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What is the book "To Dixon for a Vacation"? A travel diary? A memoir? Journalism? As the literary critic and author of the afterword to the books by Yu. Smuula ("A Writer on the Road"), Yu. Surovtsev writes, "A diary is a vivid, pictorial and lyrical confession, an explanation of people, events, oneself. A diary is the key to one's own life, which the writer hands to the reader."

The book "To Dixon for a Vacation" is not just a traveler's sketches. It is a complex and multilayered work in which the personal experiences of the author intertwine with historical events significant not only for the North but for all of Russia. Margarita Bakhireva shares her impressions from a journey on a steamer along the Yenisei River to Dixon and reflects on the fates of people connected to these places—Chelyuskinites, Decembrists, explorers, and conquerors of the North.

The book features travel sketches filled with picturesque descriptions of the northern nature, as well as extensive historical material related to the heroic events of the past. These materials are closely intertwined with the personal history of the author, whose childhood was spent in the North and Siberia, adding a special emotional depth to the text.

It turns out that modern youth do not know who the "Chelyuskinites" are, and will soon completely forget (if they know at all) about the Decembrists (contemporaries in age to the current youth), who hoped: "A great deed will be accomplished, and we will be proclaimed heroes of the century..." In some way following the call to "gather together the materials where we were the first," there was a desire to tell about our heroic past, the heroes—romantics of the socialist idea, for as one of them, Captain Voronin, said: "It is honorable, not shameful, to have great people in our past and to take an example from them..."

This book becomes a kind of bridge between the past and the present, helping to preserve the memory of significant events and people who shaped our world, and reminding us of the importance of heroic deeds and ideals that inspire future generations. "To Dixon for a Vacation" is not just reading; it is an invitation to reflect on what it means to be part of a great country with a rich history and culture.