A Day In Skagway

We had a whole day to spend in Skagway. My siblings took off on a day-long train ride taking them all around and into Canada and back. My parents took a tour of the city and went to see a play.

As usual, Glen felt like we had already seen and done Skagway and so our plan was to just walk around the little town and stretch our legs.

Also as usual--it was raining that day.

We learned from our last cruise to Skagway about the paintings all along the rock wall where the ships come in. It has been a tradition for the last century for ships to record their ship and captain's name and the date it arrived for the first time in Skagway.

Skagway is a beautiful, quaint little town to walk through.

The historic Red Onion Saloon once operated as one of the most famous bordellos in Skagway and is a popular stop for tourists.

We stopped instead to watch the Days of '98 Show about Skagway's most notorious outlaw Soapy Smith during the days of the Klondike Gold Rush.

Turns out this was the same play Mom and Dad went to see.

There were many totem poles we saw while in Alaska. Which of these things is not like the other?

As we were doing what the rest of the tourists in Skagway were doing--walking up and down the streets and looking at all the stores--one particular store caught our eye. Nestled amid all the regular, touristy-type shops was a regular hardware store.

We synchronized our steps with an eager hop, skip and a jump (excuse this silly little statement because I just watched a synchronized swimming routine on the Olympics and it made an impression on my mind...) making our way quickly into the store.

We just knew there was going to be something that would catch our eye signaling the most perfect thing for us to use for our egg drop competition.

As we were wandering around the store, we both overheard a conversation going on between another tourist couple walking the aisles near us. The husband made this profound statement to his wife, "Honey, this is really just a hardware store." What did they expect? Look at the sign out front. It says very plainly: Hardware Co.

At the exact same moment (synchronization coming into play again), Glen and I turned down an aisle away from the couple and simultaneously burst into laughter. It was so funny! We were absolutely thrilled to be in a hardware store and apparently they were very disappointed it was just a hardware store.

Something in the hardware store did catch our eye that we felt would be perfect for our upcoming egg drop project. We bought a package of styrofoam cups and a roll of masking tape. The hardware store checker did not provide us with a sack to carry our purchases.

As we walked out of town, noticing the beautiful scenery as we went, we saw lots of our fellow passengers making their way back to the ship along with us. The only difference between us and them is they all had their purchases nestled inside store bags advertising the quaint shops they had frequented. We were left wondering just exactly what they might have purchased.

I felt very silly walking along with our cups and tape right out there for everyone to see...and wonder about... Glen was most worried our competition would see us and then know our plan of action.

We had a little time in the afternoon to chill out in the cabin. Nothing like getting all comfy and cozy reading a good book.

Dinner is always a welcome thing to look forward to each evening. Shockingly, I only took one picture of food this particular night.

We went out on our balcony to take a look around as the ship was leaving the port.

I had a little fun taking a picture of the reflection of us in our sliding glass door.

We went up top of the ship to take a look around as the ship was sailing out of Skagway.

I got a huge kick out of these three characters who were up viewing the scene as well.

We almost didn't see them. They were in camo and blended in with the scenery.

Then the faces of my brothers Andy, Mike and Sam came into view. I'm just wondering if baby brother Mark felt left out of the group since he didn't (at least to my knowledge) come aboard the ship with either a camouflage coat or a pair of binoculars.

There certainly is one thing Mark can be pleased about and that is the gorgeous picture he took while they were on their train excursion.

This is the description Michelle sent with this photo she said I could post on the blog: The lake is in BC Canada, right next to the Yukon border. And we think it's Tutshi Lake, but it could be the lake before that which is Tagish Lake. So, whatever you feel like calling it... :)

This is what I feel like calling it: MAGNIFICENTLY BEAUTIFUL!!!

No wonder my brothers walk around with binoculars at the ready. There is so much beauty to be seen in Alaska. One can hardly take it all in.