OK... again, picture overload!!
We loved
Skagway, it normally has about 800 people that live there year round, but during the summer, many people come up to work the summer so the population can grow to 1,500.
Skagway is known for the White Pass Yukon Route railroad. We got off the boat in the morning and took the train ride, that was AMAZING!!! Just beautiful, I couldn't sit still, I was up and about, inside and outside (mostly outside). I just couldn't believe it, I had so much fun!! The train picks us up at the boat dock and then drops us off in the middle of town after our ride. We found an espresso stand at the dock before we went on the train ride... Jerome was a happy man!!
We got to walk the town while we shopped, it was a beautiful town. We also got to visit and tour the famous Red Onion Saloon and Brothel. It was pretty interesting.
Here are the pictures...
Here is a picture of the train that picks us up on the same dock as the boat!
This was taken after the train ride, but it's the logo of the train ride, so I had to put it first.
Julie and Dan on the train and ready to go!
Lloyd and Candy also ready for the train ride!
Here is the happy man with his espresso!
And a very happy Jerome and
Shai also ready for the train ride!!
Jerome standing outside on the platform.
And
Shai out on the platform.
Not sure if you could tell or not, but this is just the beginning of the train ride and
on the water to the left next to the mountain is our boat... we were gaining altitude very quickly!
On to Alaska with Buchanan!!!
There is a great story here. A man named Buchanan helped fund students to come to Alaska. He said he wanted the parents to help fund 1/3 of the trip, the students had to fund 1/3 of the trip, and he funded the remaining 1/3rd of the trip for all the students. I can't remember how many kids, I believe there were 80 kids, but I wouldn't quote me on it! ;o)
The train gets so close to the mountain, it's amazing! Here's a picture of the train and the mountain... keep your hands and arms in the ride at all times!!
I loved this picture of the mountains and the clouds...
A picture of the train going around a corner, over a bridge and through a tunnel...
to grandma's house we go... Just kidding!! ;o)
This old train bridge (or is it called a
trestle?) is no longer used, but it was beautiful!
The train on another bridge, going through the corner and getting ready to go through a tunnel. (I know it's similar to the picture above, but it was a closer shot of the engine).
White Pass! The USA flag is flying (the flag you can see) there is also a
Canadian flag, but I didn't get that in the shot... oops.
Once we got up there, we weren't allowed off the train (because we were in Canada), they
un-hooked the engine and ran it down parallel tracks and hooked it up to the end of the train so now the back of the train is the front... they also had this cool way of switching over the seats so you were always facing forward with the direction of the train... pretty cool!
Here's a picture of me goofing around... (I promise, I didn't turn the dial
LOL).
Again, keep your hands and arms in the vehicle at all times. The snow is pretty close.
I thought this was cool... this is a building... covered to the roof in snow!!
This was a memorial for the men working on the railway... it's hard to see, but these rocks are on a major boulder that came tumbling down and crushed some workers under it back in the day.
This is the town's cemetery (sorry it's blurry, it was hard to take the picture with the train moving).
The
Skagway famous Red Onion Saloon.
OK, I need to explain this one... the Red Onion Saloon was a Saloon and Brothel back in the day. These ladies (there were two of them) are dressed up in costume and give tours of the rooms upstairs. Mind you it is a walking tour and nothing else! They say the price is the same but the services have changed! It was $5.00 back then and $5.00 to tour. Anyway, back to the story of the picture. These two ladies had set their eyes on Jerome and Lloyd. They came up to them and "polished" their heads with their long skirts and giggled and talked to them. They were just putting on a show but it was funny to see how surprised (and red) these guys got! Of course, the ladies were tipped after posing for pictures and they went on their merry way. They were funny and played the part well. ;o) I couldn't get a picture of Lloyd, like I said we were just eating and minding our own business when they came in out of the blue... it was all I could do to get a picture of Jerome!
Here is the 2
nd lady (that
harassed Lloyd
hee hee) upstairs giving the tour & telling us the story of Diamond Lil.
Another interesting story here. This is the floor of the Red Onion by the front door. They actually moved the building (it was used for other things including used by the railroad and the government)... so they moved the building... Once they had it in place, they noticed that the building was backwards... the backside was to the street. Their solution... cut off the front and the back and switch them that way rather than to move the building around... and that's what they did.
Amazing electrical system from back in the day.
The ladies were promised their own room to decorate... they peeled off several layers of French wallpaper, but left some for us to see. Also is a dress worn they found in the Saloon.
Another shot of items found in rooms back in the day... notice the red light in the window. The red light would be on when they were open for business. (maybe that's where the term "the red light district" came from).
And here we are having lunch at the Red Onion Saloon.
I thought this was
interesting... the age here is 18 I believe.
The store fronts in
Skagway were really pretty.
They renovated the buildings, but they tried to keep the store fronts original.
Just a beautiful town.
The building on your left was very
interesting, the outside was covered in driftwood. They renovated the building and took each piece off... restored it... and put it back on... amazing and very beautiful!
I liked these old cars... they used them as buses, and they were fun to see.
One of the first nights was formal night... we took some pictures on the deck... 
Lloyd and Candy
A cool island we sailed by.
Julie and Shai on the boat
We usually received some cool towel critter every night, that was cool!!
I loved this picture of the beautiful blue sky and the skyline of the boat.
I really like this picture of the mountains in the background and the moon above.
Beautiful, this was taken on the deck of the boat, ah what a view!!
There's a story between the next two pictures. We paid to go to the Mexican restaurant. It was a small price (some of the other "special" restaurants were twice as much) and we got a free margarita with our meal, so we thought, hey... what a deal. This is us the next day... we liked the margarita's so much that we came back and the bartender treated us!! He brought out appetizer after appetizer and made us some great margarita's. So in this picture we have Lloyd, Candy, Jerome, Ricardo, Shai, Julie, and Dan. The stories of Ricardo and his manager are amazing.
Ricardo's manager
The pool deck at night.
We got to go to the Captain's cocktail hour, here is a picture of past guests.
Jerome at the top of the water slide waving & ready to go down.
Jerome with his favorite... a drink in a pineapple.
The chocolate buffet...
This was a cool beer bar, it was very relaxing but I really wanted a beer stein, so we all went there one time and we all got steins, but the funny thing is, I believe not one person was able to finish one on their own... ha ha!!!!
The cruise place (Cruise.com) gave us all champagne bottles so one day we went out and drank them on the deck.
Lloyd on the deck.
Candy on the deck with her glass of champagne.
We saw killer whales too!!
Jerome in the room on the last night.
