Alaska, but it doesn't count yet.

Carcross, Yukon Territory
Montana Service and RV Park

Today was another long day, but a great one.  Harry and Carlena drove us to Skagway, Alaska.  We knew it would be a big tourist trap but heard this was the best day as only 4 cruise ships were in the tiny town of 1,000 residents.

There was some spectacular scenery besides all the bears, moose, goats, and an eagle.  The reflections made this lake look like a mirror.

When we were stopped for road construction the flagman told us where to get good fish and chips in Skagway.  

We wanted to show Harry and Carlena the brothel in the Red Onion.  The tour started at 11 but we had tickets for the Soapy Smith Saloon and base of operations tour by the park ranger at 11:15.

We had a guided tour by a National Park Ranger.  One thing we were told was that tomorrow they start charging for the tour.  Free is good.

Soapy Smith,the noted con man of Skagway fame, was born in 1860 and was killed in 1898.

We had just enough time from our Soapy Smith tour to the 1 pm walking tour of Skagway for lunch.

Since it was such a beautiful day we sat on the patio looking out at all the ships.

As we were sitting there guess who walks up--Sue Valentine.  We told Sue that we passed Dennis and Carol Hill earlier as we were driving over the mountain today.  

As we were walking over the bridge to the ranger building, we saw these two enterprising young boys in their underwear.  

People have dropped money in the creek and they were wading out to get it.  They had a pile of coins totaling $2.55. They did say the water was really cold. 



I guess I should mention that we've been to Skagway before.  When we visited before there was a great display showing the year's worth of supplies that the prospectors were required by the Canadians to have before taking the

Chilkoot Trail to the Klondike gold rush.

When I asked the park ranger about the display, he said "Oh, you've been here before."  A new display has replaced it with the empty crates depicting the supplies.  The old display was so much better.  Progress?

What can I say about the guided walking tour?  It won't be good.  All four of us were upset with the direction the ranger gave regarding her personal feelings toward some events.  Normally we really enjoy ranger talks and learn from them.  Considering all the great ranger talks we've had in the past, I guess every once in awhile they can't all be great.  



In the past, we heard some interesting stories about the cribs where the whores worked, but all we were told today was this is a crib.

Even though the walking tour was disappointing, we still enjoyed the sites. This original building now houses the information center.

Every good tourist town has many ice cream stores.

It was really good.  There were way to many choices to pick from.

If you been reading along for awhile, you know I've wanted a haircut, but there still isn't a hair salon here.  Look at this driver of the truck, she needs one worse than me.  

One of the gift shops had a very nice free museum with lots of interesting displays.

This is the world's largest baleen basket.

This was carved from ivory.  The photo doesn't depict the detail or size.

Here's a moose we saw along the roadway.

We've seen a lot of bears and we've already lost track of the number of sightings, but it still is thrilling to see them in the wild.

Just black bears today, but we also saw one brown colored black bear.

Bill spotted this eagle.








Our travels had us leave the USA and back into British Columbia and then into the Yukon Territories all of that in our hour drive.  

Turtle Safely.........