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Alaska, Day 8 (7/5) -- Skagway
Jul. 16th, 2005 10:35 pmThe morning started earlier than originally planned. Somehow my mother confused Juneau and Skagway, which normally wouldn't matter, except that we had a 9:30 expedition planned for Juneau and an 8:20 expedition planned for Skagway. Despite that, we all managed to assemble on the gangway in time to board the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway from Skagway to White Pass Summit.
We were very lucky with the weather; it was a bright sunny day with just enough fluffy white clouds in the sky to be properly scenic. The view through the mountains was breathtaking -- peaks and valleys and glaciers and waterfalls. The railway was built in 1898 to service the gold miners. It started ferrying passengers and their loads once the first four miles of track were built, and had paid for itself by the time it was completely built. It's a narrow-gauge track (three feet) because of the tight curves required by the route. The grade goes up to 3.9%.
The entire rail line is 110 miles, ending at White Horse in the Yukon Territory, but we only traveled 20 miles of it. The turnaround point, White Pass Summit, is 3,000 feet high -- the highest point along the way. It's actually in Canada, but because we never left the train, we didn't have to do anything with Customs.
The train trip lasted three hours, which was just about the right amount of time. On the other hand, one of my brothers, my father, his brother, and two nephews slept at least part of the time. My mother calls this "the curse of the male Friedmans."
After the train ride, we went back to the ship for lunch, and then to Skagway for shopping. There's a certain similarity in port shops, even if the last set I visited were in the Caribbean. Diamonds International has the same shops, and I'm pretty sure the gem that they called "Northern Lights gem" has another name in the Caribbean. One of the shopkeepers told me it's a form of topaz. I was tempted to get a pair of stud earrings -- maybe I will at another stop.
I must have been in a buying mood, because I ended up with a pair of Australian opal earrings, a pair of amber earrings, and three pairs of porcelain earrings. I also bought a cross-stitch pattern based on one of Barbara Lavallee's paintings. I'd noticed her work in another gift shop, where they had a couple of her designs on T-shirts. She's sort of an Alaskan version of Mary whatsername, the one who did "Life is a chair of bowlies." The one I bought is called "Berry Pickers."
I got back just in time for the afternoon trivia game, and our family managed another win. I had a frustrating moment when they asked what country the island of Gozo belonged to. I remembered it from the Lymond Chronicles, and knew that it was next to Malta, but hadn't realized that Malta was its own country, and thought that both Gozo and Malta had to belong to some other country. But everyone else got it wrong, too -- Japan was the popular guess. I was able to parlay this prize plus an unclaimed passport wallet into a tote bag, so I now have one of all the prizes I'm interested in. That isn't going to keep me from playing trivia, of course.
After dinner, we went to the evening's entertainment, which was a tribute show to musicians of the past 50 years, with dancing by the ship's chorus. There were four 15-minute sets, with music from the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Rat Pack, and Aretha Franklin.
After that I hung out in the Crooners Bar for a while and listened to the piano player, then went to bed.
We were very lucky with the weather; it was a bright sunny day with just enough fluffy white clouds in the sky to be properly scenic. The view through the mountains was breathtaking -- peaks and valleys and glaciers and waterfalls. The railway was built in 1898 to service the gold miners. It started ferrying passengers and their loads once the first four miles of track were built, and had paid for itself by the time it was completely built. It's a narrow-gauge track (three feet) because of the tight curves required by the route. The grade goes up to 3.9%.
The entire rail line is 110 miles, ending at White Horse in the Yukon Territory, but we only traveled 20 miles of it. The turnaround point, White Pass Summit, is 3,000 feet high -- the highest point along the way. It's actually in Canada, but because we never left the train, we didn't have to do anything with Customs.
The train trip lasted three hours, which was just about the right amount of time. On the other hand, one of my brothers, my father, his brother, and two nephews slept at least part of the time. My mother calls this "the curse of the male Friedmans."
After the train ride, we went back to the ship for lunch, and then to Skagway for shopping. There's a certain similarity in port shops, even if the last set I visited were in the Caribbean. Diamonds International has the same shops, and I'm pretty sure the gem that they called "Northern Lights gem" has another name in the Caribbean. One of the shopkeepers told me it's a form of topaz. I was tempted to get a pair of stud earrings -- maybe I will at another stop.
I must have been in a buying mood, because I ended up with a pair of Australian opal earrings, a pair of amber earrings, and three pairs of porcelain earrings. I also bought a cross-stitch pattern based on one of Barbara Lavallee's paintings. I'd noticed her work in another gift shop, where they had a couple of her designs on T-shirts. She's sort of an Alaskan version of Mary whatsername, the one who did "Life is a chair of bowlies." The one I bought is called "Berry Pickers."
I got back just in time for the afternoon trivia game, and our family managed another win. I had a frustrating moment when they asked what country the island of Gozo belonged to. I remembered it from the Lymond Chronicles, and knew that it was next to Malta, but hadn't realized that Malta was its own country, and thought that both Gozo and Malta had to belong to some other country. But everyone else got it wrong, too -- Japan was the popular guess. I was able to parlay this prize plus an unclaimed passport wallet into a tote bag, so I now have one of all the prizes I'm interested in. That isn't going to keep me from playing trivia, of course.
After dinner, we went to the evening's entertainment, which was a tribute show to musicians of the past 50 years, with dancing by the ship's chorus. There were four 15-minute sets, with music from the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Rat Pack, and Aretha Franklin.
After that I hung out in the Crooners Bar for a while and listened to the piano player, then went to bed.
