Tuesday – second day in Skagway and in “camp” at Liarsville

Tuesday -- settling in at Liarsville camp and Skagway
Please note this belated posting is from an entry around May 6.

This is my second day in “camp” at Liarsville – the recreated gold rush camp where I’m working and living on-site in employee housing. I’m taking stock of my housing accommodations, and to put it simply I’m not impressed. We are talking VERY basic accommodations here which would be okay, except they are not in what I would call clean and maintained shape. For example, “The French” common house (where I’m staying) has three bedrooms and one bathroom for residents of the house, and a kitchen and laundry area and den shared by everyone in camp. The house has only one electric heater which is located in the den – so in order for any heat to make its way to your bedroom that means you must leave your bedroom door open, so privacy is pretty nonexistent. And that one heater is the extent of our heat, so since the nights drop into the 40's throughout the summer, since I didn't have room to bring a big comforter I'll probably be sleeping in my sleeping bag on top of my bed for the duration.

The firepit in the housing area. That's "The French" house in the background, and my room is the one on the left side that sticks out like a porch. It's a small room without a closet, but on the plus side I have my own entrance and little deck. The other two houses are out of view on this photo but are to the right as you follow the path around from the firering. The guys in camp build a fire pretty much every night in the firepit and we often sit outside after work.

The French is an old log cabin with log walls inside and out and which was probably quite charming in its day, but which has not been maintained and is in desperate need of some TLC. The floors are worn with Formica covering which is peeling and severely scuffed and stained. Most of the beds are simply mattresses and box springs sitting on plain wooden frames and in some cases just sitting on the floor without any frame whatsoever. Some of the windows are broken, the mosquito screens are torn (have you SEEN the size of the mosquitoes in Alaska?!), and curtains are either MIA completely or spare pieces of cloth simply tacked to the window frame and almost never covering the entire window. The walls and ceilings have cobwebs everywhere and show no evidence of a thorough cleaning anytime recently. Apparently we inherited whatever condition the crew that stayed here last year left behind, and apparently they weren’t exactly into taking care of their residence – or maybe it just wasn’t prepared after the long winter – I’m not sure. Perhaps the three bears lived her during their hibernation months this winter. Other than that it’s great though. (Not! But as they say, it is what it is, and this is Alaska!).

The other side of my room which has the door to the deck and direct access outside. My room is off the kitchen and laundry area.

We’re assigned to certain cabins as there is room available, but in essence all the cabins are shared among various people, so the result is we share everything – which can make things interesting to determine how to split up household duties like cleaning and cooking. The cabin where I’m living is the one complete with the full kitchen, washer/dryer and TV (but no cable so it’s VHS movies only on the old VCR player). Since this is the common house that also means it gets the most traffic. Our floors are pretty filthy; tonight we swept and mopped, but we live in the forest out here and it’s hard to keep the floors clean with mud right outside our door and people tracking in and out all the time. I’m not exactly what I’d call a neat person (good thing since Tim and I live with three dogs at home), but I think living in something that’s basically clean and orderly is a good thing, so the living conditions here are probably going to be a challenge for me. Time will tell.

The den in the common house. We have an old television (but no cable, so just VCR tapes to watch). There isn't much in the way of furniture and what is there is pretty old.

So while I'm not that thrilled with the company I'm working for and how they manage employee housing conditions (they don't even seem to have an HR department at all which to me says a lot, and nothing especially good about working for them) -- the good news is that I really like the people I work with. I'm not sure what the total count of employees comes to but it's probably 30-35, with about 1/2 of us living here in Liarsville, and the other half living in town -- most of them live in the RV park which the company also operates. We have people from all over the country (Utah, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, Washington, etc.) and several from other countries as well (Muldovia and Bogota, Columbia). There are couples here working together the way Tim and I hope to do in future -- if this "test" of this type of work turns out to be something we think we'll enjoy. And of course there are people here alone too. We have performers, musicians, cookhouse staff and gift shop staff here in Liarsville, and in town we have jeep tour drivers and bus driver and RV park staff; and we have staff from early 20's to probably folks in their 60's, so it's a very varied group in many ways which is cool.

As for me, I actually have two jobs -- I work part of the time down at the docks with the cruise line shore excursion managers and passengers - we "dock reps" are sort of the liaison between the cruise ship and the tour operators, ensuring passengers get to and from their shore excursions okay; and then I also work part-time in the gift shop in Liarsville where I am also in costume most of the time wearing period clothing. (I'll try to post a photo when we have some time to take pictures of each other -- typically we're so busy working there just isn't time).

Friday – Getting to know Skagway

I’ve been in camp now for almost a week, and although I haven’t gotten into a regular routine yet, I am starting to get used to the ebb and flow here. Thursday was a tough day because we had a housing meeting and I spoke up about my dismay at our living conditions. Afterward I felt sort of bad for the Liarsville manager because he looked pretty beat up, but I heard from a lot of people later who said they were glad of what I said and that I spoke for all of them. Yeah that’s me – Norma Ray of the North. I also had a long talk later in the day with ATA’s overall Skagway director who is also the person who hired me and “left out” some of the things about the condition of housing. That conversation was tough at times, but we both persevered and got through it; in the end we went for coffee and he showed me around town, so it felt much better afterward.

I snapped this picture of one of my roommates, Leona, with a friend's dog. Leona is an Alaskan native and also of the native people (I forget which local tribe). Her family is actually from Skagway and she was born here (well actually she was born in Haines, 30 minutes via fast ferry up the channel, because that's where the nearest hospital is lcoated).

When I go into town I’m continually reminded of what a small town Skagway is -- population 714 according to the sign at the river and the edge of town coming from Liarsville. I’ve run into that lady I met on the ferry who was from Skagway two or three times in the last few days, and as I walked through town today with someone who lives here year-round, they spoke with pretty much everyone we met, so it’s definitely one of those towns where everyone knows everyone. It reminds me of Bequia (in the southern Caribbean near Grenada) in that respect.

This afternoon the manager of our dockreps (dock representatives, like me) drove several of us without cars into town so we could run errands. It was a beautiful day today, about 50 degrees, and the sun shone brilliantly on the snow-capped mountains that surround Skagway. There were no ships in town today and it was a great day to have off work – and the last slow day we’ll probably see for a while since ships will be in almost every day from now until the end of September. So from here on everyday will be a workday unless you happen to have that day off when the schedules allow. There are no weekends or holidays when you’re working the tourist season in Alaska, because once we’re in full operation the ships arrive every single day of the week for almost four months.
This is the river located just across the gravel road from our housing area. This river flows from here into town (about 2 miles away toward the mountains). The ridge that you see between the two peaks is a glacier.

One of our first stops was the “Clothes Rush” for some sale clothing (many things are on sale since they are leftover from last season). The dockrep uniform we wear is black pants and red jackets – we provide our own black pants and the company provides the Marmot jackets. Some of the others were looking for inexpensive black pants, but fortunately I have several pairs that I got incredibly cheap (about 50 cents per pair) at the employee store while I was working seasonally at LL Bean last fall.

After the Clothes Rush we visited the one and only grocery store in town, Fairway Market. The market here is about one-half the size of most typical “regular” grocery stores in the lower 48, so the selection of things they have is limited first by economics since everything costs more to ship it all the way up here, and secondly because they have limited room to carry multiple brands and sizes. So what you see is what you get, and what you see is often limited. Items that have expiration dates like milk are often nearing the end date by the time they arrive at the market, so using things before they go bad can be a challenge sometimes. The barge arrives in Skagway late in the evening on Mondays I think, but they don’t typically unload it until Tuesdays, and then sometimes it takes the store a while to get things unpacked and on the shelves. Generally late Tuesday or Wednesday is usually the best day to shop to get the most selection, and by Saturday things will start to run out and once they’re gone, that’s it until the barge arrives again.

Taken from our front porch in the French looking toward the gold rush camp which is located about 200 yards through the trees. This is another view of the firepit and the treehouse one of the guys is building this season. I've never actually seen anyone in it (except for him when he's building it), but he's good with the carpentry so it must be a fun.

For the most part it’s just a convenience thing, but in some cases it can affect people’s health if they depend on certain medicines, food items or other things that must be shipped in and simply arrive when they arrive. For example, the lady here who cuts my hair was explaining that when her children were small, she bought her baby formula two cases at a time and asked her family to ship it to her from the lower 48; and then when she was down to one case she asked them to send her two more. Before doing that she had experiences when the market would run out of the formula and she’d have to switch to something else which would then upset her baby’s stomach – and imagine if they ran out of formula all together.



Allison, one of our performers on her way from her housing in "the quad" (four rooms in one building) into camp on a snowy day in late May.

There are many things about living here that are very different from anywhere I’ve ever lived before. Many services are simply not found here at all, and if they are there is usually just one option. There is only one bank, one post office that does not deliver (you pick up your mail there), one market, one hardware store, one hair salon (and only one person working there), one medical clinic and I don’t think any dentist, one ice cream parlor, one library, one pizza place (and it’s not a chain), two gas stations, one Radio Shack (and that’s the only place to get electronics in Skagway), probably less than a dozen restaurants, and that’s pretty much it for services. The Radio Shack also doubles as a video rental place, and the library also rents videos and DVD’s too (I paid $5 to get a Skagway library card and can rent videos from there for two days per movie for free). There is one place to recycle, and the Skagway dump is actually an incinerator as most of the garbage is burned – but it’s only open certain days of the week for a few hours a day. They announce when it’s open on the radio and if you can’t go during that time, your garbage just piles up until next time.


My room is small but all mine. I have pictures of Tim and the pups lining and postcards from friends lining the walls. Thanks for the mail guys! It's MUCH appreciated!

There is no mall, no pharmacy, no bookstore (although many of the tourist shops sell books, but mostly of the Alaska tourism variety), no drive-through anything, no movie theater, and no Home Depots or Lowes (although there is a small lumber store). Interestingly enough though, there are probably a few dozen jewelry stores which exist primarily because of the cruise ships (but I think only one of them stays open year round). There are no fast food restaurants and no food chains at all – so no Wendy’s or Subway or KFC, and the closest McDonald’s is a 2-hour drive away and much more expensive than in the lower 48.



The approach to the valley where Skagway is located on the return ferry from Haines. The Alaska ferry is to the left and the cruies docks are left and right (but this photo was taken on a day early in the season when there were no cruise ships in port so we had the town to ourself). From May 19 until end of September there will be at least one ship (and sometimes 4) in port every day of the week. Skagway hosts NCL, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity (they've merged), Princess, Carnival and Holland American Lines. (If interested the ship schedule can be seen at: http://www.skagway.com/cruiseshipcalendar.html.

On the upside however, since there aren’t that many places to spend your money (unless you’re into jewelry of course), that does make it easier to stretch those paychecks a bit farther since there isn’t that much locally to tempt you to spend a lot of it – unless of course one smokes or drinks a lot. I don’t know how much cigarettes are in the lower 48 since I don’t smoke, but I saw a sign in the market the other day and I think they are almost $7/pack here. Wow, that makes for a pretty expensive habit. I’m not really much of an alcohol drinker either, but there is also only one liquor store, and I gather it’s pretty well stocked but most things are expensive.

Another view of Skagway and the valley and mountains beyond (taken from the air and courtesy of www.skagway.com).

I don’t mean to imply there is nothing to do here, it’s just that what people do is different here. For instance there are a lot of outdoor things to do – lots of lakes and mountains to hike to, lots of places to go animal watching (nearby Dyea, the largest town in this area during the Gold Rush until the train diverted people through Skagway instead, is a popular place for sighting bears, sea otters and seals, eagles and other wildlife. During the summer season there are hike/float trips, glacier helicopter tours, horseback riding, glassblowing tours, and of course the most popular tourist attraction in Skagway – the White Pass Narrow Gauge Railroad to Carcross (short for Caribou Crossing and up the White Pass near Canada).

"Downtown Skagway" is about 8 blocks long and 2 wide and consists of boardwalk streets on Broadway, which is the "main drag". Skagway is very walkable. This photo shows our bank (Wells Fargo) and post office on the right and the shops beyond - this is looking back toward the waterfront which is only about 6 blocks away.

Since many people don’t have cable, the radio is still a pretty important thing here. They make announcements here that most radio stations would never do – for instance they have a personals timeframe when they announce who is driving to Whitehorse and looking for someone to share gas money for a ride, or someone looking for a ride to Whitehorse in exchange for helping pay for gas (Whitehorse is the nearest town via road, 2 hour drive from here in Yukon, Canada). As I write that I am reminded of a show that was one of mine and Tim’s favorites a few years back – Northern Exposure. The show was set in Alaska and one of the main characters worked at the radio station and the entire town listened to his announcements to find out what was going on around town and who was doing what – it was the lifeline of the community and the same is true here. I wonder if the writers of that show once lived in Alaska?

This is the small boat harbor which is tucked neatly inside near the rail road docks and just at the edge of town. There is also a small RV park with a winding stream just to the right (out of view). The rail road docks I mentioned are for the White Pass Narrow Gauge Railway which ran from Skagway to the Canadian Yukon during the 1898 gold rush, but today just goes as far as Carcross in BC (short for Caribou Crossing). The railway is by far the single most popular tourist attraction in Skagway.

Living in Liarsville, just on the outskirts of Skagway, is even more remote since we have no cable, DSL Internet access that’s fairly reliable but sort of slow, and very limited cell phone coverage here (I have to stand in the road to get my phone to work). We have about 15 people that live in employee housing in the camp and as I think I mentioned before, one “official” camp dog (she’s advertised that way and shown in all the postcards and such). Denali lives with us at night when she returns home from “work”. She is a huge dog and I’m guessing over a hundred pounds of furry Malamute. There are a few other dogs in camp which belong to employees and also live in housing with us. However, only Denali is allowed into the public areas when we have camp visitors; all the other dogs are restricted to our cabin area during camp operation hours.

I was able to find some quiet time in the Liarsville office this afternoon and spoke with Tim for a long time on Skype (think goodness for Skype). We finally had a chance to go over the list of things I need from home, because getting them here is not really an option since the types of stores in town are so limited, and the next town offering anything more than what we have is either Haines (30-minutes fast ferry ride south which costs about $60 round trip), Whitehorse in the Canadian Yukon (a 2-hour drive north, one way), or Alaska’s capital of Juneau farther south (8 hours by regular ferry or an hour or so by plane, both more than $100 each way).

This is the snowplow used to clear the train tracks for the White Pass Scenice Railway.

Obviously Skagway is pretty remote and isolated, and if it doesn’t arrive on the barge than you just don’t get it here – it’s that simple. That may sound strange given our country’s current culture of rampant consumerism, but it’s true none-the-less. I’m quickly discovering that unless one has lived somewhere truly remote for a period of time, perhaps it’s just one of those things you have to experience to truly believe there are still places like this, but believe me when I tell you, they DO exist.