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.
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!
