Skagway- Part One

Skagway

We drive into Skagway.  There are four cruise ships docked, and another comes in later.  The town is crawling with tourists.  Last year they had 935,000, and I’m sure they will exceed one million this year.

One nice thing about traveling north is that we are following the flowers.  This beautiful picture of lilacs against Face Mountain is an example.  They are so fragrant!

The first thing we do is go to the ferry terminal to book passage across the inlet to Haines.  We want to go on Saturday, but find out that the ferry is out of commission and there won’t be one till Sunday.  Actually, that is kind of nice.  We like it here!  We do the tourist thing ourselves – it is hot outside.  Our temperature gauge on the camper says 98, and everywhere you turn, people are talking about the calls they made home to compare the heat! 

A major attraction here is the narrow gauge railroad, the White Pass and Yukon, which takes people up the gorge we traversed the day before.  This was one of the routes for the Gold Rush, and although we decided not to take the RR, the trip is well worth it.  We watched as the trains got ready to leave.  The conductor was drinking out of a longneck bottle – hope it’s not beer, but it sure looks like it! 

Nacho had his picture taken in front of some dandelions.  They grow ‘em big here in Alaska. Can you see Nacho?

On the way back to our campsite, John spotted a Bald Eagle landing in the  Dyea flats

So we stopped to take some pictures.  Here is John taking the picture, and also a picture of the Eagle.  Can  you see the Eagle?  He is sitting at the top of a stick coming out of a big root right in the middle of the picture. 

John decides to set up our screen room. We  think we will call it our casita. It is designed to keep out the mosquitoes, and we bought an outdoor rug for it.  What luxury.  It is so pleasant out and we grill steaks for dinner.  Not bad, eh?