Wednesday: We stopped at the Visitor Center as we left Watson Lake. Lots of good pictures on the building of the Alaska Highway and some good dioramas. Also a good movie describing the highway construction. The Visitor Center is set at the edge of a signpost forest. People bring signs from their hometowns and post them here. I did see Boulder CO and Plano TX. We didn't bring a sign.
We planned to drive to Carcross,
formerly Caribou Crossing, and spend the night there before heading
across the border to Skagway. We headed toward great snow covered
peaks with frozen rivers and lakes near the highway. We seldom see
anything open and no animals, except a guy had stopped his car to
take a picture of a marmot. The guy was getting too close even for
the marmot's comfort and it was scurrying up the cut-bank.
We stopped at the Carcross Desert
(Dunes) to read the display. The sand came from a lake deposit
caused by glaciers. Looks like a lot of people do go tramping across
the fragile dunes.
Heading toward the snowy mountains
William at Carcross Desert
At Carcross we are told the RV
campground will not open until June when the ground unfreezes. The
cashier will sell you chips or gas however.
So up the mountain to the border we
head. Good thing it stays light really late. Snow is blowing off of
snow drifts at the side of the road. Snow is actually blowing into
drifts on the road. The road is poorly built so melt water drains
onto the road and refreezes, nice. White Pass became almost a
whiteout.
At the US border we are stopped and
asked to pull over and come inside. Luckily the agent decides we are
harmless and tells us that the stop was just random (total lie) and
we are free to go. We just say fine and scurry out.
Finally we check into a nice RV park on
the waterfront. The wind is fierce enough to rock our little RV, but
I make minestrone soup for dinner and we snuggle into the Hungarian
goose down for the night.
Thursday: The next morning we set out
for town bundled up so we look like bears only to find that most
businesses in town are closed because there is no cruise ship in
town. We wander around town and patronize the businesses that are
open.
The Park Service Visitor Center is
closed, but there is a great photo display with stories about the
Klondike gold rush. But they have the heat set on about 80. I took
off four layers. Back outside William offers to take my heavy coat
back to the RV as he forgot his camera. It feels slightly warmer, but
the wind is gale force. Once when we are walking a couple of blocks
right into the wind, I feel like the skin on my face is going numb.
We ate lunch at the highly rated
restaurant Starfire. I was not sure I wanted Thai, but the
assortment of appetizers we chose as our lunch were superb. We
brought home the large scoops of rice that came with the soups and I
made fried rice for dinner.
We highly recommend the Starfire, the
Hardware Store and the News Depot.
Friday: We get up early and make it to
the Train Depot for the 8:15 excursion up to the White Pass. The
first two cars are reserved for the Skagway Reunion crowd. Once a
year for 60 years a group of people who have ever lived in Skagway
gather for a reunion. This is the first time in a number of years
they have actually come back to Skagway. Most recently they had been
gathering in Seattle.
The third car is for cruise ship people
and miscellaneous people like us. The other cars are for people who
have taken tour buses down from Whitehorse.
The tour narrator on the train tells a
story about President Harding's visit in 1923. Supposedly he brought
both his wife and girlfriend. His wife found out and went for a walk
to calm down. She was seen picking flowers. Monkshood grows around
here and is a plant that poisons and causes death by imitating food
poisoning.. Harding came down with food poisoning and died upon
arriving in San Francisco a few days later. This is a story that
apparently is just told here in Skagway.
Even though it is windy and rainy the
trip is great.
Bridal Veil Falls
The intrepid traveler
The end of the train through a rainy window
The heater
the caboose the
Forest Service rents as a cabin.
Another train tour had gone about 1/4
hour ahead of us intending to go to Fraser. The engine had a plow
on the front, but it ran into too big a drift and got stuck. So our
train had to stop at the top. They set the brakes and our engine
went up to take the passenger cars off of the stuck engine and attach
them to our train.
When the train stopped in front of the
disembarkation point for the cruise ship passengers, we rushed off
as soon as the conductor put down the stairs. We wanted us to be the
first ones at the wharf restaurant, The Fish Company. We were. The
place was packed eventually. But we were served first. Great food
here.
The wind and rain were fierce after
lunch, so we thought to just go by the RV to regroup. We stayed in.
The original Tlingit name for this area
was Shgagwei or Skagua meaning whitecaps on the water or windy place.
The Tlingit village was at Dyea, the protected arm of the inlet, with
a shallow harbor and less wind.
Skagway harbor
Saturday: The day was lovely, misty
with NO wind. The stores are all open for the cruise ship today and
more museums are open. Some highlights were the Mascot Saloon
(Museum) and the Benjamin Moore house (Museum).
The Mascot Saloon
The Moore House
More Moore House
We visited the Sarah Palin Store.
Everything was marked BOGO. I asked and was told it meant buy one
get one.
Me and Sarah
The Days Of 98 Show about “Soapy”
Smith had already begun their only show for the day. Their mock
gambling house was deserted. We will have to stay over for the next
show Tuesday the 15th at 10:30. We have tickets for the
ferry to Haines in the afternoon.
Soapy's gambling house
The Statue Garden was most certainly
closed, but a back gate had been left open and we toured it anyway.
No one was around to tell us to leave. Whoever runs this had a
different story to tell about the notorious con-man “Soapy”
Smith. We learn he was quite the philanthropist for homeless dogs
and burros and even donated to help build a church.
Statue Gardens
We found a giant rhubarb plant on our
way to the Bombay Curry where we planned to have lunch, but it was
closed. The cook's daughter's wedding was the posted reason.
Alaskan Rhubarb
Sunday: Happy Mothers Day. The Visitor
Center is open today and running walking tours. No cruise ships come
in on Sundays by agreement with the cruise ship companies. We have a
private walk about town with a park service ranger. William gets to
ask endless questions. One of my few questions was what is the
stuffed animal on the cigar case in the Mascot Saloon. It is a rare
blonde raccoon from West Virginia. Someone higher up in the park
service thought this was a good idea years ago. Our guide thought
that it was not. But I liked it.
Blonde raccoon
We also went to the McCabe Museum.
This is a town museum. Well organized displays and with a good movie
about the impact of WWII on Skagway. The military essentially ran
the town for a few years, 1942-1946, in the push to protect Alaska
from Japanese invasion and to get the Alaska Highway built. They
took over the railroad and ran it at a huge rate to take supplies to
the road.
Lunch today was back to the waterfront
to the Stowaway Cafe. Great food here. Not an extensive menu. But
each item was delicious.
Monday May 14th : Happy
Birthday to William. We will hike up to “Soapy” Smith's grave
today and head to the Brewing Company for lunch. Windy and overcast.
I am getting tired of this gray sweater. But Annie Hall, born 1870 in
Nevada City, CA, and a pioneer to the Klondike, said a woman only
needed one good dress in her gear.
