Home Alone, Part Three

Ok, where did I leave off on my travelogue?  We went to Ketchikan and Juneau, so Skagway is next.

The town of Skagway felt much more authentic to me.  A tourist town, to be sure, but I could picture it without the throngs, just the residents going about their business. A small town with a port, and a profitable season when everyone makes their yearly income.  We walked on some back streets and it had a familiarity to it, it felt like other small western towns that I have lived in.  Just a lot busier when a ship is in.  Or three of the behemoths.

So, let's do a head count.  Me, Carolyn and Donna (the Irish girls) are all still healthy and uninjured.  Lisa (dialysis pt) is ill and the fever of yesterday has turned into bad bowels today, plus she is just weak, so she's not going on the excursion.  KA wants to go but waffles about whether or not she can manage with the knee bandaged and using a cane.  There would be a walk to the train station. 

The excursion was a train ride up the mountains.  Wow.  If any of you are train enthusiasts, you should look it up.  The train itself was cool.  If you are a history buff, wow.  The White Pass has a vivid history from the Gold Rush, and Skagway was quite the place.  Before the railroad was put in, supplies were carried up a trail, literally a trail - a footpath, through the mountains on the way to the gold fields.  The international boundary is at the top of the pass and the Mounties wouldn't let anyone in unless they had a complete set of supplies, as listed by them.  It was a ton, in fact, of supplies.  And people carried this ton of supplies in backpacks and on horses up the path to the checkpoint and thence onward.  Well, it took many trips to get it all up, and thievery was the mode of the day so people had to work together to protect their stuff at both spots while ferrying it inland. 

Well, it's an amazing and bizarre and horrible history, if you like to read about that kind of thing.

The town is like any in southeast Alaska, perched on the edge of the water with mountains towering behind.  Even though it was August, it felt like autumn was just around the corner.  But, the weather was perfect - crisp clean air, bright sun with some warmth, passing clouds, temperature around 68 or 70f.  Somehow I managed to avoid taking any pictures of the town.  You'll have to Google that if you are interested.  :-)

But, I took quite a few along the train ride.  Here's a selection.

These are the mountains at the edge of the town.  It pretty much goes straight up in every direction.
There is a river, the Skagway River natch, that has a pretty good volume of water but is unnavigable by even kayak, canoe or raft.  It's simply too steep and rocky and bouldery and full of scary churning water pits.  It's straight down from the train here.

Sorry.  Extremely poor photo quality.

Here is the Trail of 98, where perished many humans and horses.  Look how small it is!  It's like a goat track!

The trail closed when the train went in.  There are a couple of groups interested in reopening the trail as a hiking trail.  I'm surprised it hasn't been reopened already.  Serious hiking, though, not a stroll.

Here is an older, abandoned train bridge.  The route was moved up this canyon and a new bridge built.  Presumably safer.  Lol.

And, here's the top!  The top of the White Pass!

From here, prospectors continued to the gold fields, crossing that little dogleg of British Columbia and into the Yukon Territory.  This is the Mounties' station at the border.  Four of them lived there!  In that wee cabin!  (I'm thinking Brokeback Mountain, you?) 

The flags here at the international boundary are the two national flags each on their side of the line, and the flags of Alaska, British Columbia and Yukon Territory in the middle.  Nice of them to include the Yukon, I think, even though the boundary is in BC.  But, that's Canada -- just being nice.

The train ride was spectacular, really beautiful, and a fun way to see a lot of the mountains.  Look across at this mountain.  That's another train ahead of us on the line. 

Amazing.

When we got back to the town, we bought some souvenirs and whatnot and got a coffee.  The Irish girls were going to walk up the river and see the salmon.  I was headed back to check on the sick bay.  The way back included crossing a creek that was absolutely teeming with salmon.  There was a little rocky section that they were jumping over and then up, up, up the stream.  There was no stretch of water without several fish in it.  Sorry, I couldn't get a picture... the dappled light, the reflection on the water, the silvery fish.  No.  No photo.

I got back to the room, and only Lisa was there.  KA had managed to get herself out, but had missed the train.  Turns out that she found a bus excursion that went up the 'new' highway and into Carcross, YT.  She was quite chuffed with herself! 

The next day was all at sea.  I'm pretty sure nothing dramatic happened.

Our last port of call was Victoria, BC.  We ALL made it off the ship!  We took a shuttle into downtown and had drinks at the Empress.  Not tea, mind you, but drinks in the bar.  It was absolutely lovely.  There was a young woman playing the guitar and singing - lovely voice and the perfect volume.  Not too loud.  The service was impeccable.  Here's KA's gin and tonic:

So pretty!  And, healthy with that wedge of grapefruit!  Lol.

We walked around, went in some shops, listened to some buskers, relaxed.  It was nice!  When evening began to fall, Lisa, KA and I headed back.  The Irish Girls wanted to check out some night life.  When we got back to the ship, we had to show our passport to get on the dock.  KA and I asked if we could get our passports stamped.  You have to insist these days!  The guy at the desk quizzed us.  He made KA list at least 3 provinces and I had to name a famous Canadian.  We insisted that the quiz wasn't hard enough!  (For the record, I started with kd lang, since she lives in Portland. Nice tie in, I thought.)

Our final dinner on the ship.

We docked the next morning in Seattle.  Spent one more night together before the Irish Girls were headed back to Canada and then home.

Here we are wearing our team shirts.  Just for fun!

This concludes the cruise ship portion of the travelogue.  There was a little more argy-bargy, in fact, but I'll save that for another time, shall I?

Cheers!

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

Hey there!  Long time no read!  How is everyone?  I haven't had a chance yet to catch up on all of your blogs so...  yes, woefully out of date. 

I've spent the last three weeks at my friend's sheep ranch in central California.  It's in the Sierra foothills, which sounds picturesque and idyllic, doesn't it?  And, while the golden rolling hills and majestic oak groves are certainly beautiful, the place is like an oven.  Her ranch is not high enough into the foothills to have the cool mountain air moderate the valley temperatures.  Fortunately, I missed the triple digit temps, but when the mercury hits the high 90's, it's just plain hot.  I spent some time cowering in any shade I could find, even the slender shadow of a fence post if that was the only thing available.  I am such a wimp!  I just can't take the high temps.

Tam had some projects that she was hoping I could help with.  We only got started on one by the time I had to return home.  I felt like I failed her, but she is totally energized and says that my visit was the best thing to happen in a long while.  She is moving ahead strongly with all sorts of plans.  Good!  Maybe I was just the catalyst.  I know that what I really brought her was someone to talk with, a friendly sounding board, someone to do chores with and lighten the load a little... small, in my eyes, but apparently enough that she felt like she had a break.

Make no mistake, friends, there was no break!  Ranch life is unrelenting hard work.  No, we were not riding around on horses rounding up the herd (although I have lived that life as well.)  We were feeding hay (and grain and pellets), moving sheep from corral to pasture, weighing the ones that are going to market, trimming hooves, applying bug juice, deworming, all the thousands of things that go on daily.  Mostly feeding.  She feeds a little under a ton of hay per day.  Each and every bale moved by a middle-aged woman with back problems!  Plus, there are no days off.  The animals have to be fed twice a day regardless of the calendar.  I'm only telling you this because so many people have unrealistic ideas about ranch life.  The reality is hot, dusty, fly-ridden days that extended way past the time regular folks are at home having dinner and are going to bed. 

My main purpose in spending time down there was to be supportive of my friend.  This I did accomplish!  Another purpose was to see how she felt about a change in her life.  Her mom has dementia (and a hoarding problem) and can no longer run the ranch.  Truth be told, she never ran it well.  Tam has given up her career as a regulatory veterinarian to come home and take care of it all.  But, maybe she doesn't want to do that any more.  I wanted to give her the chance to think about doing something else.  She had been contemplating selling the place, and is giving more thought to that.  Not that I want to be responsible for encouraging someone to give up their way of life, but this life is killing my friend.  She can't do it alone and no one wants to work in agriculture.  It's very hard to find ranch help now.  Am I being political?  Only a little.  Mostly just reporting the reality.

So, now I'm home in the cool, damp PNW.  I was in that oven just long enough for my internal thermostat to start to reset, so when I got home I felt quite chilly!  Well, it's definitely Autumn here and Summer is still holding on to the south.  I've had to crank up the furnace, and I was wearing a hat and scarf in the house the other night!  Brr...  Come on, body, recalibrate to the Pacific Northwest! 

Did I tell you about my housesitter?  No?  I had asked a friend of T's if she would stay at my place while I was out of town.  She is currently between places and staying with her sister, so it sounded like a good fit.  She said she would, and I thought I was set.  Then, about 3 days before I was to leave, she posted on FB that she was moving to So Cal that weekend!  I was at T's house at the time and I said, wait a minute she was going to housesit for me!  T texted her and asked and the friend said that she had never committed to house/pet sitting for me.  Bullshit!  I would have been searching for someone if I thought that.  Crap!  So, I had to scramble.  I asked a friend of mine who I often dog sit for if she could step in.  It's a big ask - 3 weeks is a long stay.  But, this friend lives in a one bedroom apartment with her two adult sons so I thought it might be nice for her to bring her dog and stay here.  She said she could.  She came, she brought her dog, all was well.  And then, while I was in Cali, she texted me and said that she got a puppy.  A puppy.  At my house.  Ummm...  WHAT?!?  Who does that?  Who brings a puppy into someone else's house?  Apparently Patty does that.  Holy Hey Zeus!  The house was 'febreezed' but not clean when I got home.  Which, whatever.  I'd be cleaning it anyway, but just knowing that my entire house had been piddled on was irritating.  But, the house was still standing and the cat was alive, so what am I complaining about, right?  Still...

Anyway, I'm back.  I'll be making an effort to catch up on your blogs, but it might take a little time.  Oh, and I never finished my travelogue!  I'll put it on the list.

Cheers, women!