Good Deeds on The Dempster

Hi everyone!

We are now in the beautiful Kluane National Park. We sadly and, in my case, tearfully, left Dawson City on Tuesday morning and then spent two relaxing nights at a luxury B&B in Takhini Hot Springs. We arrived in the park early this afternoon.

Can I tell you how exciting it was to watch my amazing wife come in second in the Dawson City women only poker tournament? The $2100 was nice–that is for sure–but I was just so proud of her!

We had a laid back morning after Tel kicked ass in the tournament, and lazed around our B&B until lunchtime. After that, we piled into our SUV and headed across the Yukon river to the Top of the World highway. And trust me, whoever decided this road was a highway certainly took some liberties with the term!

We crossed into Alaska for the second time this trip at Poker Creek, Alaska. This “town” has a population of two–the two American border guards!–and is the highest land border in the US.

Nov 27, '20 - Dec 14, '20 2020/2021 WSOP.com Online Super Circuit Series WSOP.com.

Dawson City Poker bigger your deposit, the Dawson City Poker bigger your bonus. All online casinos have wagering requirements in place; this means any winnings made using your bonus money will only become available after wagering a certain amount. Hint: Don’t join the first casino you look at. Over to Dawson City to find some live Texas holdem poker action in a fun and lively environment. Unfortunately, if you live in Alaska, overall, your options are quite limited when it comes to finding live Texas holdem poker. You’ll have some options available, which we’ve outlined here, yet they aren’t great and your long term.

My folks at the Poker Creek, Alaska border crossing

Canada White Ram Poker Tournaments. Diamond Tooth Gerties, Dawson City. 7 September 2018. Schedule (3) Subscribe to Updates Add to Facebook. This year, they’re expecting up to 20 players, mostly from Dawson City and other Yukon communities. There are lots of regulars, but new players are always welcome, says McCabe. “It’s a fun introduction to poker.” The drink of choice during the tournament is mimosas, made up of champagne and orange juice.

We were going to drive to Chicken, Alaska, but decided to turn back at Boundary, Alaska as the “highway” was under construction, and was in even rougher shape than usual. While on the way to the Canadian border, we ran into two herds of caribou!The next day, we got up early because we knew we wanted to drive up the Dempster highway. The Dempster is the road that leads up past the Arctic circle to Inuvik, NWT. It is an area of spectacular, rugged beauty, untouched by the outside world. While walking to our car, we heard from a friend of our innkeeper that two young men had been stranded on the Dempster, having had three flat tires. They repaired the first one, only to get two more. With no more spare tires, one of them took the two flats and got a ride with a passer-by to Whitehorse, where he had the two tires repaired. The other poor guy stayed with the car, waiting for his buddy to return. We vowed to look for the guy to drive him to his car. And…….120 km up the Dempster, we found him! He was sitting by the side of the road, two spare tires beside him, hoping for a ride back to his car.

Happily, we met Yan, a young man from Quebec who had *kayaked* from Yellowknife to Inuvik with his friend Damien (now waiting with the car on the highway). They took their 1992 Plymouth Reliant, with 350,0000 km on it, down the Dempster, running into nothing but bad luck. First their car was robbed, then the starter broke, and they had to leave the the keys in the ignition permanently. And then, the three flat tires. Yan had left Damien with the car with nothing but bug spray and bear spray, and had taken 36 hours to get to Dawson, get the tire fixed, and get back to the place where we picked him up. He was a really interesting guy, and I really felt he was a bit of a kindred spirit.

Could not imagine a more beautiful place to be stranded!

We drove him another 80 km up the Dempster to Damien. Once there, we gave the two guys all the food that we had in our SUV, as they had been so long without food. And we waited while they changed their tires, and then followed them the 200 km back to Dawson to make sure that they were OK. We all felt really good about this, and were super happy to know that they made it back to Dawson safely.

Good deeds aside, the Dempster was spectacular. The scenery is amazing, and again, the term “highway” is not really appropriate….it is a rough, bumpy, pot-hole filled gravel road, with gigantic sharp rocks jutting out all over the place. But the starkness, the remoteness….they were amazing. And….we ran into a herd of wild horses!! Well, we did not run into them–we saw them from a distance. We were about 60 km from the Arctic Circle, the sub-Arctic terrain, glacial lakes and snow covered land were completely different from the other places we have visited in the Yukon. Another highlight on a trip filled with awesome experiences.

The Dempster Highway....heading to the Arctic Circle.

I have to tell you that I was extremely sad to leave Dawson. Crying sad. I *hated* leaving and wanted to spend more time there in a way that I cannot describe. There is just something about the place…..I am under its spell (and will be writing a blog post entirely about this spell when I get back home).

After leaving Dawson, we spent one and a half days at a ranch in Takhini, only leaving the property for lunch on our second day. The grounds were beautiful, full of dogs and horses and, not surprisingly, more Quebeckers! We felt sooooo relaxed leaving there this morning.

And now we are in Haines Junction, inside the beautiful Kluane National Park, a gorgeous UNESCO World Heritage Site. We head back to Whitehorse tomorrow morning and the four of us fly home on Saturday. If I do not write again, I will definitely write the above mentioned post on the spell of the Yukon when I return to Ottawa.

Bye for now, and thanks for reading!

Mel

Lake Kathleen inside the spectacular Kluane National Park

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On Friday I drove 469 miles from Spokane, WA to Shelby, MT. I stopped at Chewelah Casino about a hour from Spokane and lost $200 without much effort. The casino is pretty small and only had one table open when I was there.
One thing that I noticed across Washington that I don't remember seeing in other states was that it seemed like every parking lot had a shed looking coffee spot with a drive thru. These places were tiny but always super busy, seems like a cheap business model with a high mark up.
I drove most of the day with a few stops for food and fuel. The place I had lunch was this Amish convenience store that also had a sandwich shop in it. The bread is baked fresh there and all the veggies looked super fresh. I had a turkey sandwich on a garlic cheese bun that was excellent. Fresh baked goods are my weakness.
I got to Glacier Peaks Casino quite late and found out that the poker game only runs until 10:30 PM which seems really odd on a Friday night but luckily the cashier sold me a chip. I'm not sure why but I had to sign a release form saying that I had received my $1 chip lol.
Here's where I wish I had paid closer attention to my trip plans, turns out my hotel was about 70 minutes away when I thought it was 5 minutes away, whoops. I eventually got there and passed out from exhaustion from a long day on the road. That hour drive from the casino was tough as I thought I was basically done driving for the night.
Chips collected 96 (57 for my collection)
Total miles - 6902
Gas - $393.87
Hotel - $576.45
Food - $720.68
Miscellaneous - $18.95
Souveniers - $134.73
Gambling +945.10 Canadian
-$76.35 American
$25FP = $23.75 Canadian
$85FP = $99.80 American
$100MP = $40.00 American
Poker -2488 Canadian
Poker +$78 AmericanOn Saturday I made the much shorter 181 mile drive to Havre, MT. I stopped for breakfast at this little home cooking spot, I like these over chains when I travel as I find you end up with higher quality food. The old guy next to me was very chatty and told me how he was a fighter pilot in I think the Vietnam war... don't quote me on that. He also had been flying commercial planes for most of his life, I was happy when he said he doesn't fly anymore because his hands were very shaky. He was in his mid 80's but was talking like he was still a pilot. He told me they won't let you fly after 65 which made me feel better lol.
I made my way to Havre, when I got to town I went to my hotel and I was able to check in early. This was a nice hotel to end the trip as it was a 3.5 star hotel, very comfy. It was the cheapest hotel in town and still wasn't a bad price. I went to the casino and found out that poker wouldn't start until later that night. I won $230 while playing the old Black Rhino game. I don't know why but I always have to throw $20 when I see one of the old style black rhino games, I mostly see the revamped one now. I hit all five scatters while betting I think $0.45 for $250.
I went back to the room and took a nap. I then went to the poker game. I wrote about that experience earlier in this thread here https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/gambling/trip-reports/29442-dawson-city-yukon-tr/14/#post607448
After the game I stopped at this nicer looking Italian restaurant across the street from my hotel. They were closing in 30 minutes but were happy to make me something to go. I got the sausage spaghetti on the waitresses recommendation. I'm not sure what she loved about it but I wouldn't have ordered that again. It tasted like they threw some Ragu on noodles, at least the sausage was good.
Chips collected 97 (58 for my collection)
Total miles - 7083
Gas - $415.75
Hotel - $645.11
Food - $763.95
Miscellaneous - $18.95
Souveniers - $144.73
Gambling +945.10 Canadian
+$153.65 American
$25FP = $23.75 Canadian
$90FP = $104.90 American
$100MP = $40.00 American
Poker -2488 Canadian
Poker +$92 AmericanI have nothing against Ragu until I'm paying $25 for pasta then I expect a better tasting sauce.On Sunday I checked out of my hotel and headed over to PJ's where I was told they play poker in the afternoons. I got there and found out that I had about a hour before the game would start so I went into the restaurant half and had a bacon blue cheese burger. It is weird, I am not a big fan of blue cheese but if you put it on a burger with bacon I find that the flavors mix really well together. Am I crazy or is there anything that you are like that with? P.S I know I am crazy in general lol.
The game started with me and four other players, it was a dealers choice game but everyone was playing Omaha Hi. As the game filled out one guy would choose Hold'em, I was choosing Crazy Pineapple which I love to play and everyone else was sticking with Omaha Hi. It was a fun group with mostly players between 50-75, 2 guys I would say around 35-40 and me bringing down the average age (26). The whole table was chatty and the players weren't very good, oh by the way it was a 2-10 spread game meaning you could raise/bet a max of 10 when it was your turn. I won $110 and left after about 90 minutes as I had decided to make a detour on my way home with a stop in Calgary first. It was about 338 miles to Calgary.
I crossed the border with no troubles which is always nice and I was on my way to Lethbridge. For people who follow the chip of the day thread you know that I have been to Casino Lethbridge back when I was living in Calgary. However they were still using Casino ABS Lethbridge chips when I visited in 2014 when they had changed their name something like 12 years earlier. They finally got proper chips about 2 years ago so I wanted to pick up a proper Casino Lethbridge chip for my collection since I haven't ever been to Casino ABS. I stopped in and won $105 while collecting my replacement chip for my collection. I then made my way to Calgary where I had booked a hostel for the night.
Here is another weird chip scenario that I needed to replace. One of the first 10 or so chips I collected when I was 19 was from Elbow River Casino in Calgary. I hadn't really worked out my rules for collecting yet, which are that I must personally collect the chip in the casino. Well back then I was in Calgary to play poker for a week with a friend and as we drove by he offered to jump out of the car and grab me a chip which seemed fine to me at the time. Now it is a big no no but at the time I didn't think anything of it. I also couldn't grab a chip from there when I lived in Calgary for a short time because I actually dealt there for about two months since nobody would rent me an apartment without a job so I got a job PT there as I had previous dealing experience. Since I dealt there I obviously couldn't replace the chip and then for six months after I quit I wasn't allowed to gamble there because of gaming regulations. Then I moved away from Calgary. For these reasons I went to Elbow which happened to be about 2 blocks from the hostel and I grabbed a new chip for my collection that I could call my own since I had collected it under proper conditions, again yes I know that I am nuts. (I won $80)
I got to the hostel. checked in and spent the next two hours chatting with a few of the people staying there. Mostly we were just exchanging travel stories about our current trips and then about my trip that I am taking in the new year.

Dawson City Poker Tournaments

Chips collected 100 (61 for my collection)
Total miles - 7421
Gas - $439.80
Hotel - $671.94
Food - $792.14
Miscellaneous - $18.95
Souveniers - $144.73
Gambling +1130.10 Canadian
+$153.65 American
$25FP = $23.75 Canadian
$90FP = $104.90 American
$100MP = $40.00 American
Poker -2488 Canadian
Poker +$202 AmericanI have made the 851 mile drive from Calgary to Winnipeg quite a few times and most times by the end of the drive I regret doing it in one drive. I left Calgary early and headed for home. There isn't much to tell you about the drive as it is just a long flat drive through the prairies. I ate a lot of junk food and listened to sports radio for most of the day. I stopped at Casino Regina for two reasons, they have the best smokies that I have ever had, they are just about the only good thing that that stinky town of Regina has to offer and second I usually have some FP on my card when I show up. By the way the reason that I dislike Regina is because of their expensive hotels, inconsistent poker games although I have been told they have been better lately and because my hometown football team and theirs are bitter rivals, so basically I hate Regina. Back to the smokies... they changed the smokies that they sell!!! I was so sad, I bought one and was very disappointed by them. I also for some reason had no FP on my account, I can't remember the last time that happened. I played for a little bit before getting back on the road and won $70.
The rest of the drive was uneventful, I got home around 6 am in the morning and crashed (sleep not the car) for the next day or so.
Chips collected 100 (61 for my collection)
Total miles - 8272
Gas - $517.68
Hotel - $671.94
Food - $822.09
Miscellaneous - $18.95
Souveniers - $144.73
Gambling +1200.10 Canadian
+$153.65 American
$25FP = $23.75 Canadian
$90FP = $104.90 American
$100MP = $40.00 American
Poker -2488 Canadian
Poker +$202 AmericanPokerGrinderOverall this trip was amazing! For starters the Yukon portion of the trip was one of my favorite places that I have ever visited. The people were amazing, we made a bunch of friends and I would definitely go back to Dawson City. The accommodations and food were solid up there. The poker tournaments were beyond soft and really well run by a great staff. Some of the dealers were a little weaker but they were eager to learn, and the veteran dealers and poker bosses were very knowledgeable and knew how to properly run a poker room and tournament series. Of course the toe! Lol who could forget that disgusting toe, I will upload some pictures tomorrow and post them here.
I also really enjoyed my week in the states. Seattle is amazing, Spokane was fun and although the poker sucked in Montana it was still a beautiful part of the country to be in.

Dawson City Poker Tournament

My total mileage for this trip was 8272 or just over 13,000 kilometers. I know Romes is going to say something like 'what's a kilometer?'. My total expenses for the trip were about $2175 US or about $2800 Canadian. Between poker and sides I was down about $645 US or $830 Canadian. I know Romes is also going to say something about me combining those two but they are broken up on the previous post. In total the trip cost me $2820 US or $3630 Canadian, I am not upset with that at all. I knew it be an expensive trip where expenses would be high and I was ok with that, I am glad Eric and I did the trip.
Well that is the end of this TR, now I have to go get my new chips cleaned and photographed before Doc starts getting on my case for not posting any new chip of the days.
Thanks to everyone who followed my TR and thank you as well for those who posted as sometimes when I do these I feel like I am talking to myself when people are just reading and not responding.I forgot to post this yesterday, I was thinking it would be easier to write a blog for my trip to Asia in January, does anyone know how that works exactly?Ayecarumba

I forgot to post this yesterday, I was thinking it would be easier to write a blog for my trip to Asia in January, does anyone know how that works exactly?

I think it's like a post, but just in a different section of the site. You can test it out before you go, and see if you prefer it.There was an article recently in the AAA magazine by a driver doing the whole Trans Alaskan Highway. He took a side trip to Dawson and wrote about the toe. I tried to look for it, but couldn't locate it. However, I did find an article that the toe was stolen this summer. (even stranger, the bar keeps back-ups).