The Klondike was reputedly the last 'Great gold rush', it was not far from Dawson city that the first Nuggets were discovered in 1896. Within 2 years tens of thousands of prospectors arrived to claim stakes in Dawson area. We arrived just looking for an RV park! Dawson City was not what we expected - in a good way. With a population of less than 2000 we wouldn't really call it a City and it's far from looking like other cities. Back in British Columbia, Barkerville is a ghost gold town turned into a living museum, but Dawson City still looks like an 1890's Gold town but with modern vehicles. It still has dirt roads, boardwalks and historic wooden buildings They still mine for gold here and not for fun but for some as a way of life. The people here are retaining their heritage as old buildings are saved and restored and even the new buildings appear to be from that bygone age. Step inside the Dawson Trading post and it's like going back in time, they still sell everything you need to work your claim in search of gold. The staff at the visitor information centre all wear period costumes and there is a choice of historic tours around town. We found an RV site just outside Dawson. Back in Whitehorse we were surprised to see that the RV park not only had an RV wash but also a pet wash, here in Dawson City the RV site goes a little bit further with its services than most and has free condoms in the Ladies and Gents loos! One of the must do things here is to go to the summit of Midnight Dome mountain to get the view of the Yukon river and Dawson city. There is a hiking trail and a road both leading to the top. After an hour and 20-minute walk up with some extremely steep sections Donna couldn't believe her ears when she heard someone get out of their campervan to say 'It was a tough drive, but I'm glad I did it'. We descended and walked to Crocus bluff then the cemetery (I know how to show Donna a good time) before tasting what the 'Klondike Cream & Candy' parlour had to offer - yum. Second day here we joined one of the town tours which allows access into the 'Red Feather saloon, the old bank and the old post office. Our guide came to Dawson City in the 1980's aged 18 with very little money - lived in a tree house with no modern day conveniences and dug for gold! People still live in cabins here completely off grid and visit the RV parks to use the showers and laundrette - and they dig for gold and hunt! Later we caught the free ferry across the Yukon and strolled down to the 'paddle steamer graveyard'. When the road reached here in the 1950's the demand for paddle steamers moving freight and people came to an end. Once there were 250 steamers on the Yukon. Now there are two preserved ones and a few more in the Dawson Graveyard where they were pulled from the river into dry dock and left to rot. The hulls are still there but the superstructure and funnels have collapsed into a heap. When we visited the restored Klondike paddle steamer in Whitehorse the wheel house, dining rooms and upper decks were closed for further restoration. I tried 'we have come all the way from England - is there no way we can have a peep'. The guide had heard that one before and had obliged and subsequently got into trouble so the answer was no. What he did show us though was a 360-degree tour on a tablet of the closed areas - the tour had been filmed by 'Google street maps' and is supposedly available to view on line. In Dawson city they have a smaller preserved paddle steamer - the Keno. Here was our chance to visit the wheelhouse - not to be though as the entire ship is closed this year whilst a fire prevention (sprinkler) system is installed - tough luck again. Back in Dawson City 'Klondike Cream and Candies' were selling ice cream half price to celebrate National Ice cream day. It was so good yesterday we thought we ought to indulge ourselves and take advantage of the one-day special prices - yum encore. We drove down Bonanza Creek road, another gravel track which leads to where the first Klondike gold find happened. We visited dredge no.4 which is eight stores high and stopped by claim 33 to watch someone learning how to pan gold, lo and behold in their pan of pay dirt there was gold about six Dollars' worth. We had considered hiring pans and shovels to have a go at panning ourselves on a free claim which anyone can try their luck on - but we ran out of time, but there will be other opportunities in Alaska. In the evening we visited 'Diamond Tooth Gerties' gambling hall (she really did exist). We kept away from the roulette, Black Jack tables and the other ways in which you could lose your shirt. We did have a dabble on the one arm bandits but lost all our winnings (one dollar fifty cents). Besides the gambling 'Gerties' puts on three thirty minute shows a night to make you feel you are back in the 1890's - there had to be Can Can girls of course. We caught the first two shows but ducked out on the midnight show as that's past Tilly's bedtime. Great atmosphere with croupiers and barmaids in period costume. There was also some audience participation as men were chosen to don skirts and Can Can - we sat right on the front but I got away without being picked. I did however have Gertie singing to me and ruffling what little hair I have left. Donna was less impressed when a young guy was crooning to her with everyone looking on! We didn't have to worry about reconnecting the electric and gas at 11pm in the dark when we arrived back at the RV park as it wasn't dark, quite the contrary the sun was still shining and the sky was bright blue! One more day here to have a good walk around the rest of this historic town, watch the info centres films about the gold rush, do some shopping, washing, blogging, finances. Finished off with a roast dinner. We were surprised to find one of the gift shops also sold fridges, freezers, cookers and washing machines - people had to drive all the way to Whitehorse to buy these so the gift shop tried stocking them and sales are going well. If you have an old appliance you don't want you take it to the town dump, write on it what's wrong with it and when people need parts to repair their own they go to the dump to hunt down spares from unwanted appliances - well the nearest place for spares is also Whitehorse (a 5 hour drive one way) ! There was a camera crew here today filming in the toilets on the RV park - something to do with a German reality TV show!