Thursday, September 18 – Skagway

When we initially booked this cruise I saw we were going to Skagway and I have to admit the first thing that came to my mind was who would name a city Skagway – it sounds like “skank way” Shan admitted later that she actually had a similar thought. Then as I was putting together the shore excursion excel sheet (yes I did put together an excel sheet of all the excursions – there was so many I needed them organized to figure out what to do.) I noticed there were options like learn to cook in the red light district and take a walking tour with a madam. Hmm… it got me thinking maybe there was some connection. So I consulted wiki and found out that “Between 1897-1898, Skagway was a lawless town, described by one Royal Northwest Mounted Police "Mountie" as "little better than a hell on earth." Fights, prostitutes and liquor were ever-present on Skagway's streets.” Interesting… Anyway…

The ship docked at Skagway at 6:00 am and we had planned the mountain biking excursion, but that did not start until mid morning. Since we had gone to bed early the night before we got up early to go wonder around Skagway before the bike trip. One of things we had heard about was the cliff bordering the pier, every time a new ship comes into port, someone from the ship gets off and paints the name of the ship on the cliff. Here is some of the artwork.

We talked into town and found this handy map of the city.
I have to admit I really liked the town of Skagway – it was so cute and so quant. I know so much if it touristy, but I didn’t care. Here are some pictures of the main street.

Isn’t it cute?

We found a new friend – Mr. Moose giving a hug Shan visiting the moose This was another little street with the mountains in the background The Alaska Shirt Co – was a store that had amazing deal. I got a couple long sleeved t-shirts for $5 each. The big excursion in Skagway is the White Pass train ride. People take the train that was built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush. The route climbs 3000 feet in twenty miles and provides breath taking views. Shannon and I did not take this excursion, but we did get our picture taken with the train Here is Shannon. And the mascot of the train.

After we wondered around town we went back to the ship to get ready for our excursion.