Wednesday - busiest day in Skagway

Note: This delayed posting is from May 14, when I had been in Skagway for about 2 weeks.

Wednesdays are typically our busiest days with more ships in port and more passengers taking shore excursions on each ship. Today was no exception and our jeep tours and gift shop were both busy. The actors performed eight shows and there were six salmon bakes. Our biggest single group was 168 people in camp at once, but I understand those numbers get MUCH bigger as the season progresses.

At right: Carla on the "fast ferry" to Haines - which is the nearest town to Skagway via land or water. The fast ferry takes about 30 minutes dock to dock and navigates the beautiful Lynn Canal fjords, where it's common to see bald eagles, mountain goats and whales along the way.

Liarsville manager Dirk rough-housing with camp dog Denali during a break between tour buses. Performers Allison and Betsy are in the background.
The day started out cloudy and cool, but a storm front moved through southern Alaska and there was a steady rain most of the morning. I felt for our guests coming into the store to warm themselves and dry off, as most of them were dripping wet; but most were also really good sports and seemed to roll with it. By about 2:30pm we heard it was snowing in town from Lynn’s husband, Robert (Lynn is the gift shop manager and her husband works on the train). Within a few minutes of Robert’s call it was snowing in Liarsville too. Big heavy flakes of very wet snow. By the time I left the gift shop to walk home there was a slushy covering on the ground. I sang to myself as I walked along the trail to our cabins because we’re still seeing bears in camp occasionally as they come out of hibernation, and this seemed like prime bear weather to me.

The road between Skagway and Whitehorse (Canada) travels into British Columbia and then the Yukon provinces of Canada. As you can see it's a beautiful drive and most of the way follows a huge lake.

Thursday and Friday are my days off, so in essence this is my Friday night for my upcoming weekend. Since Thursday-Sunday tend to be slower days, most people have days off then, and Monday-Wednesday is sort of “all hands on deck” kind of days.

I feel like a real resident of Skagway now, because when I rode into town today with Lynn to make the bank deposit for the gift shop, I rented a post office box for myself. Now that I have a PO box for the next 6 months, I wonder if that makes me an official Alaska resident? Tim shipped me a couple of boxes with some things from home, and I can’t wait until those arrive so I can have some little touches of home in my room in housing. What I’m looking forward to most is photos of he and the pups. I miss our refrigerator at home which is filled with photographs of family and friends who send us family photos or photos of their kids.


Cruise ship passengers panning for gold in Liarsville.