It couldn’t last forever so it wasn’t a great surprise when we woke to find it overcast and lightly raining. Unfortunately, I did not choose my wardrobe for the day very well but that’s on me. We had our first, and only, early call this morning so we ordered room service for breakfast and made it to our gathering area by 6:45 to get on tender boats for our excursion. The tendering went very smoothly and we met our guide “Kara Boo” and we were off. Kara told us much of the gold mining history of Skagway and how the economy had bottomed out in 1893 – 40% unemployment, banks failing, etc. (a close 2nd to the coming Great Depression). So when word of gold came down to the lower 48, 100,000 men made their way to Skagway to strike it rich.
Apparently word had not spread very accurately since there actually wasn’t any gold in Skagway!! It was over 600 miles away in the Klondike region of the Yukon – Dawson City, Canada! Making their way over the mountains was not something many were prepared for and the death toll started to really rise. When the Canadian government demanded that these men carry enough provisions for a year (which was approximately 2000 pounds), the journey became even more arduous. Sometimes men would make 4 or 5 trips up the trails, which were extremely treacherous, just to bring that amount of supplies with them. Eventually the White Pass and Yukon Route narrow gauge railway was built in 1898 and passage over the mountains became less deadly. – Enough history!
Kara Boo took us to Dredgetown where we listened to an Iditarod musher talk about the dogs, the sleds, the provisions necessary to make it through and some techniques that kept participants and their dogs alive. She and her husband had run several Iditarods but had decided to retire and just raise and care for the dogs. The race is not for the faint of heart nor is it for an amateur who has no training. Debbie had several stories of mistakes made by those racers who had not trained with experienced folk beforehand.
Then we got to see the dogs, pet them, watch 6 of them harnessed to a sled race around a track and then have them introduced by name and function. Iditarod sleds have 18 dogs which I can’t envision but with these six, the first two are the leaders – strong and fast; the middle two are the speed and stamina; the two closest to the sled are the wheels – they communicate to the rest of the line where the sled should be going. And they are not what we see on TV – i.e. Siberian Huskies or Alaskan Malamutes. They are smaller, leaner Alaskan Huskies – a cross breed known for stamina, speed, strength and adaptability. They were all well behaved and very eager to run. Then we got to see the puppies!!! We got to hold them, pet them and play a little bit. They were 4 weeks, 7 weeks and 10 weeks old – just adorable. All this was happening outdoors, mostly under shelter but still raining, damp and chilly. I had failed to bring my raincoat (hanging in the closet on the boat did not do me a bit of good!) so I was getting wetter by the minute. I did remember to bring gloves so at least my hands stayed relatively intact.
After the dog sledding demonstration, we moved on to panning for gold. Again, standing in the rain – it was letting up but it wasn’t gone – for the talk and then moving undercover to actually do it was not ideal. The panning itself takes a certain technique that none of us mastered very well but we all managed to find some flakes in our pans. We decided to combine them – which came to a total of 5 grains worth $132.81 – and Nora has a necklace with the flakes in a see-thru locket! She thinks it’s the best!
After gold panning and necklace creating, we all stopped for a drink and a snack at their gift shop and then came back to town. It was only 10:30 but since we had another excursion in the afternoon and we would have had to take a tender boat back and forth to the Westerdam, we decided to just stay in town, visit some shops, grab lunch and then meet the train. We had to try the Skagway Klondike Doughboy (their version of fried dough) and it was really good – very light and with the cinnamon/sugar combo – just right on the sweet.
We walked in and out of numerous shops. Everyone bought their share of souvenirs and eventually we walked back to the dock where the White Pass and Yukon Route train was waiting for us. We got under way about 2:15 and started our journey through history. As we climbed the mountain, the rain stopped so our views were spectacular. We learned more and more about the building of this railroad and what it meant to the miners. 35,000 men, many of which were the miners trying to get over the mountain, laid track, blasted rock, carved two tunnels out of the mountain and eventually succeeded. Amazingly, there were only 35 deaths during the course of the project.
Returning to the boat went smoothly as well and we had some time before our one “fancy” dinner reservation at 8:00. I spent the time finishing yesterday’s blog the best I could – the Internet continues to be spotty, unreliable and what the ship offers is weak. So if I can’t get the mobile hotspot to work on my phone, I’m pretty much out of luck. I’ve been writing the text in Word and then plugging it into the blog when I can. I’ve taken less pictures this time because Lia is a great photographer and Devon has a REAL camera that takes excellent photos and he gets better learning to use it every day so I just upload their pictures and wait for the Internet to come alive. I’m hoping once we’re on land, it will be steadier.
Our dinner was at the Canaletto restaurant offering Italian themed meals and although our view out the window was a portion of the mountain that had recently suffered a rockfall and many “artists” had painted signs and logos on it, the food was delightful, the service was very professional and the conversation lively. We ate our fill (probably more than we should have) and retired back to our rooms.
Tomorrow is Glacier Bay sailing – we don’t get off the boat – Park Rangers get on and narrate while we sail up into the bay. Hopefully a piece “calves” off while we’re hanging out!
Good night!
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