Tours

One of the fun things to do in Skagway is to take a bus tour into the Yukon. I know it is one of the fun things because my dad drives one of those buses. But he isn't the only one who drives those tours, so bright and early Mom and I get up to take his coworker Bryan's tour. We have been told it is very entertaining and dramatic. It is about a 2.5 hour tour up to the Summit (so you just cross over into Canada but don't get as far as customs. The tour is meant to see wildlife and hear the story of the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush and quite literally, put Skagway on the map.

Bryan gave us VIP seating

This is Bryan...and his bus. He is fun.

We have to wait for Bryan to pick up the rest of his passengers. Although we are VIPs, Bryan is actually waiting for a tour group off of one of the cruise ships. It turns out to be a group of Malaysians on vacation as a company! 200 people from the company are on the cruise and about 20 of them are on our tour. (I don't know the company or who is running it back in Malaysia. But they were a really fun group of people who liked to make fun of each other and to my benefit, spoke English, so we could all joke and have a good time. (These bus tours aren't as much fun if you need an interpreter to go along).

Panaramic view of Skagway (our trailer is on the far far left side, it is visible but hard to explain where it is)

This is the Malaysian group that was on the bus with us. They were a lot of fun.

Bryan was indeed dramatic and theatrical in his telling of the gold rush - it is a sad story where a majority of the "stampeders" die enroute to the gold fields because they were ill-prepared for the journey. They had to hike inland about 25 miles but the Canadian Mounties required each person to have 2000 pounds of gear to safely make the journey. Many brought horses to carry that load, but the trail was only a footpath and not big enough for the horses, so thousands of horses died falling (or being pushed by greedy prospectors) off the trail and consequently tens of thousands of prospectors died as well. And, turns out after 5 months on the trail to get 25 miles, by the time the prospectors from Skagway got to the gold fields (hundreds of miles further away, but travelled by boat quickly) all the claims had been staked and there was no more gold to be had. Still, Skagway became a boom town due to all the people heading up the trail.

Bryan was excellent and our tour group was fun too. Just as we returned to town Dad was taking a tour group up to Carcross for lunch and dog sled mushing. So Mom and I hopped on his tour too! The first couple hours of the trip are the same (there is only one road out of Skagway) but Dad doesn't discuss the gold rush on his tour, so he points out interesting sights along the way and describes why certain mountains, or islands got their names. This time we do go through British Columbia into Yukon to get up to Carcross. I get to use my passport and we get to lunch and dog mushing. I get to sit in the front of the dog sled (it is actually a wheeled cart for running through dirt paths but it was tons of fun.

Me in Canada by a lake - there are lots of them here. Water is everywhere!

I really like this picture of Mom and Dad, although, they are both looking at nothing - scanning for goats that aren't there

I am on a dog sled! (ok a 4-wheel version since there isn't snow)

You can't make up views like this. This is Emerald Lake.

On the way home we spot a man with his camera on the side of the road. Dad pulls up to him to ask if he sees an animal and he points about 8 feet away to a black bear in a berry bush (we decided a currant bush). We loved the opportunity to take pictures of it but what an idiot that guy was for being so close to a bear!! Sure the bear was really into eating berries, but he could just as easily decide to be really into eating a person.

This is how close we are to the bear (think of the guy on the side of the road - IDIOT!)

He could not care less that we are there

Perfection

All of us on Dad's tour! We are in Alaska

Sitting on a bus all day is tiring! We all get home and head over to a friend's house so he and mom and work out a tour for Friday (mom would be the guide, he would be the driver). The client doesn't answer her phone so we leave to borrow bikes from another friend and have dinner. Then we go out to the Eagles Club (reminds me of the American Legion) to watch some live music. The entertainment was great - what some people can do with a guitar and a loop machine is incredible!

Modes of transportation:5
Vacation days: 3
Wildlife count:8