Dawson City is a super unique, quirky, and fun town! We pulled in at about 7 pm and headed to check into our campground which was right in the city - which meant we could walk to anywhere we wanted to go in the city.
We made dinner and headed out to the Ice Cream shop. The shop closed at 9 pm, and we barely made it in time. The kids enjoyed their ice cream while we looked over the Yukon River.
After that, we walked back to the campground, and it really seemed like there were no people out and about. It was a little creepy at first. And I think the fact that it was still super bright out at 9:30 p.m. added to that!
At this point, the kids just stayed back at the RV, and we headed out with Jake and Megan to check out the bar scene in Dawson City. At first, we weren't sure if anywhere was open. But we saw a bunch of people coming out of Gerties, so we stopped to ask, and they said they were open until 1 am, and the other bar in town was open until 2 am.
Gerties
We opted to stop in at Gerties and check it out. You needed to buy a pass to get into Gerties. It was $20 Canadian, and they told us it was good for the year. We were happy to pay for it since we also knew we could watch their famous CanCan show!
We got a few drinks, grabbed a table, and waited for the show to start. The show consisted of the main lady singing various songs, and once in a while, a guy would join her or do some songs on his own as well.
The CanCan girls also came out multiple times to perform. The show was entertaining and made you think about what it must have been like when the golddiggers would come into town after weeks of digging to enjoy a show like this.
I think the show lasted about 40 minutes or so, and at the end, all the performers came out so you could take pictures with them.
Once the show was done, we played a little blackjack before heading in for the night. The crazy thing was that when we walked out at 11:50 pm, it was still bright outside! We visited Dawson City at the beginning of June, and the sun was setting at 12:30 and rising again at about 3:30 am!
Cheechakos Bakeshop
The next day, we got up and got moving by 10 a.m. so we could head to the Cheechakos Bakeshop. The other day, we saw a sign on the bakery door that said they were closed since they had sold out, so we figured we needed to get there early.
It was a good thing we did, as they were almost out of their pecan sticky buns and scones when we got there!
We got a few sticky buns, scones, and a breakfast sandwich and sat at the outdoor picnic tables.
Information Center
After that, we went to the information center to get some tips on things to do for the day. The city information desk and the Parks Canada desk were there.
The city information people gave us a bunch of information, maps, and tips on what to do. The one that immediately stuck out to us was panning for gold! They let us borrow six pans and gave us directions on where to go.
It was also recommended by the Parks Canada people that we download their app and follow their tour on the road we would take to get back to where we panned for gold.
All of this was free, so we knew we wanted to do it!
Parks Canada also gave us recommendations on different paid tours and things we could do. Even though we had a Parks Canada pass, there was an entry fee or tour fee for everything they did.
However, they did have a free self-guided tour booklet you could take to walk around down and do your tour.
They also had the Explorer books for the kids to take and work on. The kids got through some of the books, but not all of them since not everything was open yet.
There was also a movie playing in the visitor center about the steam boats that would pass through, so we stopped to watch that before heading out to explore.
Self-Guided Walking Tour
We started doing the self-guided walking tour but quickly learned it wasn't going to work for the kids. We didn't disagree - a lot of the information was just about what the building used to be and who owned it.
I am guessing that if you took their paid guided tour, they would also include a lot of great stories and information.
We decided to stop with the tour and instead headed back to the RV to get the trucks and head out on some gold panning adventures.
National Park Gold Panning Tour
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