2 weeks, 2000 miles: continued (mainly in pictures)

I am tired - I've had no breaks from action-packed activities and sightseeing this week, I got up at 4am today and I got home at midnight - and tomorrow I'm heading out again for 2 more days of camping. I better show you last week though or I’ll never catch up! So this is mainly going to be pictures.

Okay, so when my aunt and uncle picked me up from camp, we drove about 6 or 7 hours up to Dawson City (in Canada). This is Dawson City as you approach it from the mountains:

When you arrive at the city there is no way of driving in. You have to drive onto a ferry which takes you across the river to the city. This is the only way of reaching it. It's a small town (in England terms) of about 2,000 population. But that's pretty huge in Canada terms, it's even more deserted than Alaska! And once, it really was a "city" - it was a huge gold rush town and all the buildings look exactly like they were built in the 1800's (some of them were), and it genuinely feels as though you've gone back in time.

There are a lot of interesting buildings, from "Diamond Tooth Gertie's" gambling hall/bar, to the grocery stores and gift shops, which all fit in with the gold rush era theme. I took pictures of a lot of them, including this one which has a verse by Robert Service (a famous local poet who wrote about life in the gold rush) painted on it. This picture is pretty self explanatory, someone else stole the show from Robert Service's poetry at least:

We went to see a show at the theatre, it was a typical Dawson City show with fiddling and dancing. Actually, pretty much everything was "typical" in Dawson City, everything fit in, even the people.

So we stayed at Dawson City for 2 nights before heading back out on the Demptser highway to the Arctic Circle. I say "highway"... in actual fact the road looked like this the whole way up:

As you can see the road isn't paved. In fact, you can't see the potholes but they're everywhere, and the road was slippery too. It was totally bumpy all the way up and most people lose a tyre or two. We drove slowly so we were okay, but let me tell you, it's a pain in the ass driving for hours: 400 miles up a bumpy highway at only 30 miles an hour. I was already feeling sick at this point. We actually reached the Arctic Circle but missed the sign so I don't have a photo of me with the Arctic Circle sign :-( But we went far beyond it anyway, even into the Northwest Territories (and very few people get to go that far north!). So I do have a photo of me there:

And you can see that it's in the Arctic Circle because there are no trees in the background of that photo - it's tundra. Just to prove how horrible and dirty that highway was, here's the back of the car after driving it:

The car is actually supposed to be bright blue. And that isn't just dust either, it wont even come off with a scraper. It had to be washed twice afterwards.

So, on the way back (and I'm rushing through this and skipping bits - we actually camped for a night in the Arctic Circle - brr!) I was feeling extremely sick. It wasn't carsickness because it started before I got in the car. My head was throbbing, my stomach ached, my throat was sore and I couldn't swallow anything, and I had a fever. I looked at my tonsils in the mirror and it turns out I had tonsilitis... ALL the way home. I tried to sleep most of the way (and it's hours and hours on end of driving, like driving to Scotland and back - twice!). But I did catch some scenery. Here is me trying not to look sick, in front of a glacier:

I put some blusher on before the photo in an attempt to look less like a corpse. I certainly felt like one... But when I got home I took a course of antibiotics so I'm recovering now!

Yesterday we went to a working sled dog kennels! It was amazing! They are cute, friendly, dumb, yet talented dogs.

They all love people. They were all running round and round on their chains and barking, trying to get your attention, and this is what happens when you give it to them:

So, here's the team geared up and ready to go. This was actually the guy's "A-Team" as he called it - his 12 best dogs. These guys will actually be running the great Iditarod race next year so they really are the best of the best:

Here's me about to set of on a ride! Obviously there is no snow in the summer so they can't pull a sled. So to practice they pull this buggy. They are so strong the guy in charge made me keep my foot on the brake while he was harnessing them up, in case they pulled off too soon. Some people have said that "making" the dogs run those long distances in the race is cruel. Well, after visiting a place like this, I can tell you that those people are ridiculous. They don't make the dogs run, they let the dogs run! All they want to do is run! There must have been at least 50 dogs there and when they got the harnesses out, they were all running around in circles, howling and barking and wagging their tails, trying to get picked for the team. And as soon as they're in the harnesses, they are trying to go, go go! They are mental.

They also had puppies, and after the ride we went on a nature trail walk with about 10 of them, as they can't pull a sled unti they're about 7 months old. This one was my favourite:

And with that cute little face, I bid you farewell for tonight. Today I went on a boat trip but I won't blog that, I don't have time. But I can tell you that I did see a humpback whale, sea lions, sea otters, eagles and puffins! Anyway, I'm leaving to go camping for 2 nights tomorrow, and I'll be back on the 8th. So I'll have to update you then!

Goodnight!