Alaska, 2006
(or Northern Exposure)
| 6/17 | 6/18 | 6/19 | 6/20 | 6/21 | 6/22 | 6/23 | 6/24 | 6/25 | Epilogue |
June 22, 2006 (Thursday)
Overnight, the Sun Princess steamed northwest of Juneau via the Lynn Canal, mooring at Skagway, Alaska at 6:41 a.m. while we were asleep. We woke up on our own at 7:30 a.m. (apparently we can't even sleep in on a vacation). Helene and I showered and dressed, then went back to meet the family at the breakfast buffet. This morning, we have a stroll through downtown Skagway on the docket before taking an afternoon rail trip through White Pass.
Skagway, officially incorporated in 1900, began life as a homesteading claim in the late 1880s by William Moore. Moore was a former riverboat captain and prospector who built a cabin and wharf at the terminus of the White Pass, calling it Mooresville. When news of the 1897 Klondike claims spread, stampeders flocked to the area. A surveyor by the name of Frank Reid replatted the site as Skagway that summer, and by the fall, the town had already established a post office, a church, and a town newspaper. By 1898, Skagway had exploded to a population somewhere between 8,000-10,000 people.
Unfortunately, it was also under the de facto control of an organized criminal gang led by one of the town's more colorful characters, Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith. Soapy Smith was a supreme confidence man who set up numerous "business" ventures about town, all of which had one purpose—relieving newcomers of their money as quickly and efficiently as possible. Despite Smith's contributions to charity and his reputation for lending comfort to the penniless (many of whom Smith had made penniless), Soapy ultimately raised the ire of the locals, who formed a vigilante committee. On July 8, Soapy confronted guards outside a meeting of the "Committee of 101," as the vigilantes called themselves. Frank Reid and Soapy ended up exchanging shots; Soapy died instantly with a bullet through his heart. Reid was somewhat less fortunate, being struck in the groin and lingering for 12 days before expiring.
Anyway, that's where we were headed: Skagway, Gateway to the Gold Rush.
We caught the Princess shuttle from the railroad docks into town, arriving with Helene's parents and the Goodes just before 10:00. We all agreed to meet back at the railroad docks by 12:30 to catch the train for our railway excursion. The first thing that stood out, like Ketchikan and Juneau, were all the jewelry stores. You'd think that there was a Timex mine up there in the hills.
) |
) |
) |
) |
) |
) |
) |
Skagway was already aswarm with cruise passengers from the Sun Princess and the other couple of ships in port. Our first stop was Alaskan Fairytales, a very charming shop that's the only infant store in southeast Alaska. We bought a baby "Alaska" sweatshirt for Ethan and Nicole's new addition to the family. Then we stopped by the Klondike Gold Rush National Park headquarters, which is housed in the old railroad building. From there, we wandered into the Mascot Saloon, which is a museum exhibit While Helene visited a few stores, I wandered a bit down Broadway Street, discovering William Moore's homestead.
Helene and I caught the shuttle back to the depot around noon to meet everyone. Unbelievably, we managed to get the whole clan on board the same car on time. We've boarded the White Pass and Yukon Railroad line, a railroad originally constructed in the summer of 1900. The railroad shut down service when the Klondike Highway opened in 1978. The line reopened a decade later for limited seasonal passenger service. It was a good business decision; according to the local tour operator, the made $21 million last year after expenses. Anyway, after surviving some initial anxiety when June couldn't find their excursion tickets, we're now traveling slowly out of town into White Pass.
Later: Yukon Territory
So...this is the Yukon.
) |
) |
) |
) |
) |
) |
) |
) |
) |
) |
We crossed the U.S./Canadian border a few miles ago. The scenery has been magnificent; I've gotten more shots along the way than I'll ever be able to use, I'm sure. The landscape here has ranged from spruce forests down in the valley to a nearly barren tundra of granite, meltwater ponds, and scrub fir. We're nearing our northernmost turnabout point just south of Fraser, and I'm positive the pictures won't remotely do this place justice, even less so having been taken from a moving train platform.
On the way back, we actually saw a pair of bear cubs playing by the side of the tracks, but they flashed by too quickly to get a picture of them. At least we can all say we saw bears in Alaska.
We were also running a little late back to the depot; the train pulled in about 15 minutes before our embarkation deadline. On the other hand, the trains pulled right into the cruise terminal, so our return wasn't nearly as anxious as it could have been. Helene and I were boarded and back in our stateroom before 5:00. After a few minutes of sorting through the day's assorted gifts and pamphlets we'd gotten in Skagway, I spent some time between the stern and forward observation decks before returning to the stateroom to rejoin Helene so we could meet Dan and June at their stateroom. The ladies are doing a bit of shopping at the moment; I've parked myself at a table in the Patisserie Lounge on Deck 5 with a raspberry martini while they ogle jewelry. I've also discovered from the lounge menu the recipes (or the ingredients, at least) for my two new favorite drinks:
Raspberry Fizz
- Absolut Raspberri
- Chambord
- Raspberry puree
- Seltzer water/club soda
- Lemon slice garnish
Raspberry Martini
- Absolut Raspberri
- Chambord
- Raspberry puree
- Lime or strawberry garnish
I'm very curious as to what the final tab will come to with extras once this trip is behind us. While the experience thus far has been one I would heartily recommend (except for the current losing streak I'm experiencing in the casino), it's easy to lose track of the nickel-and-dime charges you rack up as you go along. Plus, the excursions haven't been charged yet. My hunch over-under for the additional expenses is $1,500; we'll see if that pans out.
Once the gals had returned, Steve, Judi, Helene, and I sat around talking until roughly 7:30 p.m., at which point we retired to our respective staterooms to change into smart casual garb for dinner. We met back at the Regency for the 8:00 seating. I had a wonderful Chicken Kiev ala Supreme. Judi and I spent most of dinner discussing the finer points of appreciation for science fiction versus fantasy. Following dinner, for some reason that still eludes me, Helene and I ended up changing and hitting the exercise room at roughly 9:30 p.m. I went on some sort of elliptical machine for a half hour.
Given that and a full day of tramping about, we both returned to the room and promptly fell asleep watching television in our most boring night in a week. At least I wasn't down another c-note to the house. As we were to be at sea for nearly 48 hours straight, I had already made plans to put a dent in the house's wallet during some extended play on Friday.
Top | Back | Next | Travelogues