9/1
Another amazing day in Skagway. It started early, we docked at about 6 AM, had an early breakfast and were on shore by 9 for the one excursion we signed up for with our travel agent. There was definite blue in the sky, even early in the morning, and we were looking forward to the trip up to the White Pass. Skagway is an old gold mining town, and our first stop was to the Gold Rush Cemetery to hear the story of the legendary Frank Reid who shot and killed the outlaw and con-man Soapy Smith, but was himself mortally wounded in the shootout. The cemetery was so sad—so most of the gravestones had 1889 as the year of death—prime gold rush era, but many, many of them were markers of the graves of children 2, 4 or 8 years old. I guess I don’t understand the allure of the “get rich quick” idea which would prompt a couple to sell everything to move to this godforsaken part of the world in the hope of finding gold, only to wind up, more often than not, failing--conned out of everything or dead.
Anyway, we started the drive up to White Pass, driving along the route the old railroad took, stopping often for photo-ops. The scenery was beautiful—low clouds snaking their way in between the mountain ridges, some blue skies in the background and at the bottom lush vegetation: spruce, pine, hemlock aspens, etc. As we got higher, there were numerous waterfalls rushing down the cliffs at the sides of the road, and then we were in the sub-alpine zone, with the same growth, but all stunted and wind scarred.
The view was amazing, all the way up and down, and the skies got clearer and clearer. The bus driver and tour guide, who is a local, of course, kept marveling at the weather—I guess it really was an exceptional; day—same thing we’ve been hearing all trip! We were back at the boat by noon, changed and went for a hike, this time up to and around a beautiful glacial lake, Lower Dewey Lake. The way up was only about a mile, but it was quite steep. Soon we got our first glimpses of the lake—emerald green with glacial silt, and perfectly reflecting the lush vegetation which surrounded it. There was a path all the way around ten lake, offering different views all around: a mountain with a glacier on top at one end, swampy grasses at the other. It was so peaceful up there, and the trail was just beautiful. At the far tip of the lake, we found the place where the rivers came in and followed them upstream a bit—icy, clear mountain water. Never see that in Southern California!
After enjoying a rest on a rock above the lake in the bright sunshine, we headed back down to enjoy a little of Skagway. The town is very touristy, for sure, but very small, and much of it has been maintained to look much as it did 100+ years ago. We shopped a little, stopped in at the Skagway Brewing Company for Yoram to try a local favorite recommended to him by the tour guide: Spruce Tip Blonde Lager. Apparently, they pick the very tips of the spruce trees in the spring and use them to make the beer! It gives it a citrus-y flavor and is quite unique. Apparently the old sea captains rationed it and gave it to their sailors to avoid scurvy because of the high Vitamin C content. It was fun mixing with the town residents, one of whom was telling is girlfriend about how a friend of his “cold-cocked” a bear who wanted to mess with his dog! We sat for a while enjoying the warmth of the sun on our faces and the beauty of the Skagway harbor before heading back to get ready for dinner.
The show for the evening was simply advertised as Barnaby—we knew nothing about him, but our dinner companions said he was funny, so we decided to give it a shot. He was a comedian, juggler, singer—about 60 years old, skinny as a rail, long white hair standing alone on stage. He began juggling 3 balls and telling jokes, and he was really funny! Comedy doesn’t translate well, but he really was very good. At one point he brought up a boy from the audience to help him with a trick, asked him where he was from and he answered, “Irvine”! Anyway, his grand finale was tossing 5 rings into the audience. Then as he juggled 3 of them, he put a kazoo into his mouth and, without words, indicated that the audience members who had the rings should throw them up towards him and he would catch them around his neck. Yoram had the last ring, and he, again without words, directed Yoram to throw the ring to the far side of the stage and he would run across and catch it around his neck. Yoram’s throw went wild, Barnaby threw it back and I caught it, my throw went wild, so he, still with the kazoo, brought Yoram up onto the stage, gave him a kazoo, and indicated that he should “do the show”. Yoram (or should I say, Joe?) was a great sport. He gave the directions with the kazoo, Barnaby.threw the ring, and Yoram tried to catch it around his neck. It took him 3 tries, but finally got it!! He did himself proud, as one of the stars of the Showroom at Sea. After his Dover Castle experience, maybe he chose the wrong career? And Irvine was well represented on the stage that night.
After the show, we saw that there was line dancing upstairs, and we decided to give that a try. It was really fun! I’m always intimidated by those kinds of things because I don’t know the dances, but they taught us, and after a while I caught on, and we had a great time, and got a little exercise before bed.
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