August 4, 2014

August 4, 2014

Aimee’s knee is much better, but she is still walking very slowly.  To make it easier to explore this area of Puget Sound, we rent a car this morning.  With it we drive the two hours to Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park in downtown Seattle.  Not expecting much after yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to find a crowded and interesting little museum set in a restored Gold Rush-era hotel.  We watch two films and run through the exhibits that illuminate the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush and Seattle’s major staging role in it.  We heard most of the story before in Skagway, AK but it is still mind boggling what these gold seekers endured to reach the Yukon.  Of the 100,000 only one fifth actually managed to search for gold.  The gold fever was so severe the mayor of Seattle joined in, telegraphing his resignation en-route. Some of the more famous participants were Jack London and John Nordstrom.

On the drive back I started cursing the heavy midday traffic.  Looking closer, I was surprised to discover about one in three cars was from Canada.  Back at the RV park, I did an informal survey and found most of my neighbors are also Canadian, specifically from British Columbia.  In quizzing one talkative neighbor I am shocked to find he lives only a few miles over the border.  Despite the interrogation, I still got no good answer for why he spends the summer here.  Have all these Canadians figured out how to get on the US dole like our southern neighbors from Mexico and Central America?