CapnBob: North to Alaska Part II

Okay, so I left us as our ship was making its way up the "Inside Passage" of islands and channels which form a good part of the southeast Alaska "panhandle". Next stop: Juneau, the state capital. Incidentally, the ship's using these island-sheltered waters had one huge advantage for anyone prone to seasickness: there was no motion of the ship. The whole time we were in those waters, you might as well have been in a building on dry land.

Back to Juneau: it's the state capital but it's the only state capital which cannot be reached from the rest of the state by road. You either fly in or take a boat (And before you yell: "What about Hawaii?", Honolulu, the state capital, can be reached from any part of its island of Oahu, which is at least part of the state.). Juneau's shore excursions consisted of panning for gold, a salmon bake, and getting rained on. Actually, the rain was not unexpected - it's pretty much standard summer weather for SE Alaska and we came prepared with waterproof slickers etc. The gold panning was kind of neat. We were bussed into the hills behind the town by a sort of Gabby Hayes wannabe who then led us on foot to a creek bed where he passed out pans and gravel and showed us what to do. Michelle and I both duly panned out (with much help from Mr. Hayes) miniscule but visible specks of actual gold which we then deposited in the glass vials provided to take home with us. I doubt either of us will ever make a living at prospecting at any time in the near future, but we had a great time. Then it was on to the salmon bake.

Michelle pans for gold!

The salmon bake was held outdoors but thankfully under a series of plastic canopies (the rain still had not let up). It consisted of salmon cooked over an alderwood fire accompanied by various salads, cornbread, beans etc. The salmon was not King salmon (generally considered the best quality) and was not as good as we had expected, but the rest of the food was quite good. However, the two best things about the salmon bake were quite peripheral to it: a pit where you could roast marshmellows over an open fire, and a bear cub hanging out in a tree. Other than some bald eagles we spotted on the way to the previous day's crab feast, he was our first wildlife of the trip.

The bus from the panning/bake dropped us off in the center of the Juneau shopping district where, after an aborted attempt to get a beer in the local "Famous Olde Saloon" - wall to wall tourists - we wandered through some shops and then took a tender back to the ship. Our next stop was Skagway.

Skagway's claim to fame was that it more or less existed to fleece the prospectors on their way up the White Pass to the Klondike gold fields in Canada. Skagway is at the head of an inlet that is as close as you can get to the Klondike by sea and from there you had to cart yourself and your gear over some mountains into Canada. The big tourist attraction is the White Pass and Yukon Railroad, a narrow gauge railroad built to carry miners etc. up the White Pass into Canada. It was literally carved out of solid rock in the sides of the mountains in the pass. We had taken this ride the last time we cruised Alaska, so this time we opted for the cheaper and less time-consuming van ride up the modern road on the other side of the pass. The trip was quite enjoyable. Thanks to this road, Skagway does connect with the rest of the world through Canada unlike most of the other towns in the AK panhandle. However, if anyone is there for the first time I highly recommend the railroad - it's quite spectacular. Any way, our van driver was an interesting guy. As one of the 800 or so year-round residents of Skagway, he pretty much knew everyone in town and like many locals held about three jobs. Afterward, the van dropped us in the middle of Skagway and we wandered into a local tavern for some lunch. Michelle and I shared an amazing sandwich. I don't remember what the tavern called it but it was a what we called a Thanksgiving night sandwich. That is, it was turkey breast, stuffing and cranberry sauce with lettuce and tomato. It was served on thick slabs of homemade style whole grain bread and was probably better than anything we had eaten thus far on the ship. After wandering around the town a while, it was back to the ship. But first, I stopped at the train depot and got a deal on a W.P.&Y. R.R. T-shirt and baseball cap. Also, got a nice photo of their one steam locomotive chugging along with a cruise ship in the background - kind of sums up Skagway.