8-18 b

Yah, so this towel animal mystery is the stuff that creates angst on a cruise… not so bad, eh? Speaking of “eh,” Wed 8-17 was Skagway, the first day off the ship. Skagway is a bustling town of 800 that has doubled from 400 when I lived and worked there for a summer after high school graduation. My grandparents lived there at the time, and I stayed with them and worked in the hotel and hung out with a bunch of college kids from Washington colleges. Skagway is at the very top of the inland passage, and was the “gateway to the goldrush” in 1898, complete with wooden sidewalks, legends like “Soapy” Smith, and The Red Onion saloon and brothel. Skagway has done a nice job of holding the fort down for over 100 years and keeping it tourist-worthy. The population swelled to over 10,000 for the day as 4 cruise ships descended. Ours is currently carrying 2,362 passengers this trip, and another 841 crew members. We aren’t even the biggest ship in port everywhere, either. Sheri is the Julie McCoy of our trip (for those people who don’t know or remember, Julie was the Cruise director for The Love Boat). She did all this amazingly detailed research, which is usually my job for trips, and I was quite happy to hear someone else had taken the role! Sheri had reserved rental cars weeks ago so we could get out of Skagway and explore. She had the whole itinerary broken down into “famous places,” “bodies of water,” “places to eat,” etc. (Okay, I never did THAT - she’s been unemployed for a while… and we are all relieved to hear she will be starting a new job soon!)

Skagway, Alaska, pop. 800 to 10,000+ depending on the day

The hotel I worked in the summer I lived in Skagway

After a great little hike out to Yakutania Point in Skagway, where we took a great group shot, as well as a different hike to a gorgeous waterfall and a historic graveyard, we headed out of town to B.C., Canada, our group broken into two separate rental cars. We hit every great point of interest on the highway, thanks to Sheri's compulsive planning. Now overall, we all agreed we are grateful for her dedicated research. However, in the moment of the 7th pull-over within a 5-mile stretch of highway, our gratitude was sounding a bit course, and our car came up with a strategy. We would send Randy as our representative, as he is one of those people that loves to read every informational sign posted, which is part of what allows him to later spontaneously relate fascinating, detailed facts about seemingly trivial things, such as the names and descriptions of each kind of Salmon in Alaska, or the difference between a Cabernet grape and a Merlot grape. Our system was perfect. He'd go read, the other four of us would wait for him to return, and then he'd give us the 10-second summary of the sign, which usually related to an old railroad, a gold mine, a ghost town, or a bit of geological education, and off we'd go to the next point of interest. We finally crossed into British Colombia, where someone who shall go unnamed (not Randy) realized he'd left his picture I.D. in his "man bag" on the ship. Fortunately, Canada didn't seem too concerned, he passed his birth certificate quiz, and we passed into the country of our northern neighbors.

Photo of our group after hiking out to
Yakutania Point, Skagway

Waterfall near the graveyard

Randy doing his job as sign reader for the rest of our car. (Did you think I was kidding until you saw this pic?)

From here we went through the “moonscape zone.” This is a climate zone that is very small on a steep mountain, as it is really transition from something green into Alpine/above the tree line. It was freezing cold with lakes and pools of water everywhere, rocks covered in lichen, and small scrubs and tundra flowers growing. It would be bright and almost sunny, then within 5 minutes it would go gray and heavily foggy that whirled in the strong wind; the whole landscape would take on a dark, Moorish look. Our caravan of two rental cars then continued on into Yukon Territory in Canada, after many stops for lakes, waterfalls, roadside attractions, and restrooms. Y.T. provided an extra thrill not on the itinerary – we got to eat “Yukon Gold” potatoes right there IN the Yukon. Way cool, I love that sort of stuff. Oh, and when we stopped at a gas station and café, I actually heard a man who looked like Keaneu Reeves who was holding a café conversation with other locals… and he ended every phrase in “eh?” Oh my Gosh, it’s for real! I wonder if people who visit So Cal think this when they hear surfers say “dude”?

The moonscape zone, very surreal

More moonscape zone

Yu are in Yukon, "Canada's True North"

Anyway, I said it was freezing in the moonscape, right? An HOUR down the road in YT it was so hot we were down to just t-shirts, and I would have preferred shorts too! Crazy place up here. And everything IS bigger in the Yukon, we noticed – birds, plants, bugs, etc. In YT we saw one of the best museums of taxidermy animals any of us had ever seen, including largest mounted polar bear in the world, a few bison, a few prehistoric lions and a bison of the northern hemisphere found frozen in ice fairly “intact” and restored, as well as various bears and other real-time stuffed critters spanning the gamut from ferocious and larger than a car to cute and furry. But the only reason we bought the museum tour was to get to the sled dogs and their fuzzy puppies, since you couldn’t buy a ticket to just the dogs (although they did cost $2 EXTRA). Outside the back were probably 30 sled dogs that really do run the sleds in competition. They were surprisingly friendly and happy dogs. Personally I could have saved the $2 and taken home the smallest of the pygmy goats – she would have fit in my bag and no one would have seen her… Lunch, aside from the potato thrill, also happened to be the best BBQ chicken I have ever had in my life, no joke.

George demonstrating the life-like quality of the Yukon museum

Petting sled dogs for 2 bucks a head
(per people head, not per dog head)

The goat small enough to fit into my purse. Tempting...

We then made a quick photo stop at “what is affectionately known as the World’s Smallest Desert” – that’s what the sign said. And sure enough, this is a real desert, the sand left behind from a glacial lake that dried up. You can rent ATVs for $25 for 15 minutes – gee, we all passed.

Click to enlarge. World's smallest desert.
No clue who those kids are.

When we finally got back down into Skagway, we had just enough time to find a few gifts and a few beers at the ex-brothel Red Onion Saloon before boarding the ship. Wow - the world's largest mounted polar bear and world's smallest desert in the same day. Definitely living "Out on the Twig". I did squeeze in a little visit by myself to my grandparents' old house and the liquor store they used to run, as my tribute to them (they are long gone from this world); ironically, our Skagway day just happened to fall on my parents anninversary, and these were my dad's parents. Happy Anniversary, M&D, and greetings to the Vaughan grandparents if they happen to be around somewhere listening...

Ridiculously beautiful scenery - I just snapped this picture out the car window leaning over LeAnn because I had quit getting out at this point.

Back to our beautiful boat, the Serenade of the Seas.