Day 5

                                                                                   Day 5

                                                         Skagway, AK to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

                                                                          August 28, 2011

     We awoke with the excitement that today we’d be moving onward.  Our hotel in Skagway, the Westmark, was not at the level of luxury that we had rapidly become accustomed to on the Volendam.  Sadly, our gold keycard status carried no weight on this portion of the trip. We were no longer considered “special”.  We were picked up promptly at 9AM by the coach that would take us to 2 blocks to the train station.  One thing that was typical of Holland America was that you needn’t concern yourself with using your legs to propel you forward.  If it involves more than 10 steps in any direction, they will have you transported.  We soon boarded the train that would take us up the White Pass to Lake Bennett.  This was the narrow gauge “White Pass and Yukon Railroad”.   We had a pleasant and scenic trip getting great views of the valley and passing by a memorable spot called Deadhorse Gulch. This was named for the 3000 or so horses that died here during the gold rush in their failed attempts to carry the one ton of food and equipment up this pass required of every prospector entering Canada.  The weather was cold and wet and unfortunately a lot of our pictures were blurred by raindrops on the windows.  Nevertheless, it was a memorable journey.

     Once at Lake Bennett we had lunch, family style, in a large hall.  This was essentially the same meal that was served here for the past 111 years since the railroad opened in 1900, consisting of beef (no longer moose) stew, biscuits, cole slaw, and apple pie.  (If you were a vegetarian, you were out of luck.)  One of the stories we were told was of an enterprising woman during the gold rush who made a fortune selling homemade apple pies in Skagway for $20.  Another story was of a man who made a fortune selling cantaloupes for $50, ($20 if they were rotten) to prospectors.  If you were suffering from scurvy, a $50 cure for your vitamin C deficiency wouldn’t be too bad.  They apparently didn’t ask the native people in the area what their cure was: tips of local spruce trees, which were loaded with vitamin C.  Now some of the local beers, in homage to this cure for scurvy, add spruce tree tips in the brewing process.  Regardless, Kris and I didn’t have to worry about any nutritional deficiencies on this trip. 

     After touring the Lake Bennett area, we got back on the train which ended in Carcross.  We then got off the train and onto our coach, (they are referred to as coaches on Holland America, not busses), for the final leg of the day to Whitehorse.  Our coach driver asked for us to refer to him as “Coach Commander Rex.”  We would be with him for the next 3 days.  He would offer commentary and humor along the way.  This was supplemented by the occasional DVD that would play on the TV monitors suspended from the ceiling just like on airplanes.  It was surprisingly comfortable.  The overall tour leader for our group was Randy.  He would be with us from our start in Skagway until our finish in Anchorage.  He would also offer commentary along the way.  Randy was very good at his job, offering excellent suggestions as to activities to do in our off time, places to eat in the towns we’d be staying in, and taking loving care of our luggage. 

     Whitehorse is the biggest city in the Yukon Territory with 20,000 people.  The entire population of the Yukon is 30,000.  For a place as large California, this means that there are vast swatches of unpopulated land.  After dinner at a Boston Pizza, we headed to the evening’s entertainment, a vaudeville show, complete with cancan dancers called “The Frantic Follies.”  This was corny to its core, but entertaining nonetheless.  It was mainly catering to the septuagenarian and octogenarian audience in attendance as evidenced by the sing-a-long at the end to “Shine on Harvest Moon.”  And with our bellies full of pizza and “Harvest Moon” echoing in our heads, Kris and I slept well that night.   

Our Skagway Accommodations

Looking down the pass as we ascend on the railroad

Train going into the tunnel of love

Considered in the Yukon, one of the 9th Great Wonders of the world.  An amazing engineering feat for its time in 1900.

Beautiful Lake Bennett

Lake Bennett.  Now, just imagine it with 7000 boats all leaving at once.

Kris after should was removed from the train for disruptive behavior

Whitehorse, Yukon

Frantic Follies.  Frankly, we were expecting more banjos.

One way to fight scurvy

Sometimes I feel like I am living in the wrong era