August 4, Day 5, Skagway, Alaska found us getting up early once again…6:30am…and the ship had already backed into the dock…up against our sister ship the Sea Princess. We got dressed and headed for the breakfast buffet and ran…almost literally…down the dock to our waiting tour bus. We were only 10 minutes late but the bus was still there.
We boarded a refurbished 1925 Mac motorized street car…the refurb done by the famous Boyd Coddington in California. The driver…a woman…was dressed in period clothing from the Gold Rush days…circa 1898. She was as entertaining and informative as our driver yesterday in Juneau. I don’t know where they find these people but we’ve had some good ones. Some of the original buildings are still in use, as well as some of the same family-run businesses…obviously run by descendents of those in 1898. There were 70-80 saloons/brothels back then. They were the only “merchants” in town that operated with cash…all the others bartered for services so the brothels kept the town running.
For the next 2 hours, a small group of mostly older folks took a tour of all the downtown part of Skagway…all 20 blocks of it. The entire city is approximately 5 blocks wide and 20 blocks long. There just isn’t any remaining space to build on…unless you head up into the hills. The average house…and I do mean average… in Skagway runs between $200,000 and $300,000…rivaling expensive real estate areas such as San Francisco and Los Angeles.
We even visited the old Skagway cemetery, where the hero of Skagway is buried, along with the man he killed that was robbing everyone of their worldly possessions. He wasn’t physically robbing them but rather he was a world-class con man. He could sell ice to an Eskimo…ha-ha!
After the tour, we were dropped off in the downtown where we walked around a little, took some pictures and did a little shopping. Skagway is an interesting little city. However, once the cruise boats quit coming in September, the town’s cute little shops are all boarded up and it looks like a ghost town.
We caught a shuttle back to the boat and arrived with just enough time to run up to the room, drop some of our stuff and head back out for our second tour of the day…this one headed to a little town called Liarsville and a salmon bake. Liarsville is a recreation of the mining camp by the same name from back during the Gold Rush. We arrived just in time to eat lunch…baked salmon, wild rice, baked beans, cole slaw and great cornbread.
Following lunch, we walked through the little campsite looking at the various displays set up…very interesting how these people lived at the beginning of the White Pass trail up through the mountains towards the Klondike gold country. Then we were entertained by some of the locals with a corny little skit, followed by mining for gold. Sharon and I both found a few flakes…probably fool’s gold…but not even enough to be measurable.
We arrived back at the ship around 2:30 where we promptly stretched out for a rest. Sharon went to get another massage at 4:00 and I took a short nap. The ship pulled out around 6:00 headed for Victoria…where we won’t arrive until 7:00pm Saturday night. Friday, Day 6, will be entirely at sea. We’ll get a lot of rest…and perhaps another workout…before reaching Victoria. Friday night is also the second “formal dining” night on ship…which means about 10-15% will dress for dinner.
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