Day Five in Alaska

Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Day Five

Today we experienced Skagway, Alaska. We had to get up early to catch our first tour. After a shorter night’s sleep than we would have liked, we stumbled to the dining room for breakfast. We then proceeded to sit with an older gentleman from Omaha (read: hick) and a guy from Calcutta who lived in Oregon for many years. Right away Omaha guy asked where the Indian guy was from. When he answered that he was from Oregon, Omaha guy said, “You don’t look like you’re from Oregon!” That was insensitive comment #1 of many to come. Omaha guy also asked if Indian guy’s kids were light-skinned or dark-skinned, asked if he knew someone in India by the last name of “Lutsa” (India: population 400 million people), and made some comment about how “we are all going to be brown in another 15 years”. Needless to say we were horrified and couldn’t wait to get out of there.

After breakfast, we got our stuff ready to go and headed out to our first tour, the Klondike Bike Tour. We had no idea what we were about to do. I’m glad we didn’t because I don’t know if we would have signed up for the tour had we known. They drove us up on the Klondike Highway to an elevation of over 3000 feet. We passed through 3 different climate zones and 15 miles of highway to get to the peak. Our tour guide, Carson or “Weed Head” (Tim’s nickname for him), filled us in on some of the history of Skagway and about some of the natural things we might want to know. For example, as we got higher in elevation, the trees got shorter. They are actually the same age as the trees in the lower elevations, but they had to remain short to stay below the snow line in order to survive the torturous winters. We heard about the gold rush and how folks had to hike the trail tons of times in order to get the required materials to the Canadian border.

Once we reached the summit, we were all a bit nervous. We were going to ride down the way we just came???? But it is so steep! Nervous as we were, only one succumbed to her fears, an older lady on the trip. She decided to go back in the van for the trip down. The rest of us got our rain gear on (more for the cold than anything) and listened as Emily and Carson told us how to use our bikes and reviewed the safety guidelines. Guess what we checked first? The brakes! They worked (whew), and we were on our way. At first, Tim and I rode more slowly as our nerves took hold, but as we got more used to the speed, we started to let loose of our brakes a bit more. What an exhilarating experience! With the wind whipping at us, and yes, sometimes bugs flying in our faces, we were able to catch in the beautiful mountains and terrain around us as we sailed down the mountain. We were able to stop a few times for pictures, and we got our fair share of them! My favorite stop was at a waterfall. It came cascading down the mountain and was so amazing. I love our picture in front of it. The only time where we struggled was the uphill stretch in one section. Finally, it was time for our tour to end as we biked back through the residential section of Skagway. It was a different view of the small town, and I really enjoyed it. There was a cute little bed and breakfast in town that both of us noticed. We felt so amazing when the tour was over, and we felt really accomplished! I’m SO glad that we did that tour instead of the scenic railroad.

We walked around town a bit and bought the most delicious-smelling cinnamon rolls I have ever had. What a treat! We also bought elk meat teriyaki sticks and salmon jerky. While in the smoke meat store, we tasted a sample of smoked halibut. WOW! I just had to buy some after tasting it, so we bought a bit to take home with us. I don’t know if it is going to make it home though because we really liked it and might just have to eat it on the cruise!

We came back for lunch and met another teacher as well as a couple from England. They told us how they house-swapped with other couples around the world, especially in the United States. After hearing them talk, Tim and I are curious about trying that for ourselves. Now if we could just get someone who would be interested in coming to the South Hills of Pittsburgh!

After lunch, we relaxed in our room. Finally, 2:30 came around, and we headed out to our second excursion for the day: the Summit, Suspension Bridge, and Salmon Bake tour. Our tour guide, Nick Bull, met us at the bus and entertained us the entire way to the suspension bridge, located in British Columbia. He told us funny stories about other bus drivers. For example, we crossed this one bridge that is made to withstand 3 or 4 mini earthquakes a day (it sits on the fault lines). One bus driver told his passengers that they shouldn’t be able to feel one even if there was an earthquake. Just as he said it, they were going over the bridge and he started to swerve back and forth on purpose. The passengers complained, and obviously he wasn’t allowed to do that anymore! He also told us about how one driver used to dress up as a moose on his days off. He did this because the cruise ships were telling their passengers that if they did not see any animals on the tours that they would get their money back. The bus drivers got really fed up with constantly having to give money back to tourists, so the one guy decided to dress up like a moose and sit back a few hundred yards from the road. He would read a book to keep himself busy and when a driver would radio him, he would put his moose head on and walk around like a moose would. The passengers were entertained, and the tour operators got to keep their money. Another tour company did this too and dressed up like a bear with similar luck. Well one day, Ben (the moose guy) heard a bus driver radio to him to get ready. He pranced around like a moose, but he noticed that the tourists were especially excited that day. He looked around, and that is when he noticed the big grizzly bear headed his way. He knew to stay calm and still, so he did, but the bear kept coming at him. So he took ten steps back, but the bear was gaining ground. He did that again, but the bear was still coming at him. Finally, he cut the act and ran like hell to the tourist bus. The tourists were dumbfounded to see a moose running on two legs. The bus operator shouted at him, “You can make it Ben!” That confused the tourists even more. The bear was at his heels now, and he was almost to the bus when he tripped. He made peace with his life and prepared to die when all of a sudden the bear spoke to him and said, “Stop running! You’re messing up the act!” It was the other tour’s guy dressed up like a bear. Needless to say, that act stopped permanently from that day on.

We heard so many stories like that as the tour went on. Finally, we passed into British Columbia and stopped at the Suspension Bridge. What a treat! It passed over raging rapids onto a lookout area on the side. I was really proud of Tim for overcoming his fear of heights. He spent quite a bit of time on the bridge taking pictures of the gorgeous landscape and of us. When we made it to the other side, we met Jax, a dog that one of the tour guides there owned. He was a purebred golden retriever and absolutely beautiful. I couldn’t stop oogling over him!
We had 45 minutes to spend there, and Tim and I got bored, so we started taking silly photos. That was a lot of fun! But the time came for us to go.

It was time to go to the salmon bake. When we are almost back in Skagway, we stopped in Liarsville, where the press used to hang out during the gold rush. That’s how the place got its name! We treated ourselves to some amazing Alaskan Amber beer. Wow! Was it good! Then, to make things even better, there was an all-you-can-eat salmon buffet with cole slaw, beans, chicken, salmon, and more. They poured a brown sugar sauce over the salmon…oh my! If I had more room in my tummy, I could have eaten a whole salmon fish! So good! After dinner, we wandered around the area they had set up. There were different tents explaining different things the people did (from explaining the press to the lady entertainment).

We didn’t want to leave, but it was time to head to the ship. We boarded the ship absolutely exhausted. We wanted to go to the magic show, but the seats were filled. We decided that while we waited for the next show, we would go get some dessert in the dining room. We did that and then headed back to our room to relax. Both of us ended falling asleep for a bit. When we woke, we both looked at each other and knew our hopes of going to the magic show would not be fulfilled. We were just too tired after an amazing day.

Line of the day: “But all my wishes are about to come true.” (Enchanted)
-We watched part of the movie Enchanted while relaxing in our room today, and I loved this line!