We spent this morning in the town of Skagway.  Most unfortunately our helicopter flightseeing and trip to the dogsled camp on a glacier was canceled.  Apparently helicopters, heavy clouds, and mountains make for a nasty mix.  The wife is very disappointed as it was the trip she was most looking forward to.  On the plus side, it puts almost $1000 back in our pockets, $200 of which we’ve already allocated to a lazy river float tomorrow in Kluane National Park.

While you may not have been to Alaska, you’ve been to Skagway in one form or another.  While the scenery is beautiful, and the history no doubt rich, the town itself is like Myrtle Beach, Lake George, or countless other tourist disasters found in the lower 48.  The stores can be broken down nicely into 3 categories.  You have your art galleries, a few of which do stock some absolutely gorgeous native art.  If I had a few thousand dollars I didn’t know what to do with, I’d likely buy myself some culture.

The 2nd category is jewelry stores.  Alaska seems to be full of them.  I have no idea why.

The 3rd, and far away the most dominate type of store is what I’m affectionately referring to as “The Great Alaskan Crap Store”.  Tee shirts, shot glasses, jackets, beer cozies…if you can print the word “Alaska” on it, they sell it.

There are a few fur stores, one of which had an absolutely fabulous fur codpiece in the window.  Not sure which animal sacrificed its life to become the most glorious ball-warmer I’ve ever seen, but damned if I didn’t think about buying it as a gift for my buddy Jon.

We spent the afternoon traveling from Skagway to Whitehorse in the Canadian Yukon Territory by train, and bus.  What’s becoming very apparent to us is that a fairly large chunk of our Alaskan vacation is being spent in Canada.  I’m confused.

Taking phots is proving very challenging.  Between the sightseeing boats, and the train out of Skagway, I’ve encountered more than my share of bumpy rides.  The washed out gray skies (sunshine is limited during July in Alaska), are not as picturesque as what we saw in the brochures.  That said, it’s a different kind of beauty…more brooding, but no less impressive.

We’re struggling to comprehend that fact that we still have over a week left in Alaska/Yukon.  We’ve already seen so much, and yet two national parks as well as Anchorage and Fairbanks are still ahead of us. Most of it should be over steady ground

Now that we’re off the boat, Holland America has split us into our tour group.  Apart from a young asian boy, and his extended family, my wife and I are 20 years the younger most of the group.  At times I’m not sure if I’m in Alaska or Del Boca Vista.

As I mentioned, tomorrow will be spent in Kluane National Park.  Holland America is the only cruise line that goes to Kluane, and that’s a good part of the reason we chose Holland.  It’s a two hour bus ride to get to the park, but as we’ve already learned, long road trips ride easy with the scenery we have around us.  Once in Kluane we’re off on a 4-5 hour lazy river float.  We anticipate our best wildlife viewing opportunity to date with eagles, bears, wolves, beavers, and moose among the potential critters we may stumble across.

Local time is about 9:30 PM.  Having finished my bubble tea, I’m hitting the shower, and then off to bed.  Tomorrow starts at 6:45.

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