Skagway

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The family is off to Skagway by ferry. It’s raining this morning, but it’s a spitty-rain, not a downpour, so walking is fine. We thought it was about a 15-minute walk, so we left early to be on time and got to the dock 30 minutes early. While standing around talking to a local, we saw eagles and otters. That made it worth it!

It was still raining when we got to Skagway and the wind was cold, so the first place we went was a tee-shirt shop for me to get a long-sleeved tee shirt to put on under my short-sleeved one. We also bought an umbrella since we didn’t bring one with us on the ferry. For Princess, we put a garbage bag over her “backpack” Snoozer. I think most people thought we had a parrot in the backpack. Next stop, the Harley Davidson store that was at the FAR end of the town. I understand that once one is a Harley owner, one has to have a tee shirt that says Harley from every city one visits that has a Harley store!! OK with me as I will get something too!

Skagway: one of the oldest towns in Alaska, played a key role in the Gold Rush of 1898; back then the town boasted 80 saloons (now it’s probably 80 jewelry stores), and gun play was common. Today, it still looks a lot like the old days, thanks to their heritage groups who have restored many buildings and want it to look like it did in 1898. On average, 2-5 cruise ships arrive daily, so the streets can be empty or really bustling – with as many as 9,500 credit-card-laden tourists walking the street. Today, there were only two cruise ships in port. Nevertheless, we had enough after lunch and caught an earlier ferry than we reserved to go back to Haines.

Since we had walked a lot, we decided to eat out this evening. There’s a cute little restaurant called The Lighthouse right next to the RV park; it overlooks the small boat harbor. It wasn’t busy and we looked over the menu and the chalkboard specials that included a fresh-caught (today) Dungeness crab served with a baked potato and fresh vegetable for $19.99. The waitress suggested that we share the meal because it was a big crab and we got the whole thing. We ordered one to share plus an appetizer of calamari.

When the calamari arrived, it was calamari steaks, not rings. Omigod, was it so good. Then, the crab. Both of us swear we have NEVER tasted crab so good. If this was so good, what will Alaskan King Crab be like??

Once the crab was picked clean, we paid our bill, walked outside and met the Johnsons and guys arriving back from their adventure to Juneau. What a good day!

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Photos

Catching the fast ferry
Jim and Princess ready to go to Skagway for the day.

MS Fairweather Express
The tide was out so the gangplank was REALLY steep.

Linda and Princess
On board and ready for fun

Snowplow train
This was the White Pass Snow Fleet train, turning large ice piles on the rails into very high snow banks so the trains could pass.

The story
Interesting information about the White Pass snow plow.

Jewelry Stores everywhere
There were jewelry stores everywhere you looked.

Starbucks
There's even a jewelry store in the Starbucks!

Tide Out
In the morning, when we went to catch the ferry, the tide was out. There's a 24' swing in the water level between high and low tide.

Tide In
In the afternoon, when we came back on the ferry, the tide was back in.

Waterfall along the way
Gorgeous

There goes a cruise ship
One of the ships leaving Skagway on its way to the next port.