July 17--All Aboard!

Overnight our ship made its way from Juneau to Skagway. This town grew to be the largest in Alaska during the Yukon Gold Rush in the 1890’s, swelling to over 20,000 residents. Today, just over 1000 residents call Skagway home, but that still makes it one of Alaska’s larger cities.

The whole clan signed up for another excursion together, this time a trip on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad. The WPYR is a narrow gauge railroad that makes its way up the White Pass into Canada and eventually to Dawson City. We took a trip that went just over the border into Canada, but didn’t get off the train, so we didn’t need to go through customs again.

After some breathtaking views on the ride up, we reached the summit. We were all amazed to think of the gold prospectors making their way up on foot, with over 200 pounds of supplies strapped to their backs. In order to be allowed into the Yukon territory, each prospector needed to have 2000 pounds of supplies, so this wasn’t an easy venture by any stretch of the imagination. I guess gold has strong powers! While the train was narrow and the drop looked massive at times, I think we were all glad to be on a nice train with only our cameras to worry about!

After getting to the top, we got an engine on what was once the back of the train. We all stood up and flipped our seats over, and now we got to see a little different view on the way down. Several in the group were very happy to know that they weren’t going to have to go down the mountain facing backwards.

After a quick lunch back on the boat, we all headed back into town. There were more coupons to be redeemed! In addition, Alan and Joyce were on the hunt for some specific items that we expected to find in Skagway. One was a whale tale pendant where the fluke of the whale looked like it does when it goes into the water. Most of the fluke pendants sold are “upside down”, and the Welchs good friends, the Janowiaks, found one facing the right way when they were here with Alan and Joyce for their 25th anniversary 7 years ago. So the Dunnucks and the Welchs embarked on their shopping spree.

Meanwhile, the Schaeffers embraced the Skagway experience by panning for gold. Their excursion gave them a chance to find several pieces of gold flakes in their bags of dirt. They can write more about their experience.

After several stores, Alan broke down and “phoned a friend” to get Sallie’s recollection about the location of the elusive whale tail pendant. She gave good directions, but before the Welchs could locate the store, they ran into the Schaeffers, who had added whale tale stores to their discovery of gold. The Welchs found several other local artists in the area and really enjoyed looking over (and purchasing) several items.

Back on the boat, it was another smart casual dinner, and this time the main attraction was Alaskan King Crab. Thankfully, the kitchen split the legs so that they were very easy to get out of the shells and no one was hurt (other than the crabs). The kids elected to ditch the adults again, so the path was open for even more volcanoes to be ordered for dessert—including sprinkles!

The evening’s entertainment was another comedian. He was funny with a very dry sense of humor. Making fun of ship passengers and crew is a pretty easy sport. The Welchs and the Schaeffers had some good laughs before bed.