Travels With Sir Charles: Skagway

Today is a nice day in Skagway. We will catch the ferry to Haines at 3:30pm. We took a walk with Charlie, then moved from the campground to street parking near The Station, a restaurant/bar. We left Charlie in the RV to sleep while we ate breakfast. We found a table near another couple and chose to have omelets. Soon the other couple was joined by more people and eventually they had a group of locals numbering nine people. We gave them our table and moved to the next table. Soon, we had joined their conversation and felt like we were visiting with friends. They all had friends or relatives that lived either in the Seattle or Kitsap County area. Most had lived in Skagway for many years. We had a great visit over a wonderful breakfast. As we were preparing to leave, the waitress came to our table and told us our bill had been paid. We pressed her for more info and she told us Phyllis, from the group, bought our breakfast. We argued to no avail and thanked her for her generosity. These people helped make our visit to Skagway a great experience.

We walked the downtown area after breakfast and studied the history of the area. This was quite a wild town in the late 1800’s during the Klondike gold rush. We wandered back to the motorhome to the relief of Charlie and moved to the Alaska Marine dock to await the ferry arrival. To our surprise the ferry that arrived seemed small and loaded thru a center door of the boat. We had to back onto the boat and then turn 90 degrees to park in a very narrow lane. I’m glad we have a 25’er and not the 45’ bus that had a difficult time getting on the boat and parking in the lane! The trip to Haines was uneventful and we enjoyed the spectacular views. Charlie had to stay on the car deck alone in the RV and was very happy to see us return when we landed in Haines. We drove to the Oceanside RV Park downtown Haines. Although we are parked side by side in a gravel parking lot, we have a fantastic view of the water and mountains that surround this town. Our neighbors are friendly and we will stay here two nights to rest, relax, and wander Haines.