On to Skagway

August 1, 2009
Skagway, AK

It was a relatively quiet day. We drove the 150+/- miles from Whitehorse to Skagway, traveling down the historic Klondike Highway. I'm not sure why it's so historic, since it was the last mode of transportation built, lagging behind the Yukon River (since the last Ice Age), the Chilkoot Trail (walking trail used by the First Nations people as a trading route, followed by the early Gold Rush stampeders), the railroad (the White Pass & Yukon Route was completed in the early 1900s), and then the actual roads in the 1940-1960 timeframe.

In any case, it was an easy drive. We stopped at Emerald Lake and learned about how the calcium carbonate deposits left in the Ice Age cause the distinct coloration of the water. We passed the small town of Carcross (where Bob & Marlene were waiting for us - we didn't see them and they didn't see us - oops) and headed down into Skagway. Many of the port cities and towns have the same winding, descending access roads: Valdez, Seward, Homer, Skagway. Now that we're near the southeast panhandle of Alaska, there is a border crossing involved in getting to each Alaskan town, since coastal access is by water only.

We arrived in Skagway early in the afternoon and checked into one of the three RV parks in town, and older place with pretty tight site spacing. As I was backing into the spot, one of the "neighbors" was out with his camera; I'm sure he was waiting for an accident of some kind. Sorry, fella. For two nights, we can make anything work. Bob & Marlene arrived shortly thereafter and took the spot next to us.

Late in the afternoon, we drove "downtown" for souvenir shopping, dodging the cruise boat people, then headed up to a scenic overlook for a couple of late day pictures. I had a hankering for pizza, but we met a "local" at the overlook who steered us to a fish/BBQ place down by the docks. Was he working on commission? Who knows. They had some interesting decorations inside and out. The food was good - Geri had halibut and chips and I had ribs (almost as good as I can make at home). We had a good time with Bob & Marlene, trying to guess if the hostess was wearing a thong. And that's all I'm goin' to say about that.