Alaska Cruise Part 4

We arrived in Skagway Monday, August 14th at about 7am.  When I looked out our window on awakening, there we were next to the dock in Skagway.  There is a huge bluff across from the dock and all over the bluff were rock sections painted with names and dates of ships that have docked there over the years.  Also, the White Pass railroad was right there too, waiting for it's first passengers, ready to ride up the almost  3,300 White Pass summit.  I have always wanted to do that but it costs a little over $100 for the 3 1/2 ride.  So a lot of us opted for the 1 1/2 hour mini-bus ride up and over the summit, for $36.  We were all happy with our choice.  Our driver, Mark, stopped many times to allow us photo opportunites along the way and of course all during the ride he was pointing out points of interest.  At one point we were on the highway way above the railroad tracks, taking pictures of the train.  And the bus ride took us clear into Yukon Terriority (Canada) so we went quite a bit farther than the train.  (We had to have our Passports on that excursion).  It was amazing to be there on that highway, imagining the gold seekers, spending months going over that pass back in the late 1800's.  We were blessed to see the same country from the comfort of a bus on a paved road.   Skagway is about the only town along that lower coast of Southern Alaska that can be reached by land.  You just go north on the Alcan Highway and at a certain point turn left.  I think that too, would be a great adventure someday. 

After our bus trip, we got off in town and since  Barbara's husband's feet were bothering him,  Barbara, Lynnette and I decided to check out the shops and he went back to the ship.  I think Skagway is more charming than Juneau.  Board sidewalks, brightly painted shops with that early 1900 flavor.  All that's missing is the 8 inches of mud in the streets.  We stayed until we'd had our fill and then we  took the shuttle back to the ship.  Meanwhile, I was getting sicker and feeling horrible but didn't want to miss anything.  When Lynnette and I got back, we deposited our shopping in our cabin and headed up to the Solarium Snack Bar.  That's the place to get hot dogs, hamburgers, chickenburgers, veggie burgers, pizza, fries, fruit and cookies almost 24 hours a day.  I loved their chicken burgers by the way.   After our snack we decided to lay down for a couple hours before dinner.  Ya right....I woke up at 9:30pm and I finally woke Lynnette up about 10:45pm so we could make the chocolate buffet at 11:15pm.   It was very nice, but I just wasn't in the mood for chocolate (I know that sounds crazy but remember I was a sick girl) And unfortunately the pictures didn't turn out very well.  It was held in the big open atrium area and my camera didn't work well in the low lights.  There was music and champagne and everyone was in a good mood.   After it was over, we returned back to our cabins and hit the sack.  Meanwhile the ship had left the Skagway dock about 8:30pm so we were underway to our next port of call.