Life in a 4 x 22 block town ..... four months later

[New photos added 8/24/08]

Our Sales and Service team with some of the Ryndam crew at a farewell end-of-season dinner on board ship. Our crew were guests of the ship for dinner in the main dining room for a spectacular meal prepared by the renowned Holland America Line (HAL) chefs and served by an incredibly attentive staff. It was a very special treat.

Greetings all, and I hope this entry finds you all well and enjoying a great summer.

Those of us spending the summer in Skagway, Alaska can't really say we've seen much summer yet -- although we have had brief glimpses of what right now seems like a mythical creature (summer). We did actually string together two -- count them -- TWO days of sunshine and temps that inched finally into the 70's a few days ago. But alas, we are now back to our staple of cool and rainy. Again.

The luggage crew maneuvers massive amounts of luggage between ship, coach and hotel every day.

As I think I mentioned earlier, the season is starting to wind down now, although it doesn't officially end until the last cruise ship (Celebrity's Millennium) arrives and departs on Saturday, September 27. But the town's season actually begins to shut down gradually in early September, and of course we've already lost some employees who are college students and are returning home for fall semester.

At the Sales and Service desk we have four "ship days" left -- even though ships arrive every day, there are only two ships that we "turn around" between land and sea tours on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and that finishes in early September. After that it's just working the dock and daily shore excursion tours for the remaining ships of the season, so things should slow down considerably on most days.

I spent my 46th birthday in Alaska this year,and Dorseitta and I shared this dessert after my birthday dinner at the Stowaway Cafe. It's one of the nicest restaurants in Skagway and I had never been there before, so they helped me celebrate my birthday with a group dinner there. This dessert was bananas and cheesecake stuffed into these pastry shells and drizzled with chocolate. Decadent.

As I think I mentioned in an earlier posting, I've dropped two of my three part-time jobs and am down to just one now -- which is a welcome break after 3 months juggling all three (this is not unusual during the Alaska season -- many of us have more than one job). My sales and service position entails working most of the time at the desk in the Westmark Hotel. I like the job and especially the people I work with -- there are six of us "girls" that work the desk (myself, Helen from Michigan, Alyssa from Florida, Dorseitta from North Carolina, and Beka and Gina from California). We all work for Robin who is most recently from Seattle, and we also work with the hotel staff, dock reps, tour directors, coach drivers, luggage crew, and of course other tour operators from all over the US and Canada (and a few other countries as well).

Our Sales and Service manager, Robin (center) ponders the many menu choices during dinner onboard the Ryndam with David (right, ship's hotel manager) and the guest services manager.

What I like most about the job is the sense of team spirit that I find here -- because you don't find that everywhere. Our desk crew is very supportive of each other -- rather than being competitive with each other. We pull together to get the job done with humor and shared effort. It's great when it works, and from what I've seen, it works at our desk or wherever our team is located. And judging from the feedback we get from tour directors and most guests, it seems others notice that too. It's amazing how many good things can happen when people work together -- it's a great environment and I'm glad to be there.

Our team on the docks by the Ryndam after dinner on a cool and rainy summer night in Skagway.

The lobby is a very busy place on ship days. These passengers have just finished land tours, have stayed in the hotel overnight and are waiting to board their coaches which will take them to their cruise ship for the next part of their land-sea tour.

The work is not hard but it can be a bit chaotic, especially on ship days when we are turning around 500-600 passengers in a few hours. On any given "ship day" there are typically two of us at the desk, two people on the train and two on the ship -- with Robin shuttling to wherever she is needed to problem-solve those unexpected things which seem to happen most every day. Missing luggage, missing passengers, people who miss their tours, people who get on the wrong tour accidentally, canceled flights and cancelled tours, and of course the more serious things like illness (Norwalk tends to plague the cruise industry) and injury -- you name it, it's probably happened in Skagway too.

Our job also involves occassionally shuttling people to and from the airport or the dock, or going onboard the Ryndam or the Statendam to register guests as they embark on the ship, or to collect belongings for them left behind when they departed. For example, the other day two gentlemen approached me at the sales desk because one of them thought he had left his wallet and hat in his cabin on the ship (it was either there or in his checked luggage, he couldn't remember which -- and his luggage was already on a coach headed for his upcoming hotel in another town). And they were supposed to board the train bound north in less than 30 minutes. Tourists are so funny (and I say that because I TOO am a tourist sometimes). But in this case, here is why I was reminded of this again:

Part of our crew at the desk (from left, Beka, Dorseitta and Gina catching a nap on D's shoulder. I'm hiding in back there talking to someone and not paying attention when this was taken. Imagine that!).

We called the ship to see if they could locate his items left behind as they were cleaning the rooms for embarking guests, and while waiting for their response I wanted to find out how to reach them in case it was found before his train left. After all, there would be literally hundreds of people getting on that train, so I needed to have some idea of how to find him in the throngs of people -- most helpful would be which train car he'd be in since groups are placed in assigned cars, so I needed to know which tour group he was joining (they had met their tour directors earlier in the day).

When guests embark on escorted land tours they are in a tour group which has a unique number (usually 1-9), and a tour director who accompanies them the entire route. (As a side note, the tour director position is the one I'm most interested in next year, but that's a story for another time). Anyway, I asked him what his tour number was. Don't know. No problem I said, who is your tour director and I can find it that way. One guy looked at the other and the other guy shrugged his shoulders and they both looked blankly back at me. Okie dokey. How about an itinerary -- do you have that? One looks kind of sheepish and the other just sort of scratches his head -- same blank look from both. All righty then. Where are you going next? Ummmm...I think Canada somewhere. Very helpful.

This was becoming one of those defining moments where we learn about ourselves and how patient we can be toward another person who perhaps isn't at the top of their game at that moment (and after all, whom of us hasn't been there?). My response was to contine to smile at him and act like this was the most natural predicament in the world (and indeed, it DOES happen), we just needed to work together to get ourselves out of it.

Expediting coaches - guests who have completed their land tours and are embarking on the ship leave the hotel on coaches which drive them to the docks for boarding and registration on board.

At this piont it became a process of elimination using what I knew of the tours and some basic detective skills. Cool, I get to play Nancy Drew.....or perhaps Jessica Fletcher is closer to the mark in this case. Anyone on an even-numbered tour would have been embarking (getting on) the ship instead of disembarking, so that meant he was on an odd-numbered tour. Now we're getting somewhere. Some of the tours going north visit similar cities, and given their confusion over their itinerary I didn't think this would be a likely way to determine his tour -- so I grabbed the list of tour directors from the odd-numbered tours and starting naming names, hoping for the best. Eureka -- they both recognized one. We have lift-off. Tour identified, I now could probably find him at the train depot later by asking dispatch which train car his group was assigned to. The problem is this process took some time, and the train is departing in about 20 minutes, and we havn't heard back from the ship yet.

Bekah asssisting guests at the sales and service desk.

No problem, I ushered them on their way with the reassurance that even if we can't get it to them before the train leaves, we can send it up on the next coach and get it to him that way. Or at least that's what I HOPE we can do (I've never actually done this before). I'm finding that working in the travel industry has so many unknowns everyday that sometimes the job entails about 60% actual knowledge, 30% bluffing your way though things you aren't sure about, and the remainder is dumb luck -- or when luck is not with you -- pure creativity and resourcefulness in trying to pull something together that works. It can be stressful, but it's also kind of a rush.

The ship calls a few minutes after the two men leave for the train and yes they found something in the cabin, so off Carla goes to grab our van and zip over to the ship a few blocks away. But of course it's a Tuesday (4 ships in port), and all three streets leading to the ships are crowded with pedestrians from the ships. Basic van driving training is pretty easy without passengers -- lights on, seatbelts on, honk horn twice before backing up, watch VERY carefully for pedestrians and the many coaches we have in town, and stop at ALL railroad crossings (little Skagway has about four I think, two of which I needed to cross between the hotel and ship). Piece of cake.

Dorseitta during our group dinner at the Stowaway Cafe.

As I left the hotel I stopped and patiently waited for the guy taking a picture of his wife in front of the hotel (they were both standing in the middle of the road). This took about two full minutes. No I'm not kidding or exaggerating. Then as I approached the intersection I waited for the coaches who were also waiting for the tourists standing in the middle of the intersection taking photos of the ship or the boardwalks along broadway or the Red Onion Saloon or each other or perhaps the trashcans (again, not kidding here, our trashcans are "bear proof" so they are a novelty to some people).

After another 4 our 5 minutes waiting to turn left at one intersection, I inch my way through the throngs of people crossing the street in that unending stream one sees on Skagway on any given weekday, especially Tuesday or Wednesday. Then as I inch along past people crossing the street anywhere and everywhere, then pause for the people walking in the middle of the road toward their cruise ship at the end of Broadway -- leaving the perfectly good sidewalks on either side very lonely -- I finally make it to the ship less than 500 yards away from the hotel about 10 minutes later. Are you getting the idea here? Skagay in the summertime is nothing if not a reinforcement of that "patience is a virtue" thing.

One day I surrepticiously snapped this one of Robin through the open window at the desk when she was busy expediting buses.

I finally get to the ship and park the van in the coach lot, grab my dock pass and sprint the 100 yards along the long pier to the gangway, flashing my ID at port security, then wait again for the people coming down the gangway who take up both sides and don't seem to realize it's not one-way traffic, and up I sprint along the steep metal steps (it's steepest at low tide and they often have to move the gangways during the day with our 10-15 foot tidal changes). So up the ramp I go, waiting my turn in line as the passengers stop at the boarding area to have their badges scanned before boarding, and finally I'm at the makeshift boarding desk. I flashed my badge again (I was also in the Holland America land-based uniform), I gave the cabin number and they handed me the items.

Now what I expected was a man's wallet and baseball cap. What I got was a lady's black dress handbag and beige scrarf. Hmmmmmm. Curious. I asked again if this was from the right cabin, and sure enough there was a sticky note on the items with the right cabin number. I was confused, but what to do except take it and go? Back down the ramp, along the pier, and into the van--drumming my fingers while waiting for more people in the road and stopping at both train crossings--not for the train because it isn't across the tracks, but for people there too.

Finally I pull up to the train depot, hurredly park the van and sprint another 30 yards to the train boarding area. Now the fun begins. The place is a zoo with people getting off buses and onto trains and the reverse, and I don't typically work at the train depot so I don't really know the process here and I can't find the dispatch person. So I start asking anyone I see in uniform if they know which car this group is in. No one does. A few cars have our tour number signs on them so that helps, but finally I just start checking with the tour director at each car. Fortunately I luck out and find the group, so I'm scanning the people as they climb aboard the metal train steps looking for these two guys, hoping I remember what they looked like.

Casual life in small-town-USA. This is a typical scene in Skagway - -a truck with a big dog in the back, and conversations held at intersections or in the middle of the street when traffic is light and no one is waiting.

I look into the train and -- luck is really shining on me today -- because there they both are in the front seat of the train car. Yes! I slide into line, up the steps and walk into the train car and they reconize me too and look at me expectantly. So I pull out the items and indicate this is what the stewards found -- the guy looks at little confused, but looks back at his wife a few seats back and asks her if this looks familiar and she says "Oh yes, that's mine." Wow. Too bad they don't have a valet or something to help them keep track of things. He had mentioned something about being out late the night before, but one wonders HOW late. I wonder what their kids are like -- or if they know where they are. (Just kidding......well, mostly anyway).

"T and D" (Dorseitta - right - is often called "D", and I know our dock rep only by "T" because I've never heard her called anything else).

I'm being a bit punchy perhaps after four months of stories just like this one -- because this story is pretty typical of the kinds of things we see every day. For a very small town it has lots of people passing through it in the summertime, so it makes things interesting sometimes.

I mentioned earlier that next year I'd like to look for something that gets me out of Skagway more often. It's not that I don't like Skagway -- it's a dramatically beautiful spot with stunning scenery and great outdoor opportunities, so I certainly like that; and the people who live here are friendly and resourceful people. But I'm not much of a shopper, so the "shopping mall" atmosphere is not really that appealing to me personally -- and for a town this size, I personally think 2 or 3 jewelry stores would be plenty -- rather than the 18 0r 20 that line the main street. I gather the cruise ships own most of them, and they ship staff and merchandise between here in the summer and the Caribbean in the winter. It's a life.

But the town can feel a bit claustrophobic after a while. Remember it's bound on the south by the sea and the north by the White Pass which narrows quickly to a single highway width in less than two miles from the sea, and it's bordered both east and west by steep and rocky mountains. There's only one road out of town and that's the highway north through that pass (also called the Klondike Highway) -- and the next town of any real size is Whitehorse in Canada about 130 miles north. And the next town south is Haines which is 30 minutes by "fast ferry" (cost about $30 roundtrip even for most locals).

Can you imagine that every day for weeks or even months these were the bounds of where you typically traveled? Twenty-two blocks north to south, and four blocks east to west (and those four blocks don't run the full length of town). Skagway gives an entirely new meaning to the term "small world."

Left - expediting coaches which take passengers to their cruise ships.

Right - Fairway Market - Skagways' sole grocery/pharmacy/pet supplies/party store. (I'm kidding - the "pharmacy" is simply part of an aisle where they sell over-the-counter meds and such -- there is no "pharmacist" or pharmacy counter. And the same is true for pet and party supplies -- it's just a section of an aisle where they have a few things in that line). The market carries basic staples only -- so there is no deli, no bakery, no butcher department (just a couple shelves w/meat), no card department (just one turning rack), no roasted chickens or other pre-prepared foods (unless you count Lunchables). Pretty basic fare. Not exactly your typical Safeway or Winn Dixie.

As I mentioned in earlier blogs, we have one market, one bank, one post office, and one electronics store (Radio Shack, in a building about the size of a small convenience store and crammed full of several "mini-stores" -- it also functions as the video rental place, the photo-print place, and upstairs is the tanning salon and some other little corner store which I forget right now). Our "pharmacy" is the one aisle of the market (about 15-20 feet long) which contains a few brands of shampoos, baby products, personal hygiene products, and vitamins and over-the-counter items. I believe all medicines are shipped in except the few that can be dispensed at our clinic -- but there isn't a doctor there (only EMT's and I believe a physicians assistant), so even that is limited.

We also have only one radio station, but I'm pretty impressed with the people who run it, because they simply rotate their programming between different kinds of music and talk radio so that there is something for everyone -- perhaps not all the time of course, but sooner or later. I might turn it off during the times scheduled for the twang of country-western music or the gardening talk show because those are not really my things, but I tune in when they have Car Talk or What I Believe on NPR or when it's time for the jazz or pop rock music. I think it's pretty cool how they do it -- you just learn when to tune in and when to do something else if you aren't into what's playing -- the result is everyone probably gets a turn at listening to what they like. Very nice.

One of our dock reps, "T", and one of the tour directors at the desk working out passenger transport logistics on a ship day.

We also have one hardware store who's motto is "if we don't have it then you don't need it". It's amazing what you learn to do without when that saying "you can't get that here" is real life. Now of course you can get it eventually if you order it and have it shipped, and pay the sometimes very high shipping fees (I ordered some electronic gear over the Internet and paid $20 to ship it here, then paid even more later to ship it back when it wasn't compatible. And since there is no FedEx or UPS or postal pickup, that meant I boxed it up myself and lugged it to the post office and waited in line to ship it -- mail is "self service" here for the most part). And I was lucky, after ordering it arrived in only 4 days ("overnight" to Skagway takes 2 days minimum). The planes flew every day during that time -- sometimes they don't if the weather is bad and we're socked in by clouds or fog -- and when that happens the mail sometimes doesn't arrive for days unless they can get it on a ferry or barge. You really do learn to do without sometimes -- you don't always have much choice.

Bekah -- always fun but never one to be shy -- clowns around with her ribs during our group dinner at the Stowaway.

Perhaps that is why I have so much admiration for people who live here year round --- after all, that can't be easy. This town, with all it's quaint appeal and beautiful scenery, is not for the spoiled or faint of heart. I can do this for 4 or 5 months, but I admit I'm already making a list of all the things I want to see, smell and eat when I return to Maine in a few weeks. While of course being at home with Tim and the pups and other loved ones is of course the most important thing -- I never realized it was possible to miss what is most places every day things so much -- like even fast food! A McDonald's Big and Tasty and large fry is sounding awfully good right now. And let's not forget sushi......and going to a movie.....and driving through a drive-up window (yes I even miss that)....and even waiting at a stoplight.....and I wouldn't really mind going an entire day without seeing a single cruise ship. I'll bet the Skagwayan's have a big party after that last ship leaves (along with all of we summer workers), and they get their town back after 5 long months. And if they do -- I don't blame them.

Until next time, cheers! Carla

Ghosts and Good Time Girls Walking Tour of Skagway

This Sunday morning dawned yet another cloudy and rather gray day in Skagway, but since it was my day off I decided to try and go stand-by on another one of the tours I sell at the Sales and Service desk. Obviously we can inform our guests better about the tour if we’ve taken the tour ourselves and have first-hand experience, so even though I take the tours on my own time I consider it a great perk of the job.

Our "madam" tour guide, "Landa Mandalay"

Today’s tour was the Ghost and Good Time Girls Walking Tour, led by a lovely young “madam” in full 1898 “red light district” costume. Our guide for today’s tour was the petite Madam Landa Mandalay, originally from Wyoming but a recent graduate of college in Utah.

Lessons in street walking and learning how to "stop traffic"

The tour begins at the building which currently houses both the Skagway City Museum and City Hall, but which previously was a women’s college. From there the tour saunters through the streets and ‘back alleys” of Skagway, touching on the historic buildings and other landmark with of course a special emphasis on the good time girls who worked in brothels throughout the region and were an important part of the gold rush era.

The tour takes a light-hearted look at the occupational aspects and hazards of what life was like in the late 1800’s for a madam or “good time” girl, so it’s a good idea to bring your sense of humor and get into the spirit of the experience. Although the tour does touch on some of the realities of the occupation with the mention of bouncers which were a fixture in most brothels and bordellos for obvious reasons, and there is also a brief reminder that while prostitution may be illegal in most places today, real life sexual slavery does still exist today – and the US is no exception to this harsh reality.

The upstairs brothel tour

But that educational reminder aside, the remainder of the tour is simply aimed at a fun look at perhaps the brasher side of the Klondike’s history, including the chance to learn how to “walk the streets” with style and how to “stop traffic,” and also touching on some of Skagway’s local ghost stories.

The tour ends at the famous (or perhaps infamous) Red Onion Saloon and fomerly brothel. There is still a brothel upstairs, but now guests only get a tour! Photo at right shows Madam Mandalay finishing the "stopping traffic" walk with her typical stylish flourish!

The finale is an upstairs tour of the historic Red Onion Saloon and Brothel, an actual former brothel where the upstairs still gives visitors a delightful (but legal) twist on the “$5 for 15 minutes” visit!

Floating the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve in Haines

Greetings again readers!

Now that the season is beginning to wind down, I'm trying to take full advantage of my remaining time in Alaska by squeezing in as many tours as possible on my days off. Most people don't make a lot of money as seasonal employees since the hourly wage is not very high, but the "free tour sharing" offered here as a courtesy from one vendor to another is one of the great perks of working in the industry since the cost of many of these excursions can be high. These types of opportunities are why most of us are here.

Floating the Chilkat River in the bald eagle preserve.

Last week I enjoyed floating through the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve in Haines, where in the fall thousands of eagles converge in their natural habitat. This time of year the number of eagles in the preserve is much lower than that peak gathering, but even so the chances of seeing them in groups is pretty good.

Helen and others in our group cross a small portion of the river after donning our loaner wading boots to access the put-in spots for our rafts.

The trip started with a 30-minute ride on the fast ferry to Haines via the Lynn Canal fjords, followed by another 20 minutes or so via bus from the Haines docks to the preserve and put-in area for the floats. Since I have different days off from my co-workers, we often end up taking these tours alone since we most often do them on our days off, but this trip I was lucky that a friend and co-worker, Helen from the Holland America Sales desk, was able to go on the same day as me. So far our days at the desk on "ship days" have been so busy that I simply haven't had time to take any photos at that workplace -- but I'll try to do that if time allows before the season ends.

A marker just ahead of glacier-filled valley

After arriving at the Chilkat River, our group donned the loaner wading boots from the guide company and crossed a section of the river to where our rafts waited at the put-in spot. We first enjoyed a great picnic lunch along the river, and then after gearing up in our life jackets we climbed into the rafts and our guides paddled us into the river "flats."

Helen and I shared the aft section of the raft, just behind our guide.


Given our....ahem.....tempestuous weather in southern Alaska this summer, we really lucked out with a partly cloudy day with mild winds and even some sunny breaks. I found this float trip incredibly beautiful with awesome views up the valleys of glaciers and mountain passes in the distance, and beautiful rocky river shores and soaring eagles all along the route.

We saw eagles sitting up in trees watching for salmon and other prey in the river, eagles soaring high overhead like silent sentinels watching and waiting, and eagles sitting on driftwood along the riverbanks. They were everywhere, and were pretty easy to spot --that white "golf ball" like head stands out quite well among the green leaves of a tree or the grey river rock.

Eagles along the riverbank during our float of the "flats."

Our river guide, Carl, and the other guides worked hard and really earned their tips as they muscled the heavy rafts through the shallows and steered us along the way. My favorite part of the considerable skills they exhibited was when they needed to stop the raft along the way -- with one solo guide per raft - to watch them take a huge leap from raft to the closest bank as we floated by in the fast water with a rope attached to them -- their body acting as our "anchor." Once they had man-handled the raft to a stop (or woman-handled in some cases, because there were women guides too), they'd scope out the water ahead or wait for the rafts behind to keep our armada of 6 rafts together along the several-mile float. It was an awesome site to watch.

As we approached the lower section of the river the guide paddled us over to the take-out spot. We were in the lead raft so we were the first to arrive at the post-raft snacks waiting for us in a shady spot along the shore: homemade chocolate chip cookies, hot chocolate and lemonade. Yum.


Helen and I at the take-out spot at the end of the float. Ours was the lead raft and our group is waiting for the remaining rafts to arrive.

As we enjoyed our snacks we watched the rafts which had followed us along the river arrive one-by-one at the take-out spot to unload their passengers. This is my kind of public transport!

Our talented guide, Carl, setting up the snack table after the after the float. Naturalist, river guide, lunch and snack server -- these guys do it all!

After removing our life jackets and leaving them on the tarp to dry, we enjoyed our snacks and then switched back from wading boots to our shoes which the support team had brought along to the put-out spot. Then we re-boarded the bus and headed back to Haines and our 30-minute return ferry trip back to Skagway. This is another great Alaska trip for anyone who loves the outdoors, wildlife and the water!

Until next time, cheers! cy

September fever -- counting the weeks until the season ends

Today was another gray, drizzly and cool day. What a surprise. Must be summertime in Skagway!

Crowds of cruise ship guests looking for their shore excursions at railroad dock (this was taken on a day when we had a rare break in the dampness)

Standing out on the docks on days like today (and there have been many like them this summer) is not for the faint of heart. We stand out there in our Marmot rain jackets with our little signs for about 1/2 hour or so for each pickup, with rain dripping off our hoods and blowing into our faces, driven by the strong winds coming off the open water of the ocean, as we round up guests for their tours and move them toward the buses like two-legged herding dogs.

Margot at the Red Onion Saloon (historic brothel tour) in downtown Skagway. Is she photogenic or what?

Then as we collect tickets and complete waivers and coordinate with shorex's to release the buses for departure, as we finally escort guests to the parking lot and get one bus of passengers headed on its way, we head back to the dock to do it all over again for the next pickup. It's a strange sort of life.

Skagway dogs waiting patiently for their owners to return. Check out that igloo doghouse in the bed of the truck.

There are those days when we arrive at the docks around 7am for the early morning pickups to find the ship had arrived late and the gangplank isn't even down yet. This is typically not a great start because all the tours run a pretty tight pick-up schedule. So when the ship is late arriving, then all the tours get backed up, so the bus drivers have less time for their passengers at each stop, jeep tours may not make it all the way to the top on the off-road portion, the river guides may need to shorten their float route, the fast ferry to Haines may be late departing from small boat harbor......and so on does the ship's lateness ripple throughout Skagway.

The White Pass Narrow Gauge Railroad heads up the steep pass

It's amazing how much everything in this town depends on the arrivals and departures of the cruise ships. And when they run late it tends to make both shorex’s, tour guides and passengers a bit stressed and isn’t a great way to start the day. But, such is life and these things happen.

My approach is to show up at the dock with a big smile on my face and try to keep it there no matter what happens. And if a passenger is very unhappy because of the delay, even though it was beyond our control, I can still put on my most empathetic and understanding face – because after all this is their vacation and a pretty expensive one – and do my best to turn things around for them by making their experience the best that I can. That's my job.

The trail approaches the lakes of Fraser in Canada.

Inside an old-time passenger car of the White Pass railroad (even still has the old wood stove at the back of each car).

But I must admit, after almost four months "trapped in this town" as I heard someone say the other day, end-of-season fever is here in force for pretty much everyone in town. The countdown has begun until the end of the season which officially ends with the last ship day on September 27, and I hear a lot of "just 7 more weeks" or "2 more weeks" or whatever the time may be for that person's departure from town. I've noticed I've started counting down myself.

Some of the summer staff is starting to go home now -- mostly the college students who are about to start their fall semester in Utah, Florida, New York, Washington, California and numerous other states. And as people start to leave, it's hard not to envy them as they talk about their departure a week from today or how they are about to start their last tour into the Yukon before their trip home and so forth.

The train trip between Skagway and Carcross (Caribou Crossing) in Canada climbs steeply and goes through tunnels, often coming seemingly perilously close to the rock walls of the hillsides.

As for me, I am winding up my season at one company for both the position in the gift shop at Liarsville and the dock repping for jeep tours and salmon bakes -- although I've offered to be a fill-in person if needed during peak times for while I'm still in town if they need it.

So for now I'm back to just one job, kind of a relief after two months with three.

My newer position at the Holland American Sales and Service desk finishes in early September, although the general manager of that company asked me today about the possibility of continuing after that to help with dock repping for them and perhaps some other positions they may have coming open in September. I haven't decided yet whether I want to stick it out until late September, or whether I'll wind up things for the season earlier in the month. I'd like to work for this company again next year perhaps as a tour director for the escorted tours, so staying on until the end would be great experience.

But the pull of home is pretty strong now that I see the end of the tunnel finally approaching. Whether I depart in early September or later to see the season to it's conclusion, I admit I'll be glad to see September arrive because that means I'll be home soon!

Alaskan Husky Musher Camp in Dyea

Greetings again readers and welcome back!

Today was my day off from work, so I was able to book myself on
one of the tours we sell at the Holland American Sales and Service desk. We are encouraged to take these tours so we have first-hand experience and are therefore better informed to help our guests choose the best tour for them.

Sled dog pup in training at Dyea Musher's Camp

We are of course on standby in case the tour fills up, and my original plans to go on the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari fell through when I was bumped due to a full passenger list, but fortunately I was able to get on another popular tour for the Sled Dog Musher’s Camp offered by Alaska Excursions.

The winding dirt road to Dyea

The musher’s camp is located in Dyea (pronounced “die-ee”) which I mentioned in an earlier blog and is located about 9 miles from Skagway. Dyea is now a ghost town except for some individual homesteads and small guest houses, but in 1898 the area was filled with stampeders preparing to hike up the Chilkoot Trail across the pass and into the Yukon gold fields. The trail was originally forged by the Tlinget native Alaskans as a trade route over the coastal mountains. The town site was originally located where the Taiya River and Taiya Inlet meet on the south side of the Chilkoot Pass.

Looking down from upper musher camp area trails to Dyea tidal flats

The tour today began by boarding a small van which shuttled us from the docks at Skagway, across town, and up a short distance of the Yukon Highway to the Dyea turnoff which soon becomes a narrow and winding dirt road. I was surprised to learn from our tour guide that the residents of Dyea live in homes without pumped in running water like we have in Skagway, and most of them take pickup trucks with large tanks on the back to the river where they fill these tanks about every two weeks (depending on usage), then empty this water into their household tanks. Talk about hearty souls. We take so much for granted sometimes eh?

The education area of the musher camp

The musher’s camp is located in the woods on a hillside high above the Dyea flats, the tidal area and estuary of the Taiya River near where it meets the Taiya Inlet. The area is home to many kinds of wildlife including bears, caribou, eagles, salmon and seals, in addition to a host of water fowl and smaller animals. After winding along the dirt road with the steep cliffs on our right and a low-tide Taiya Inlet on our left, we arrived at the base of the musher’s camp.

Guide (right) introduces musher Rich Savoyski, 2008 first-time competitor in Iditarod

The Alaska Excursions white 24-passenger van decorated with black paw prints let us out at the log foot bridge which crosses one of the streams to the inlet, and we walked a short distance from there into the base camp area. The lower part of the camp includes the kennels where the Alaskan Husky puppies are born and raised until old enough for training with the older dogs. The area also contained kennels and dog houses for the sled dog teams, an outdoor auditorium for the educational portion of the tour, and of course a small gift shop.

Rich explains the 1100 mile Iditarod course

The tour operators split us into two groups of 12, and our group began in the educational center with a presentation by musher Rich Savoyski of Minnesota who participated in the Iditarod for the first time in March of this year.

Rich and several other rookie mushers bring their dog teams and work at the camp in the off season, thereby allowing them to spend this time continuing to train their dogs instead of taking logging or fishing jobs to make financial ends meet between races.

Right: Map shows routes for the 1100-mile Iditarod course and the
lesser known Yukon Quest (1000 miles).

Left: Alaskan husky puppies born in April of this year.

Rich has about 60 dogs, but it’s not uncommon for seasoned racers to have more than 100 dogs from which they choose the 16 who will compete in the Iditarod. A musher begins with 16 dogs for the 1100 miles of the Iditarod, and during the multi-day race between Nome and Anchorage, they can send dogs home if needed, but they cannot replace or add dogs. Rich finished his first race with only 8 dogs in about 12 days – in 2008 the winner finished in 9 days and the final musher arrived 16 days after the race start.

Left: Our sled team is hitched up and ready to go (lots of excited howling and pulling at their harnesses). Right: In front of our team is the cart pulled by the forward team (our cart is similar but uncovered).

After Rich’s talk we boarded the van again for the steep climb up a rutted dirt road through the forest to the other part of the camp where most of the kennels and trails are located. There we boarded small wheeled carts with seats for six (complete with seat belts) which are pulled along the dry dirt roads for a mushing experience (just without the snow).

Our team's handler (musher's assistant, left) and musher (right). Our team is actually this musher's dogs, he is working at camp with his dogs this summer during off-season from racing.
[Side note: There is also a tour called Glacier Dog Sledding where you fly on a helicopter and land on the glacier where other sled dog teams actually live in wall tents on the glacier with their dogs. From there you can go mushing on the glacier, but as you can imagine this tour is pretty expensive, so getting on that tour as a "comp" is not really an option unless you are affiliated directly with the camp due to the cost of the helicopter portion and the limited space on the dog sledding.]

And we're off along the trail!

Back at the musher camp in Dyea where of course there is no snow this time of year, our sledding experience was a few miles just above the base area, through the woods and along the rolling hills on dirt roads. There we stopped for a water break for the dogs and a chat with the musher who owned the dogs, and then the 16-dog teams pulled our wheeled carts back down to the lower base for some time to see the kennel puppies and wander around the camp before our return to town.

Left: Holding one of the new pups (this one is about 5 months old).
Right: Young pups born in June to mom Sadie.

My love of dogs made this a special treat for me, and I highly recommend this tour if you’re interested in sled dog racing or just love dogs in general.

All the best, cy

Right: Sled dogs having a rest day relax in (or often on) their kennels.