Last weekend my cousin took me to the Palace Grand’s grand re-opening! This was particularly exciting since I had never been in the Palace Grand because it’s been closed for renovations since we moved here!
I didn’t take a picture from the outside, but here’s one from the winter in 2016:
The Palace Grand has a great history. It was originally built here by “Arizona” Charlie Meadows in 1899 using lumber from 2 steamships he bought. It had a saloon in the front and a dance hall behind it. If only these walls could talk! In the 1960’s it was renovated to try to save it, and then in the 1970’s Parks Canada tore it completely down and rebuilt it to the same specifications using whatever could be salvaged.
The Grand Opening this year was after 2 years of renovations, and $6 million dollars, used to modernize the fire suppression, heating, ventilation, and electrical systems, and fix up the foundation on the melting permafrost below it. The event featured the Problematic Orchestra from Whitehorse who performed music for silent films they showed on a big screen behind them. In the lobby, Yukon vendors contributed appetizers and cocktails for the occasion. Here are some phone pics:
The bar in the front area:
Opposite wall:
Old phone on the wall – with just 5 buttons?
And here is the Palace Grand from the upper balcony!
Main floor:
There are two layers of private boxes:
Balcony seating:
View from inside a private box. They seat two.
Lobby decorations:
Some of the fancy foods, featuring all made or grown in the Yukon food:
Here’s the Problematic Orchestra:
Despite being rebuilt, the Palace Grand is said to be haunted. Here are some stories!
It was a fun night out with my cousin! While she was tending bar, and I was snacking on the appetizers, a super nice couple from Toronto came up to me and said they recognized me from my blog! They found my post about Forty Mile and also had recent experiences with cancer and chemo and were really great to chat with! It feels so weird to be recognized from my blog when it feels like I’m just journalling.
Justin Beaver
Look what I got in the mail from our family friends Claudia and Calvin! It’s got a tail that covers my chilly neck too! haha I won’t be cold this winter!
Dead Animals
Often gold miners here find huge mammoth tusks and teeth and bones buried in the permafrost. Recently there were a couple other exciting finds!
Local miner Tony Beets, from the Gold Rush show if you’ve seen it on the Discovery channel, thought he saw a leather jacket in the ground. But it was a caribou! And it is over 50,000 years old, possibly 80,000 years old! For some reason it was buried in the permafrost and stayed frozen in the place for all this time.
The other discovery is a wolf pup! It is a female pup, about 8 weeks old. The experts suspect the den collapsed on this poor pup, 50,000 years ago!! Because it froze into the permafrost, even the eyelashes are still intact!
These animals were just visiting. They’ll be studied more to see what scientists can learn from them, and see if they can figure out how they are related to our modern caribou and wolf species. They may be among the oldest mummified soft tissue ever found!
Here’s more about them:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/mummified-wolf-pup-caribou-yukon-1.4822323
Black Flies
Even though we’re below zero most nights here with heavy frosts, the black flies are relentless! They are different from Ontario black flies. They are more lightweight, although equally as satisfying to crush and kill. They love to land right on your face and eyes and wander around your face. Leaving us like this at the dog park:
Hash
No not that kind of hash!
Jeff likes watching the Food Network and for once they actually had a cooking show on, and not a mind numbing competition! We watched a gal make a Brussels sprouts and bacon hash. I have no idea why, other than maybe I had some vague hope of learning to like Brussels sprouts, but I bought some local sprouts and made it!
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/brussels-sprout-and-bacon-hash-5301483
Chemo
I had blood work done this past week, and luckily my white blood cell count is already back in the range needed to proceed as scheduled for chemo dose #3 on Wednesday. I’m a little apprehensive again, wondering how many attempts until an IV is placed, and thinking about feeling lousy again. But I can do this. Once I get through this one, I’m half done the chemo!
Here’s a fun picture of Hankie before I go (he sits like this every day now!):
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Linda Ertsgaard
Very interesting!! Glad you are up to going to Whitehorse. Half way thru is good. Stay warm. Keep up your wonderful attitude & smile. Love you
Wandering Dawgs
The Grand Hall is really beautiful. So happy you were able to attend the event. Love the Beaver hat! Glad to hear your numbers are good enough for Chemo # 3!
Marie Gillis
So do you like Brussels sprouts now? No amount of bacon could make them palatable to me.
I LOVE Justin Beaver! Did you name him or did he come with the name? I love punny names – there’s a woman online, Jenny Lawson, aka The Blogess, who named her dog Dorothy Barker. I forget what her cats are named. You might want to check her out. She’s decidedly weird (from depression and anxiety, my two faithful companions), but at times she’s so funny she makes you cry. In the good way. 😂🤣😂 (thebloggess.com)