Skagway, Home of the North Wind, and gateway to the Yukon during the Gold Rush in 1887.
The Serenity continued up the Inner Passage approximately 90 miles from Juneau to Skagway, our furthest point North. We docked right around 7AM next to the narrow gauge railway, which played a key role in our plans for the day.
Alison and I actually started breakfast up on the Lido deck a little after 6, and Marion and Barry joined a little later. It was a rather easy excursion for us today. Meet at 8:00 in the Galaxy Lounge for the SGY-H White Pass Scenic Railway tour. We walked from the Serenity right to the train. Our train (and there were at least 2 ready to go) had two diesel engines and about seven period-based passenger cars. When the Gold Rush commenced, there was no train, and the trek up to Canada’s Yukon was, to quote someone, Hell on Earth.
The train track was laid at the cost of 35 documented lives, probably more, and still runs multiple times daily. It runs from Skagway up to the Canadian border and a few miles into Canada before the engines decouple and move to the other end of the train for the trip back to Skagway. It was an interesting 2-3 hours, and well worth it.
Upon returning to Serenity, we went to the Main Dining Room for lunch. After lunch, Alison, Marion and I walked into Skagway’s downtown for exercise and to shop. After returning from the cold and wind, we boarded and went to our cabins to shower and dress for the evening.
At 5:00, we went to Dr. Bob Donaldson’s lecture on “Global Threats in the Twenty-first Century – Part 1: How did we get to this place in history, and why does it seem so dangerous here?” I know, not an uplifting topic, but interesting nonetheless. Instead of waiting for our dinner reservation at 8PM, we sccessfully crashed the 6PM seating.
At 8:30, we attended the nostalgic production, “Across the Pond”, which was a 50’s and 60’s song and dance production that was pretty well done. The lead singer was a bit of a square peg (with a good voice), but the music was near and dear to our hearts, and we enjoyed the show.
Steps: 9,331