Travels With Sir Charles: 05/21/16

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.

Skagway Steam Train WP&YR

Welcome sign at park

WP&YR track snowblower

Broadway street downtown Skagway

Ferry unloading (riding lawnmowers offload first)

Fort Seward building in Haines

View from downtown Haines

View from our campsite in Haines

Over dinner last night we made the choice of traveling to Skagway today and taking the ferry to Haines tomorrow. The ferry ride will be a nice – the boat will take one hour to sail the 15 nautical miles vs. the RV driving 7-8 hours for approx. 344 miles! The decision to take this route was one of the better ones we have made on this trip. We considered the fact that 6,000 people would be arriving today by cruise boat and still chose to come here. The drive was the most scenic of the trip. The road was good and the mountains with all of the snow were as beautiful as we were told they would be. We stopped in Carcross to admire the view of the lake and I bought a huge loaf of sourdough bread at the local bakery. The lakes at the top of the pass are still frozen over. It was a day of visual overload!

To top the trip off we came across another black bear and were able to stop for pictures. We blocked one side of the road and a tour bus from Skagway blocked the other side. As usual, there wasn’t any traffic so we took our time and enjoyed the bear. We joked afterwards that the tour bus company probably dropped the bear off five minutes before the bus arrived. Keep those customers entertained. The grade down to Skagway is 11% for 11.8 miles. I spotted a group of tourists on bikes headed down. They haul bikes and riders to the top and then you ride back to the boats. Anything for a buck! Near the bottom we passed a lone touring bike rider load with gear pedaling up the grade. That is one hardy, athletic rider! Climbing major hills and sleeping in a tent with bears in the area sounds like a fun vacation to me. Ha-ha.

We crossed back into the US again today. We have crossed the border so many times the custom people know us by name. We are always surprised at how unfriendly the US customs people are. I guess we inconvenience them by returning to our country. Seems funny that the Canadians always want to know if we are carrying guns but the US customs never ask. What’s one more gun here I guess.

We were lucky to find the Pullen City RV Park near the docks and a five-minute walk into town. They are booked solid for the weekend but have an opening for us tonight. This is a three-day holiday weekend for Canada so they will be busy in town. We have a 3:30pm reservation on the ferry for the one-hour trip to Haines so we should miss the crowd coming for the weekend. The cruise boats are here on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday so tomorrow should be a bit quieter in town until the holiday rush hits (oops, one cruise boat arrived at 8:00am). We have cell phone service for the first time in two weeks. That’s a treat. It’s sometimes great to communicate with the outside world.

We have talked with many of the locals about their weather here and everyone is worried about the changes in the weather patterns due to global warming. For those that don’t believe in the changing climate they should make a trip up here. They are seeing hotter weather and much less snow in the winters. The insects are getting worse, the beetles are killing off the forests causing large forest fires, and they may be seeing ticks in the near future. It’s a shame we are ruining this beautiful area of the world.

We walked the town after most people returned to the ships. We were directed by a shopkeeper to a nice place for breakfast tomorrow. No omelets or oatmeal tomorrow! We also have one Starbucks and we found a nice place for lunch. Looks like we blow the budget.