Today started early with an arrival to Skagway around 6:30am. Only one of us was up that early. Other ships in port were the Coral Princess, Oceana Riviera, and the Seven Seas Explorer which docked across from in the Ore Dock around 9:30am. The Zaandam was in the best spot at the Broadway Dock, nosed into the town. The other two ships were at the Railroad Dock and closest to the slide area.
Many folks had been up early to go to the Lido for breakfast, then be ready to join their tours at 7:30am, mostly on the White Pass & Yukon Train or by bus for half of the way. We have taken this all day excursion on past trips and did like it. It is one that we highly suggest.
We had our usual breakfast in an empty Pinnacle Grill before a few other couples arrived after 8am. Then we stayed onboard to work in our room until the crew drill took place at 9:30am. Waiting until it was over, we left the ship by 10:30am. The weather was different from last week with overcast and cloudy skies. There was very little blue sky peeking through, but there was no rain. And it was chilly. Skagway is located in a valley surrounded by tall mountains. It is known for the powerful winds that come through here. Lucky or us, those winds were not blowing today. A north wind can make the temperature feel 50 degrees colder. Average summer temps can reach to 67 degrees, but in the winter, you can expect 18 to 37 degrees. About 26 inches of rain falls a year, and in winter, the snow is around 39 inches deep. White Pass can have more than 20 feet of snow. It's a rugged countryside for the 1240 hardy residents that stay here all year.
Coming back to our room, we discovered that the veranda was being cleaned as they had informed us yesterday. The windows were hosed and squeegeed, and the floor and furniture were washed. It seems that they do this once a week, which is nice. Although it would take all day for the floor to dry, we did wipe the railing down.
A little more info reveals that in 2020, the median household income was $71,875. Skagway is trying to attract more shippers from the Yukon mines to boost winter employment. Right now, a copper mine uses the port. Finally, they are completing a $65 million port project to accommodate larger and longer ships. In May, the price of regular gas was $5.75 gallon, milk was close to $8 a gallon, and houses were selling around $600K.
So our plan for today was to hike as far as we felt comfortable , which was pretty much the same path we took a week ago. Making it to the fairly new Police and Fire Station, we passed by Pullen Creek and the Pond, noticing that most of the salmon were gone….even the dead ones. The smell was gone as well, so maybe we did not have to worry about bears in the area. Staying on Spring Street, we passed by the Moore homestead and the McCabe building that houses a museum these days. On display, they have Haida canoes, a cutter sleigh, Bering Sea kayaks, WWII history, gold rush supplies of old, and Alaska native handicraft. We did take notice that every city and historical building in town was flying the American flag at half-mast in remembrance of 9-11 and more recent tragedies.
Turning left, we made our way to Main Street where it is mostly residential with country homes, the elementary and high schools, and some churches. Since it was Saturday, the kids were off, and we only saw a few youngsters in Mollie Walsh Park. There were also RV and trailer grounds up this way, but there were only a few rigs left. The summer season is about to end and these travelers head south for the winter.
Surprisingly, it was very quiet in town, even with four ships. That would change once the tours ended and the guests would head out for some serious shopping and food and drink. There are many nice jewelry and souvenir stores here, but they seem to be less pushy compared to Juneau and Ketchikan. We tend to stay out of the jewelry shops, but last year, one of us did purchase a silk scarf with an artist's design on it. Very useful in this part of the world for sure.
Naturally, we went back to the Station Bar and Grill a good place with no waiting. This time we ordered Alaskan Brewery amber and white draft beers. Very good. Our pizza was a cheese one with grilled onions, mushrooms, and pepperoni. It was so good, we told the waiter (owner) that they served the best pizza in all of Alaska, which brought a smile to his face.
We did save a little room to share one plate-size Frybread at the Klondike Doughboy store. The only place to devour this treat was outside where a bunch of aggressive ravens were begging for crumbs. Other folks were giving them bites of the sweet sugar and cinnamon-coated doughnut, so it encouraged more of them to come. Reminded us of the Hitchcock movie, The Birds.
Wanting to locate the Grizzly General store, we followed the map and located it. Not exactly what we expected for a general market, they sold many other essentials like electronics and mostly over the counter medicines and sundries. Then lastly, we strolled through one of the larger souvenir stores to check out Lazy Dog sleepwear. Here's a funny story. Some of the sleep t's were on sale for 40% off. Well that sounded good, but their everyday price was higher than all the other stores by a lot. So over-inflating the original price, and taking off 40% was still higher than the regular pricing in Ketchikan for instance. Honestly, we don't think people are that dumb these days.
We were back to the ship by 4pm, having time to relax on our sun-filled veranda and catch up on writing. Yes, the sun actually came out but not until about 3pm. Sure felt good, but when it went down behind the mountains, it was downright cold.
Time for dinner, we ordered the same meal starting with beef carpaccio, Caesar salads, and the parmesan-crusted chicken breast, which was delicious served piping hot and drizzled with a mustard sauce. One scoop of biscotti ice cream and one scoop of strawberry sorbet finished our meal. The service has been seamless in the dining room so far, and we have very attentive, nice waiters as well as head waiters. Guess we lucked out because they will stay with us until November 19th.
There was entertainment this evening featuring the World Stage Repertory Company with Rock Britannia….pop from across the Pond. British rock from the 60's, 70's and 80's with legendary artists that we remember like it was yesterday. The ship left the dock by 9pm, and now we headed to Glacier Bay once again.
Bill & Mary Ann
