Departing at 9am on Friday morning, we picked up a hitchhiker somewhere just outside of Whitehorse. Normally I like to pick them up because they are typically interesting people and he was also going to Dawson, so I hoped for some interesting conversation for the long ride. This one was a dud. Once past a few initial comments about where are you from, he then fell asleep and spent the next 5 hours with his head hanging to one side, drooling. Nice.
The road conditions from Whitehorse to Dawson City were pretty darn good, nice highway, a few light showers and then we sprung into Dawson where the action was, and hot dry sun. We stopped at the tourist info to see what was up and where to camp. I had done next to planning for this trip, so needed a bit of info. We were directed across the river to a couple of choices, a hostel with tent sites or the goverment campground (where alcohol was under a 72 hour ban for the weekend). We chose the hostel tenting. It was the weirdest version of a campground I have ever been on. Basically it consists of a few tables thrown into the woods, and if your're lucky you might get a place to park your car somewhere close to where you camp, and it may or may not be on a road. They directed us where we could squat, and informed me that they wouldn't put anyone else in front of me so I could get out if need be. Apparently that message did not get passed on to the next shift and I ended up with two people parked in front of my car, so I was blocked off.
We settled in and unpack somewhat, had a beer and then headed over to the "city". One must take the little ferry 
back and forth across the river. We opted to walk as the lineups were long for drivers, but they could carry all of the walk-ons. The walking was hot, dry, and dusty (blasted contact lenses!!!) and the ferry got old quick. It landed at an ever changing dirt ramp that a little back hoe pushed around for hours on end...not quite sure what that is all about and why they don't have something a little more permanent considering that the ferry runs 24 hours a day until freeze-up. Anyhow...once across the ferry, we set out looking for some supper. We managed a bite at a local restaurant, good enough food, delicatessen style. After supper and some shopping we went back to the campsite to unload and have a few beer before heading over to the festival for some music. The clouds had other plans...they opened up and POURED on us, huge fat drops. There I am, in a long skirt too, and A.'s jeans are soaked as well. I did manage to haul out two of those plastic ponchos so we were able to cover up somewhat as it was pissing rain by then...standing waiting for the ferry, across on the ferry and all the way up the hill to our campsite. We then sat in the car and drank while our clothes dried out before heading back over to hear some music.
Recalling what my friend T. had told me about the setup, we figured we would just take our own beer and sit on the park banks and listen to the music. I didn't care as much about seeing them, just wanted to hear and hang out. Um. no.
They changed their setup this year so that every inch of the park (minus the cratered dirt pile outside their gate) was inside of a fence, and they checked all bags and purses for liquor. Ok...fuck. now what do we do with our alcohol. If it was just a couple of beers, we could just drink or throw them away but I had also brought a mickey and damned if I was throwing it all away. Then we checked on the situation with tickets - all night passes sold out and the day passes didn't really net you much, only access to kids stuff. Weekend passes were available for $95...um, no.
We could hear the music already and it sounded like some vaudville kids show...then it changed to something screechy and out of tune, so we decided to head down to the river and drink our beer...we were not alone there...heh heh.
I was exhausted by that point after hoofing it all around Dawson City and driving all day, so we just decided to head back to camp and drink a few beers there and turn in for the night...what was decieving was the daylight - Dawson sunset was still about 11:55pm...so there we are, walking against the crowd towards the ferry wondering why the hell we came if we weren't going to listen to the music...but tomorrow was another day...
Getting back to our campsite, we discovered a truck parked in front of us and made a comment about them leaving their coolers outside...not knowing he was inside, and then if he didn't' hear us walking and talking right by his head, he sure heard my car's panic alarm(horn) going off as I fished my keys out of my purse...damn clicker...hit that button all the time, I feel like the boy who cried wolf...
So there we sat in the woods once again as things had dried off, and there was a pack of kids up on the bank where their parents were attempting to put up their accomodations for the night, looking like it was their first time tenting as they hauled the crisp new tent out of its packaging...sigh...even though they weren't speaking english, we could hear their frustration...and their children that were clearly overtired as they whined away...no need for translation. Thankfully I brought my earplugs or there could have been trouble...heh heh...settled in my cozy hammock and off to la la land I went.
