Day 5, Friday, July 19 – Skagway
Well! Skagway did NOT disappoint, and was my favorite
stop of all! I bet it was Brian’s too, but I don’t want to speak for him. We
had heard from others that the Whitepass Railroad scenic train ride was really
beautiful, and we were going to do that. But Brian tried to book it online at
the start of our cruise, but it was sold out on their website. Our cruise staff people still had seats available, but they wanted $150 per person. Seemed steep
for a two-hour ride! Plus, our weather had been so overcast and misty, we
wondered if we’d even be able to see anything on a train ride to a mountain
pass. We decided to wait until we arrived to see what deals we could find in
port.
The train ride was still available, and for only $130.
But that still seemed like a lot, especially considering the weather. We spent
a looong time discussing our options, and finally decided to book another
minibus tour instead. The one we booked went over the Whitepass summit, and
onward into Yukon Territory for a six hour tour! It had stops where we could
get out and take pictures along the way, and it included lunch at a musher camp
with husky dogs and a museum. All for $110 each. Still kinda spendy for the
day, huh? But it was truly one of my favorite days ever! One best part was that
the SUN CAME OUT!! Yay!!
We had a couple of hours in Skagway before our tour
started, so we took a city bus to the far end of town and walked up the hill to
the old Gold Rush Cemetery. That was interesting. There was an information
plaque at the front of the cemetery, telling who some of the famous people
were… an outlaw nicknamed Jefferson “Soapie” (he was a conman who sold lots of miracle cures and fishoil medicines, which is where he got his nickname) and the lawman who shot him but
then also died, named “Reid.” According to a tourguide in the cemetery, neither
of them were the most honorable characters. But Reid has a nearby waterfall
named after him, which we hiked to, and which was very pretty! Then we walked
back into town, because the bus that brought us out there never came back, and
we didn’t want to be late for our tour. Lots of steps for the fitbit!
So, for our excursion… we left Skagway, driving up the
road that follows along the pathway the train takes, but on the opposite side
of the valley. All the way up, it was sooo foggy, we could hardly see the train
tracks straight across from us, or anything else! We got to the summit in the
fog and didn’t even stop – there was nothing to see. I was starting to feel a
bit disappointed, even though there’s not much to be done about the weather. I
whispered a little prayer and told Heavenly Father, I know it’s a small thing,
but it would be sooo nice if we could get a little bit of sunshine today, so we
could see this beautiful country. Less than half an hour later, we passed over
the boarder into British Columbia, and the mist and fog cleared up and the sun
started shining! It was sunny and clear and gorgeous, all afternoon until we
descended that pass back into Skagway. That was a sweet little answer to my
prayer!
We saw some of the most majestic mountains and lakes
and countryside I’ve even seen. It was just spectacular!! Our tour guide was
fantastic! His name was Bill, and he said he is a retired school teacher. He
and his wife live in Arizona during the winter, and come to Alaska every
summer. He guides tours, and she… I don’t remember. Brian said he thought Bill
said his wife works at the quilt shop in Skagway, but I’m not sure. Anyway,
Bill told us all kinds of interesting facts about the region, and its history.
He told us about the Gold Rush of 1898, and the thousands of men who came
seeking their fortune. He told us how gold was discovered by a man named
Carmack, and a first-nation man who went by the name of Skookum Jim, and his
sister, Kate. Bill said Skookum is a native word that means “strong,” and
Skookum Jim was know for his strength. I told Brian, maybe I’ll start calling
Spencer, Skookum! Heheh.
Bill was also great for spotting bears and stopping so
we could take pictures. At one point, he spotted a bear, and stopped the bus
really fast, did a u-turn and went back so we could get a better look. We sat
parked on the side of the road for 5-10 minutes, watching a mother bear and
THREE little black cubs following along behind! That was a fun highlight!! They
were kind of far away, but they were right out in the open, and easy to see.
What a treat! We saw another black bear, really quite close to the road,
munching on some blueberries. We watched him for a nice long time, too.
At our lunch place, they fed us a bbq chicken lunch
and homemade donuts. It was an outback ranch place, kind of like the Bar-J
Wranglers in Wyoming. Only, their main attraction was the dogsled teams. They
had baby husky puppies in training, and several teams of dogs that they keep in
top condition by running them in a line attached to big ATVs. We could have
ridden an ATV with the dogs for another $50 each, but we decided to just watch
that part. The dogs were super cute! I petted some of the puppies through the fence, even though I think you're supposed to pay extra to interact with them on a tour or something.
Inside, they had an interesting museum and shop, with
exhibits about the history of the Mounty police in Western Canada. I looked for
Jack’s lifesize cardboard cutout from When Calls the Heart, but they didn’t
have it, bummer! So I had to take a selfie with this other cutout guy who
wasn’t nearly as tall or handsome as Jack.
They also had a very impressive collection of stuffed,
taxidermy animals – buffalo, polar bears, grizzlies, timber wolves and white wolves,
mountain sheep, even a wooly mammoth that they reconstructed from a fossilized
mammoth found in Europe somewhere. It was a pretty cool exhibit, especially
because we could stand right next to the animals and pet their fur, etc. They
don’t usually allow that in museums, right? The polar bear is said to be the largest one ever stuffed and mounted. Interesting.
After lunch, we headed back down the way we had come.
We stopped at the Yukon Territory border (actually on the way up, I forgot),
and took pictures at the sign. There was a lady there selling polished rocks,
and handmade jewelry with gemstones. I didn’t get her picture, but now I wish I
would have! Our tour guide told us lots about her… she’s the ONLY person who
lives out there, in that region of the Yukon Territory, for miles and miles and
miles. She has a small cabin and stays year round, living off the land for the
most part. She gets her water from a stream, uses a generator and kerosene
lamps for light, heats and cooks food on a wood stove, which she also uses to
heat her home all winter—with wood she chops herself. She’s a tough looking
lady, probably mid50s, early 60s? We kept asking Bill questions about her life.
I bought some ketchup chips from her -- my Canadian delicacy and reminder of my dear roommate Kurri.
We also stopped at a few different lakes. They were
HUMONGOUS, and soooo beautiful. The smallest one was one of the prettiest,
called Emerald Lake. It’s surrounded by limestone cliffs, which give the water
an iridescent, emerald look. It was lovely! But my favorite was a lake called
Tushiite Lake, pronounced “too shy,” which is a native word that means deep and
dark. And it definitely was deep and dark and enormous. We drove along side it
for miles and miles, while different towering mountains and treelined hills
backed up behind it. At one point we got out and took some perfect pictures,
with Alaskan fireweed (some beautiful purple flowers) and pine trees in the
foreground, lake in the middle, and majestic cloud-covered peaks as the
backdrop. Later, we got to stop right at the shoreline of the lake for a few
minutes and feel the water. I couldn’t resist taking my shoes off and dipping
my toes in. Some teenage boys in a car next to us did a polar bear swim while
we cheered them on. That was fun to watch!
We eventually crossed back over the border, back into
Alaska, and started back toward the Whitepass summit. And guess what?! The
heavy mist rolled in like we’d never left it! All the way back into Skagway it
was completely fogged over. I did manage to see a waterfall as we drove by it,
right next to the bus window. But it was really cloudy out there! Once we got
back to town, we had a couple of hours before we had to be back on the ship. We
wandered around the shops and went through a museum about the gold rush, which
was interesting. I’m still not sure how sooo many people became so obsessed
with striking it rich with gold. The old black-and-white photos showed
thousands of men lined up in the snow with all their supplies, to climb the Whitepass summit and go
looking for their claim. I don’t understand the mindset that would drive people
to that – guess that’s partly because I’ve never lived in the extremities they
faced. Go big or go home… or freeze to death, come winter!
Once we were back on the ship, we had another
delightful dinner, back at the Tsar’s restaurant. I tried a new kind of fish –
can’t think of the name of it right now, but it was tasty. Corzona? Colniza?
Brian says it’s Corvina, but I’m not sure. Something with a C. Brian got a
bunch of different appetizers to try, all of them very small servings, but very
tasty! He got a shrimp/dill/potato cake thing that was really good, and some
marinated mushrooms. I just stuck with my regular bruschetta and a side salad.
They brought us really good bread with each meal, several different small
slices of a few different kinds. We decided not to get the “drinks” pass for
$90 apiece—that would have allowed us each to have unlimited soft drinks
throughout the cruise. But we figured if we wanted a soda, we’d just pay the
individual price. So, that night, I ordered a gingerale. It cost $4.40, for one
12 oz can. We shared it, and that was the only soda we got the whole trip.
We also talked a bit to our waiter that night. Both
Brian and I found ourselves very curious about the various staff on the ship.
Most all of them were Asian, many from the Philippines, Indonesia, and
Malaysia. Our waiter told us more than 40% of the staff were from the
Philippines. He said they came to work on 6 or 8 month contracts, then went
home for two months. The staff on our ship were assigned to work the Alaska
cruise from Vancouver to Seward, and Seward to Vancouver all summer long, until
October. Then they stay with the ship and head south to San Francisco area and
other warmer ports during the winter. Our waiter that night told us he has a wife and new
baby waiting for him at home in the Philippines. His baby was two weeks old
when he left, and she will be five months old this month. He’ll see her this
fall, when he gets his two-month break.
We talked to a couple of other staff members
throughout our cruise. They were all so friendly and cheerful and spoke very
good English. They have long, hard days, and I’m sure it must feel monotonous,
especially sailing the same ports over and over. The gratuity on our cruise was
settled with an extra charge per person, per day – so Brian and I paid $30 per
day on top of our cruising fare, that was supposed to go to the various staff
who served us in restaurants, cleared tables, refreshed our room, etc. It still
felt odd not leaving tips or settling a bill after our meals.
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