Saturday, June 15, 2013

The White Pass and Yukon Railway and Skagway, AK - Day 7


Today we docked in Skagway Alaska. I had the morning to explore the town a bit, lots jewelry stores as is typical for a cruise port town. After a morning exploring and watching the  helicopter tours operate I got ready for my afternoon tour. The helicopters took folks up to the glacier for walkabouts. The tour company had 7 helicopters and pads they were in constant use.

My tour however was the White Pass scenic railway. It was an old narrow-gauge railroad that climbed  almost 3000 feet from sea level and crossed into the Yukon Territory of Canada. Scenic it was for sure! The town of Skagway had 4 cruise ships in port today,a and each had a dedicated train for the trip up to the summit. All 4 trains ran up the pass, and then we switched back and passed each other for the trip back down. Like I said, incredibly scenic and today was spectacular weather wise. I have some amazing pics from the journey I will post as soon as I am able to upload them.

I am on vacation, but work is never far behind. Ironically, when I boarded the railcar, I noticed one of my brokers from my firm, Sagepoint Financial sitting across from me. She was traveling to Alaska, from Maine, with her husband and sister. Luckily, she is one of my favorite brokers, and lives not far from my parents home.We enjoyed the trip up and back together and then they invited me to joint hem for dinner.

After dinner I had a few cocktails with a large group at one of my favorite bars on the ship. The bartender is a short Phillipino guy with funny jokes and magic that has his patrons all laughing or puzzled as to how he did that! Tonight he introduced me to a few new cocktails. Whew!

Then I spent some time in the casino playing craps. Usually I do well at craps but luck has not been with me......Grrrrr!!

Tomorrow is the port of Ketchikan Alaska. It has a memorable waterfront. I am slated to see a lumberjack show in the late morning and then take a floatplane trip into one of the famous fjords called Misty Fjords! After tonight, just 2 more nights on board, a good thing as I am running out of clean clothes but so sad to see this trip end. Alaska is amazing for sure. One nice thing is we sail in protected waters and so seas have been real still or glass-like. And we see wildlife like seals, whales, etc all the time. Just look outside and you will see something.

Hard to imagine it is almost over. A friend of mine is just starting an Alaska trip of his own, and I have seen so many of his cool pics posted on Facebook, including a Grizzly encounter!!!  Another buddy wants to come up here in August, not sure I can swing that but if I could I AM IN! Alaska is cool!

Okay bye for now, I am a bit tipsy and ready for bed!


No comments:

Post a Comment