ON TO THE SHIP

June 14, 2014

We had to have our bags out in the hall by 8:00 this morning and we were to board the bus at 10:30 to go to the ship.  We decided after breakfast that we just needed to get out for awhile so took off down to the train station.  There was a very light drizzle but it didn't bother us.  We walked around that area for awhile then back to the hotel to meet up with our group and say goodbye to Rosemary.  The bus took us the few blocks to the ship and we boarded the ship.  It only took us about 10 minutes to get checked in and we went to our room.  While in Denali, our travel agent had sent us an email saying that we had gotten upgraded from an ocean view room to a balcony room for just $29 each.  We were on level 7 on the ship and we thought the room was pretty roomy!  

Our room on the ship

We had a nice surprise from our travel agent when we walked in to our room.  She sent us anniversary flowers!  They were beautiful!  We also had 2 balloons outside our door.  We left them up because it made it easier  to find our room!!

Our flowers

We just had time to repack the backpack and head out to our next excursion - Bridge, Brothel and Brew.  There were only two other couples on this trip with us on one of those BIG buses! The driver told us that since there were just a few of us, we could make more stops for pictures. The trip would take us back up in to Canada, past Fraser, where we had gotten on the train on Thursday.  We started with a tour of Skagway (didn't take long! The town is 5 blocks by 23 blocks) and then north on the Klondike Highway.  (When we got on the White Pass & Yukon Railroad, it ran on the other side of the canyon, parallel with the Klondike Highway.  When we were on the train, it was a cloudy day.  Today the sun was shining brightly and it was a beautiful day.)  We did learn that Skagway has over 20 jewelry stores.  There is a hospital but no doctors.  They do have two nurse practitioners though.  If you're pregnant, they send you to Juneau at 3 months until the baby is born.  There have been no babies born in Skagway in many, many years.  Sometimes there are 4 cruise ships in port and that means 9,000-12,000 extra people in town!  Skagway is only about 20 miles from Canada.  Our bus driver arrived in Skagway on May 2nd, the ground was still frozen and it was snowing.  They receive 15 feet of snow in winter and 20 inches annual rainfall.  

Our first stop was just past the Captain William Moore Bridge outside of Skagway.  It's a suspension bridge supported only on one side over a fault line.  In the case of an earthquake, the bridge will only have minimum damage since one side of it is unattached to anything.

The Captain William Moore Bridge

You can see the fault line running up the mountain.

Here we are, across from the bridge

There weren't any more stops until we got to the Yukon Suspension Bridge.  We were having lunch here and were served Bison Chili, Ciabatta Bread, Salad and a Yukon Beer.  After eating lunch, we headed to the bridge.  The scenery here was amazing!  We walked across the bridge and then looked at the buildings on the other side.  Then, back across the bridge, through the giftshop and back on the bus.  The bridge crosses the Tutshi (pronounced too shy) River.  The bridge is 200 feet long and 57 feet over the river.  The estimated cost to build it was $1 million

Canadian dollars but ended up costing $3 million.

The Yukon Suspension Bridge

The Tutshi River below the bridge

On our way back to Skagway we stopped at International Falls.  At the bottom of the falls, it divides and forms two rivers - the one on the left goes to Skagway and the one to the right goes in to Canada.

International Falls

Along the road

Summit Lake near the Canadian border

Another snowy mountain near Skagway

The Alaska sign

We also stopped for pictures at the Alaska sign.  I thought I was going to have to try to take one from the bus window.  The last stop on this excursion was at the Red Onion Saloon.  We were met at the side door from a "madam" who gave us each a garter and then took us upstairs to the Gold Rush Brothel.  She stopped at the upstairs bar area and offered everyone either a beer or a glass of wine.  She explained how "business" was done back in the day then we went up to the next floor.  At the bar on the bottom floor, there were shelves behind the bar and there were dolls that resembled the girls upstairs.  A man would look at the dolls and request a certain one.  The bartender would lay that doll down on the shelf when she was "busy".  When he heard the gold come down the pipe from the hole in the floor and the man's footsteps on the steps, he would stand that doll back up again.  We toured each bedroom there and we even saw some of the original dresses worn by the girls.  We saw the hole in the floor where the girls would put their gold received for services rendered.  

The madam who gave us the tour

Here's Conrad with her.  He looks way too happy!

After the tour, our bus driver delivered us back to the ship.  We got back on the ship just as they were doing the lifeboat drill.  They called out all our names (this was only for those who got on at Skagway.  Most had been on the ship for 3 days already.) and showed us how to put on the life jackets and that was it.  

We picked up our welcome packet with a free piece of artwork and had to take care of details for transportation to the airport on Wednesday.  Then it was dinner time.  We went to the dining room and had dinner with Kim and Bob from California and Virginia and Donna from Canada. All were very interesting people.  We ran into Virginia and Donna several times on the ship and visited them.  We spent more time with Kim and Bob at the airport in Vancouver.  We had the Parmesan Chicken, salad and roasted vegetables.  Conrad had a berry dessert that he said tasted like jello with fruit.  I had the Chocolate Soup, an original recipe from Jacques Torres from Food Network.  It was really good!

My Chocolate Soup

By the time we got done eating, we had missed the 8:00 show with an illusionist and we just couldn't stay up until the 10:00 show.  We were so exhausted so we were off to bed. 

This guy greeted us after dinner.

Going to get up early in the morning to watch as we enter Glacier Bay.  We left our drapes open so that we could watch the scenery go by whenever we woke up.  It's the end of another big day for us.