Tuesday, June 22 - Skagway, the Gateway to the Klondike - Our First Stop on our Cruise

The ship pulled into Skagway early this morning. We went up to the buffet to have a hearty breakfast to sustain ourselves for the day! After disembarking the ship, we headed to the company's office where we had our reservations for our shuttle trip. When we arrived we were told that they had upgraded our trip (probably because no one had signed up for our original one). We'd be leaving an hour later, but travelling further, which sounded good to us. We had a couple of hours, so we walked down to the National Park Service info center and took a walking tour of the town, led by one of the rangers. He did it a little differently, introducing 6 characters from the history of the town, taking us to the houses that they lived, etc. Then at the end he had us guess the outcomes of each of the people; who was murdered, who committed suicide, etc. It was a very interesting tour.
The touristy part of Skagway looks like a Hollywood movie set - all brightly painted buildings, wooden sidewalks, etc. Still having time before our tour, Bruce walked around town taking pictures and I wandered through the shops. There were a few interesting ones, but most were cheap souvenirs or expensive jewelry. We boarded our shuttle at 12:30, along with 2 other couples. We drove out of town and paralled the train tracks that goes through White Pass. This was the route the prospectors took to reach the Klondike Gold Rush! The terrain was very rugged - it was amazing to see first hand what these people faced in their journey. We passed into British Columbia and then finally end at the "Welcome to the Yukon Territory" sign!
The guide was very good; told us all about the history of the area, along with all his own opinions on politics, the environment, unfriendliness of people in Southern California (where he winters)....etc., etc. At one point along the way, we saw several tour buses along the side of the road, so we pulled off too, and were rewarded with two grizzlies along the side of the road, eating their lunch. Grizzlies are not common in this area and the guide was very surprised to see them. We ended the tour back in town around 4:30, and made a stop at the Skagway Brewery for some local beer. Back on the ship, we had a little afternoon snack since we had not stopped for lunch. Tonight was "Italian Night" in the dining room - all the waiters were dressed accordingly. The dinner servings seemed much larger than usual (that's the Italian way, I guess). I had Eggplant Parm appetizer, Pasta e Fagioli soup, Chicken Breast with ham, cheese and spinach, and a dessert that Elena the waitress recommended- berries with a meringue topping (not as good as the tiramisu that she put on the table for us all to share). Tonight's show was a variety show put on by talented crew members - very well done. Another early morning tomorrow - off to Juneau!