THE SUN IS SHINING!!  We finally have a morning not dreary and raining!  We had our breakfast of eggs and reindeer sausage (leftover form a previous breakfast) and left the cabin.  We walked around Dawson City a bit.  This area is famous for the gold rush in 1898 and in some ways, it hasn't changed much since.  

We drove up to Midnight Dome where the city planned a celebration in the 1890's for the midnight sun on the summer solstice.  But the sun didn't get the schedule of events and set about half an hour before midnight and rose again a couple of hours later.  It didn't stop the party, though.  They have a summer celebration here every year, but they don't wait for midnight.  From Midnight Dome we had a beautiful 360 degree view of the area, with the Klondike River and the City of Dawson below.  We could see the "Top of the World Highway" winding up the mountains across the river.  The sun is out and our moods are better.  We drove back down into town.  

We were walking around and stopped into a grocery store and found a few things we hadn't seen before in the US.  Among the strangest things we saw were cornflakes in chocolate bars and ketchup flavored potato chips.  I'm not sure if we want to try this stuff or not.  (We did later try the ketchup potato chips.  The brand name "Lay's" tasted like French fries; the No Name brand tasted like powdered ketchup)

We walked several blocks from the Information Center to Jack London's cabin and interpretive site on the far side of town.  It felt good to get out and walk again after being in the truck for so long.  We sat in on an interpretive presentation about Dick North and his quest to track the author Jack London's time spent in the Yukon.  Jack London wrote many books, but never an autobiography.  Many people have written about Jack London and his many adventures.  But the year he spent in the Yukon was apparently pivotal in developing his stories.  Jack London's signature was found on the inside of this cabin found decades later out in the Yukon.  The signature has been authenticated.  It is believed he would sit with the others in the Yukon at that time for gold mining or fur trading and on the long winter nights as they told tales around the fire, he was developing his thoughts for his stories.  Dick North has written several books on the life of Jack London.  He is still alive and in his 70's and lives near Dawson City.

We got back to the truck and had lunch, then hit the road.  The sun is still shining (YES!) as we headed south.  We were traveling thru First Nation's Land (Native land) and we weren't sure of their rules on dispersed camping.  Out of respect for the Native land, we found a campground a few hours from Whitehorse, Yukon Terr., our next destination.  At the campground we got out some of our wet gear and laid it out to dry.  We had a tarp and 2 folding chairs I was beginning to worry about mold and mildew.  If we  can stay out of the rain, we'll enjoy the rest of this trip much more.  We woke up around 2am to see if we could spot the Aurora Borealis, but we had a light cloud cover and didn't see much.