  After a few minutes, we both went out to our campers for more layers of clothes as there was no heat in the Church!  I believe they had turned it off for the season not expecting this cold weather. 

A bit of the story.  The Priest had the idea to build the church which was then designed and built by a Catholic Brother with a 5th grade education.  Sorry these are hard to read. :)  The church was built in two years by volunteers and completed in 1960.

 

 

 

 The Tabernacle and the Baptismal Font cover resembled igloos.

 

Note the painting in the background – one of the Stations of the Cross.
The wood for the pews was soaked in a steam box and shaped as needed.  The seats of the pews were wood strips as were the kneelers.

Curved pews.  Note the paintings on the wall – more Stations of the Cross.

I was surprised to see the hammered metal work when the altar cloth was raised!

 

Meet Mona Thrasher – an amazing artist who at the age of 18 with no training painted the Stations of the Cross plus scenes over the entryways.  She did the paintings within three months!  She passed away last year.  

 

 

 

 

On our way out of town, we stopped at the Visitor Center for these photos.

 

 

 

Tonight we have returned to the spot above the Rengling River where we stayed Thursday night.  What a different drive today as the weather was clear and the road was not slick.  I could drive on the dry part until I met another vehicle or pulled over for someone to pass me – then I was back in gooey mud.  Most everyone slows down when they meet you, but we had a couple of pickup trucks that flung mud clear up on the windshield they were traveling so fast.




  

 

 

June 14–Dempster Highway, Day 7–Community Greenhouse

Another dreary, rainy day.  I did hear someone say they had been having very ‘hot’ days so the rain was appreciated.  We stayed in until mid afternoon when we made a stop at the library for Wi-Fi  before going to dinner at the MacKenzie Hotel.  We both ordered the Arctic char.  I had never heard of it, but it was very good – somewhat like salmon.

At 3:45 p.m., it was 38 degrees outside! 
 
Before 9/11, children from outlying areas came to Inuvik for school and stayed with local families.  It was decided flying the children in and out of here was no longer a safe idea so each community now has its own school.  With the drop in the number of students, the local hockey rink was no longer used.  Instead of razing it, they turned it into a community greenhouse.  A tour was given this evening – though we were just let into the building to look around with no tour.  There is a $25 membership fee and each plot is $50 to rent for the growing season.

 

 

The gardens held a variety of veggies and some flowers.

 

 

 

It was good to come back to the camper to get warm!!





 

 

 

 

June 13–Dempster Highway, Day 6 - Inuvik

Rain, rain and more rain!  We had only about 40 miles until Inuvik, but what a ride it was.  These roads are slick when wet so it was slow going.  We saw no semis on the road today – probably just too wet. 

We came upon road construction where they were digging and covering about 2/3 of the road with the pile of dirt.  Probably not a big deal if the road wasn’t mud.  I watched LeRoy drive it – tilting and sliding a bit.  Yea for 4 wheel drive!  I moved a little closer to the dirt pile to get around it not knowing that the dirt wasn’t coming from off the side of the road, but just on the other side of the pile!  I may have knocked a little dirt down into the hole where the men were working on the culvert!  Oops.  Fun times.

We stopped at the Visitor Center where the two women were fun and very helpful. 

 

 

Inuvik is built on permafrost so building precautions must be taken.  Most buildings are up on blocks so the heat from them does not melt the permafrost.  Photos are here: 
http://anitasadventures2012.blogspot.ca/2012/08/august-14-dempster-hwy-day-3-and-inuvik.html

This hanging is made from seal skin

They told us a picnic was being held to honor the elders and we should go.  Due to the rain it was moved to the Ingamo Hall Friendship Center.  The center is the site of many community activities, especially for the children.  We were told the ‘picnic’ began at 1 o’clock, but unfortunately it didn’t begin until 3.  The center does have an interesting story of construction, and it is the largest log building north of the Arctic Circle.

No photo of the outside - it was raining.

We went to the library for Wi-Fi.  It is apparently a good ‘drop your kids off for the day’ site, and they are allowed to run free.  Many places ask you to remove your shoes before entering and provide shelves to leave them at.  This was the sight as we left – I like the pair right in front of the door as I have seen a grandchild or two do this in their younger days.  

The forest fire we saw coming up jumped the highway two days ago.  They are keeping pilot cars handy if they are needed to lead travelers through the smoke.
We are camped at Happy Valley Territorial Park for two nights – $28 a night for electricity.  It is chilly and wet!  LeRoy had to hose off his camper around the door so he could get in.  I have a river of mud on my back bumper.  Weather is to be better Sunday!!