One more. It got even better later on but we were too lazy to get out of bed to take pics. And yes...we can see them from bed. Windows behind our heads and to our left covering most of the walls.
posted by Scott at 8:26 AM
Sunday, September 24, 2006
One more. It got even better later on but we were too lazy to get out of bed to take pics. And yes...we can see them from bed. Windows behind our heads and to our left covering most of the walls.
About Me
- Name: Scott
- Location: Dawson City, Yukon, Canada
Living in the bush 64 degrees north gives you a sense of reality that is very different than that of the south.
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7 Comments:
Wow. Very cool. I've only really seen the Aurora once on a trip to Geraldton, which is the farthest north I've been so far. When we come to visit (we'd seriously like to!) hopefully we'll get a good show.
Phollower: It is cool. We're actually on the upswing towards the peak of the 12 year cycle of aurora. Some scientists predicted that either this year or next we would get more and more sightings and in 2011 it will be spectacular. If you come to Dawson anytime in the fall or winter you are pretty much guaranteed to see them, provided you can stay up late enough. But be warned...Dawson is hard to leave. It's one of a kind. We'll never move away from the north.
I imagine Dawson is hard to leave. Between the beautiful scenery and the fact that there aren't any roads...
We'd love to come and stay for a while. I mentioned the housesitting idea to The Spousal Unit and she thought that sounded great.
I just asked mapblast.com for driving directions to Dawson City and it estimated nearly 3400 miles (that's about 5450 km to you) and about 56 hours (that's about 56 hours to you) of driving time. HOLY CRAP! We'd have to drive for nearly 2 1/2 days non-stop. Wikipedia says you have a nice gravel runway airport though. I wonder how the dogs would do on a plane...
Phollower: I didn't say no roads, did I? What I meant to say was no paved roads. Except the highway from Whitehorse, that is. Dawson is way too far to drive to, anyways. What you need to do is make friends with someone up here (well on your way) who can come pick you up in Whitehorse(we have a giant van-dogs: no problem). It's about a 7 hour drive each way from there so that's not so bad. And sometimes you can get cheap plane tickets into Whitehorse, depending on where you fly in from (edmonton or vancouver). And you just visit your vet before you fly and he'll give you sedatives for your dogs. I'm off to work, have a great day.
I was only kidding about the no roads part. I figured there were few though.
Whitehorse is 7 hours away and that's pretty much the closest "big" city, huh? Wow. That must've taken some adjustment. I could definitely get into that idea.
What do you guys do for a living up there? Don't tell me if it's too creepy having a total stranger ask you this sort of stuff. I won't be offended. I'm just wondering if you moved up there for work or if you went on a whim and found work when you got there. It's a really great concept either way.
Phollower: no worries about the questions. In case you haven't noticed, this isn't a very private blog-we made it for our families to keep in touch and see what we're doing-they never comment though.
So-Scott's a high school teacher. We were living in Edmonton (Alberta) and knew we didn't want to be in the city anymore so he just applied for a job up here (it was the northernmost posting in the Yukon)and got it. Teachers make great money up here. In fact, anyone who is employed with the government makes great money. I left a crappy management job in Edmonton so that was no big loss. Now I do all sorts of things: mostly volunteer work-I run the Breakfast Program at the school and volunteer at the Humane Society (not as much as I'd like, though). For paid work currently I work for the local vet as a surgical assistant-and no, I had no previous experience-experience is hard to get up here so they train you-it's not really any money though. I also do literacy tutoring (much more money)and occasional subbing at the school. Mostly though, I sit on my computer trying to get my university education via distance ed-6 courses currently. We also plan to work for the ambulance service up here at some point-they totally train you.
There are lots of jobs up here if you know where to look. They always need substitute teachers at the school (very small school-250 kids from K-12-some classes have as few as 6 kids, which is good pay-better pay if you have a degree of some kind-I don't yet. But I can sub as much as I'd like-I've said no probably 10 times in the last 2 weeks! In the summer, there are mining jobs-some people make up to seven grand a month out there in the gold fields. Not our cup o' tea, though (we like having summers off). And we do have stores-two little grocery stores and a home hardware. There are lots of gift shops and stuff open in the summer (all closing now). Oh and Parks Canada is a popular job in the summer, also. We have a ridiculous amount of bars (but not a lot of drunks )here too so there's always work there.
Whitehorse being so far away does take getting used to. But we go now about 4 times a year-we try to coincide those trips with meetings, doctor's appointments, etc so we get some money back for them (they pay you to go anywhere here because we are so isolated). The roads have nearly always been good-we only had road closures twice last winter. You get used to it though and in the end, you just save lots of money because there isn't really anyplace to "blow" your money (except online). We live very comfortably here. We love every minute of it and will never move back to civilization.
Dawson is a wonderful community. There is fun stuff to do nearly every weekend (they have to keep people busy so they don't get cabin fever)even in the winter. People are sooo nice-you never end up screwed. Car's stuck? Just ask somebody driving by to pull you out! stuff like that. If we don't get cell phones (big controversy here right now) Scott and I may stay forever. We are looking for a property to build a cabin on-hopefully across the river which is cool because there is no bridge. There's a ferry that runs from break up to freeze up and then when there is enough ice they build an "ice bridge" to get over there. So you're stuck for about 2 weeks on either end. The road across the river runs to Chicken, Alaska but is closed about 7 or 8 months of the year.
So, in conclusion-Dawson Rocks! And though we don't really want the population to get any bigger, it's hard not to try to convince people to come up-we are so living the good life. I wish everyone could be as happy as we are but people get so into the materialistic lifestyles that come with living in the Western world-it's not like that here so much but we're not the hicks some outsiders think we are.
Holy cow. This is already too long but I have so much more to say about the wonders of living in the Canadian north. There's something to be said for a town where, in the winter, instead of cars (well, cars too) you see snowmobiles and dogsleds in the streets (we actually drive our Skidoo into work in the winter. Did I mention Dawson has the only casino in the Yukon?! Diamond Tooth Gerties-it's great.
Anyways: Enough already! But if you and your wife have any more questions, I'd be happy to answer them. I promise each answer won't be this long-winded...okay, well I can't make promises I may not keep but you'll have to take your chances. lol.
S&L- That sounds just excellent.
So, you'd think of leaving if cell phones make it to Dawson? I have a bad feeling they're going to be everywhere (and I do mean EVERYWHERE) before long. They'll be tough to escape but I get your point.
It sounds like someone really could up and move to Dawson and find a way to get by without too much trouble. If you had told me this 10 years ago I'd probably be living down the street. But I'm very happy with Sylvia and our lives here, although we both LOVE the idea of visiting and housesitting for a couple months over the summer. If you guys generally have summers off we could sit outside, drink and play boardgames at midnight. That would be excellent.
And I'm enjoying reading about Dawson and your lives there so much that long-winded = good.
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