Our last stop for excursions was Skagway. This was the starting point for the big gold rush into Alaska. It was a nice little town. It was destroyed by a big earthquake many years ago. The earthquake created a big tidal wave which destroyed a few of Alaska's coastal towns. We only took one excursion from Skagway, but it was an eight hour trip. We started off by bus and drove way up into the mountains. We started off in a lot of fog, but when we broke through, we saw some mountain goats and then arrived in a barren area called a subarctic zone. Then we crossed out of Alaska and returned to Canada. We were in British Columbia for a little while and then we crossed into the Yukon! I thought that was pretty cool. We had a barbecue chicken lunch in Carcross (short for Caribou Crossing). It was very good. There was a cool large taxidermy museum. We got our passports stamped to show we were in the Yukon. Then we took the White Pass train back down to Skagway. The White Pass trail and Chilcoot trail were the big trails over the mountains for the men of the gold rush.
Lisa on our cruise ship with Skagway behind her
Red Onion Saloon in Skagway. We didn't actually try a beer there, but we did
stop in at a local brewery a couple buildings down.
This is the most photographed building in Skagway. The entire front of the building is covered in animal antlers.
This is a very old building. Guess what kind of business took place here. Can you read the sign? "House of Negotiable Affection" :-)
This is Lisa in the mountains above Skagway. Notice there are no trees or anything up here. It's called the subarctic zone. It is brutal up there in the winter. Those gold rushers crossed it in the winter on foot. OUCH!!
Lisa and I had our picture taken as we crossed into the Yukon
Skagway continued....