About 15 hours after returning from Red Dog, I was on my way to the Dawson City Music Festival in Canda. Many friends from Alaska were going and had already left town, but I met up with Jeremy and Dianna in Tok on Thursday night to complete the drive over the Top of the World Highway on Friday. The festival started on Friday and went through Sunday night. We weren't sure how long it would take because the Top of the World Highway is a dirt/rock road that is only open in the summer. One thing we were in agreement on is that we wanted to stop in Chicken, Alaska, on the way. Who couldn't stop in a town named Chicken? First order of business was to find a bathroom so in the Chicken Poop we went.
Next order of business was the gift shop to buy some Chicken paraphenilia, where they had an air compressor, so we solved a small drama with my car tire running low on air, and we also found a list of facts about Chicken:
Not quite ready to leave we stopped in the Chicken Saloon to have a drink amongst I don't even know how many hats hanging from the walls and ceiling.
Our next and last stop was getting our pictures taken in the Chicken cut-outs. Chicken mushing!!
Back to the highway, which was rainy, and therefore muddy. Too bad because it seemed like the drive had high potential for gorgeous views on a less cloudy day.
In no time at all, we were at the border crossing, which we all made it through without any problems. Whew! Not that we were worried, but somehow crossing a border always makes me a little nervous.
In Canada, the roads improved, and we rolled into Dawson City by late afternoon. Well, almost. To get to Dawson City from Alaska, you have to take a ferry across the Yukon River.
The ferry doesn't hold too many vehicles...
...and there were a lot of people coming to town for the music festival, so we had to wait in line for a while. Those RVs took up WAY too much valuable car and truck space on each ferry crossing.
After crossing, we set up camp at Guggieville, which is kind of like a KOA campground. We knew there were gong to be lots of people and decided to go with the insurance of a reserved camp site, which Guggieville offered. The site left a lot to be desired, but we weren't there much, so it didn't really matter.
After setting up camp, we headed to the festival to see what was happening. It didn't take us long to find fellow Fairbanksans and a few other friends from Delta Junction.
It was raining, and we knew the forecast wasn't the best, but you never know if you can trust the forecast, right? Unfortunately, it was right this time. It rained the ENTIRE weekend. Ugh! We all quickly adjusted though, and all of the music was indoors, so it wasn't so bad. I thought I would throw in a few band shots for those of you who are into that sort of thing:
Snailhouse and Bell Orchestre
Justin Rutledge and Basia Bulat
Done Gone String Band
During the day, there were three venues around town that had bands playing, and then at night everyone gathered at the Dawson City baseball field to see the evening shows under the big top, which was set up in the outfield.
The infield contained the beer garden and was more like a giant pond filled with drunk people.
The festival ended Sunday Night with all of the singers on stage at once for a grand finale.
On Monday morning it was time to get in the car and head back to Fairbanks. Tom and Melissa were celebrating their anniversary and extended their return trip by canoeing the Yukon River to Eagle, Alaska.
We gave them a mini send-off and then hit the road. After three days of music which didn't end until about 2:00am, it was hard to spend the whole day in the car on Monday driving back to Fairbanks, but it helped that the weather was much-improved. Once again we made it through what has to be the most desolate U.S. border crossing...
...and returned to the winding, dirt roads of Alaska.
My favorite views on the way back were of the Forty Mile River.
Hopefully that's a float trip that can be lined up for the future!
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