On day seven, we hit land in Skagway, Alaska. The “tourist” part of town is about seven blocks long and looks like an old western movie set. Each building is painted a different color, and each one makes their living by selling to cruise ship tourists.
After walking around town a bit, we had lunch at the Red Onion Saloon. The Red Onion was, back in the day, a brothel. Now it’s a combination restaurant and brothel museum. All the waitresses were dressed as old western madams.
After lunch we boarded a bus that took us to a train. The White Pass – Yukon Route takes you from sea level to 7,500 feet in about 12 miles. The train cars are full of windows and you could even stand on the platforms in between cars, which we did. When I am finally able to upload my pictures you will see a hundred or so pix of snow-capped mountains. The pictures will not do the scenery justice. The train ride took us to Canada and back. I think we were within 20-30 miles of the Yukon Territory. Along the way we saw the original paths taken by those in search of gold a hundred years ago. We also saw several graves.
Our next stop was in Lyrewood, where after we were treated with snacks and a show,!we got to pan for gold. At least they didn’t BS us — the pans were prefilled with dirt and minor flakes of good. Morgan found 3 flakes of gold worth $8-$10 each. Mason found 10. From there, it was back to the boat.
Morgan is having a blast at Kids Club, watching movies and making crafts. Mason is shooting hoops on the top of the cruise ship.
I can’t remember if I mentioned this or not but I played $40 in slots on the ships casino and lost it all in about 3 minutes. I’m definitely done with the ship’s casino.