More adventures with Mom and Julie

The adventures continued this week with our visitors – my mom and my sister Julie.

Jeff & Julie at the midnight dome

Chicken, Alaska

On Wednesday, I took Mom and Julie over to Chicken, Alaska. Mom had been there on a bus trip with her mom twenty years ago or so. Julie wasn’t sure what to expect.

We took the Top of the World highway over to the Alaska/Yukon border.

Chicken only has about a dozen year round residents. It is completely off the grid. Even the highway closes in the winter. In the summer it is packed with tourists either on their way to Dawson City, or Tok and Fairbanks.

The Top of the World highway is quite a decent gravel road. But the road from the Eagle cut off in Alaska, down to Chicken, can be an adventure. I knew to pick a dry day, because the road can be treacherous in the rain. It is narrow with many hairpin turns. The road was in good shape for us though, with a big construction project in Chicken where it looks like they are replacing the bridge.

We headed right for downtown Chicken for a bit of shopping and then lunch at the cafe.

I had a pretty incredible chili dog with bison meat in the chili and their home fries on the side. Julie had their famous chicken pot pie and potato salad. Mom wasn’t as satisfied with the bbq chicken plate, but at least she wasn’t as full as Julie and I were.

After the leisurely 3 hour drive to get to Chicken, Julie wasn’t sure at first if it was worth it. Luckily, Julie is fond of chickens.

We went to the three stores in town after lunch and wandered around a bit.

Chicken is also a gold mining community. There is an old dredge here and you can pan for gold in the troughs, or go out on the creeks.

After a couple hours, we headed back and had a beautiful drive back to Dawson City.

And still, they haven’t seen a single bear or moose. So weird!

Fireweed – Yukon’s official flower

Out and about in Dawson City

Triple J’s

Maximillions

Ice cream cone at Klondyke Cream and Candy

Jeff loves having 3 women in his house

Julie trying on my parka

Julie on the antler chair in the Commissionaire’s house

Ready for the shaker box demonstration at the Dawson City museum

Judge Julie presiding

Julie thinks I have enough photos of her

Jack London Grill

Julie sampling the sunglass selection at the free store at the dump

Gold Panning

Mom and Julie got their first taste of the ol’ gold fever at Claim 33.

We visited the Discovery Claim on Bonanza next.

Today Julie and I took the tour of the Goldbottom Mine and went panning again. It was a cloudy day when we caught our bus tour early this morning

Our tour guide, Brenda, showed us their active cut where they were shut down for maintenance, and then showed us their gold recovery and cleanup process. 

I was the only one of the tour to find any gold, and it was just a speck, but I brought it home in a vial to proudly show it off!