Skagway, a port and a railhead at the bottom of huge hill! 2013

 

Waking up in Destruction Bay after a long evening of party making, we were greeted with 38° weather.  In as much as I hadn’t unhooked all I had to do was slide it closed and unplug while the Big Blue Beasty warmed up.  The road was much better than yesterday, still several long sections of 45mph gravel which cover us with a gentle patina.  Several folks have given up washing their vehicles, even U.P.S. trucks are dirty up here!

Skagway is a pleasant little town at the base of a 2980’ 8% grade {7 miles of it).  They have a deep port which drove the economy in the early 1900’s due to the inland gold rush.  The Whitehorse Train was built (we ride it in 2 days) and the town prospered as a trading center.  During WW-ll  there was a resurgence of activity as The Alaskan highway was built.  In the early 50’s the town went to sleep again.

About 20 years ago the town rebounded as it prostrated itself to the various cruise lines.  Today there are 3 huge cruise ships in port, about 7,000 passenger over run the town.  There are very few restaurants, cruise passengers eat on board for ‘free’.  The town is a 12 square block of gift shops!

A novel name for a motel here.

       

 

This Gift shop was formerly a brothel, name is the same as a restaurant we frequent in South Windsor, CT.

On Wednesday evening we went to a fun Monte Carlo Night and than another stage production, it was a good evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday we cruised about 80 miles to Juneau.   Juneau is the only sate capitol the you cannot drive to, they have no roads leading into it!  They can however dock up to 7 cruise ships, there were 6 in while we were there.  We saw a bunch of wild life on the trip; dozens of Whales, one breached while my camera was recharging ;-(.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One advantage to more expensive cameras have is they are able to take bursts of pictures and catch the right moment, with mine it like a blind man throwing darts!  This fellow stuck his tail up about 3 seconds too fast for me.  Anne-Marie and I both saw him (?) breach, that is burned into our memory as she (?) was the size of a bus!

White Horse Lodge #1 meets on the second floor of this building.

When in Juneau I bought a fairly expensive piece of jewelry, the manager of the store came over and instructed to clerk to give me a rather deep discount.  After the sale I went over and thanked him,  He shook my hand in a familiar manner which won him the M.W.G.M. pin I was wearing.

 

Tomorrow is day 55 of our 61 day adventure.  Unfortunately we will part with some great folks who we have lived with for 2 months.  Tomorrow (Friday) Jack, Bettey and Amanda Dostie are departing early to meet a family commitment in Hawaii.  Jack helped me with R&R of my jacks and Mandy was our guest passenger for a day.  We wish them the best and hope to visit them in Ohio at a later date.

Today, White Pass Railroad trip into the mountains, wish you were here!…..