We were up quite early this morning so that we could take our time getting to Skagway. At this point we didn't know or had forgotten about the lost hour. Might have slept in a bit if we had remembered. In any case, we made it to a place called Emerald Lake before 8 a.m. This is one of the must see places in the Yukon according to Trip Advisor. If we had slept in, the sun would have been on the lake and the emerald effect would have been better but it was still pretty spectacular. Plus, we met an Aussie couple who were also there and had a nice chat about driving on the wrong side of the road and gas prices.
We drove on a little more and saw a sign pointing to the Carcross Desert. Desert? Yep, there is a lot of sand and not much rain so they have a desert in the Yukon. You learn a lot on road trips! You could see that lots of people had driven all over the dunes, probably having much fun. I thought the RAV could handle a little spin but my co-pilot disagreed.
Then we arrived at the town of Carcross which started up during the gold rush days. It's currently undergoing a lot of rebuilding and renewing. It has many old buildings that are used for touristy things. We had a nice pastry and coffee at one of the places.
Skipping ahead, and glossing over some great mountain scenery, we are now in Skagway! This is a very touristy town that only has 400 people in the winter! In the warmer months, there are thousands and most are tourism related. The harbour was full of cruise ships when we arrived and the streets were full of tourists. Very full. It's a very pretty town and they are also renewing many old buildings.
I mentioned that I'm on a mission to try as many local brews as possible on this trip. Well, Marilyn's goal is to visit every quilt shop north of the 50th parallel! We found another one in Skagway and learned that there is one in Juneau that we will be visiting tomorrow. I have to say that they look pretty much the same to me but apparently each on has unique kinds of cloth that quilters need!
We went to the Skagway Brewery for lunch as it was not as touristy as the Red Onion where the servers all dress as Good Time Girls. The local brews, Boom Town Brown and Blue Porter were great. Marilyn had an excellent wild smoked salmon plate and I had a halibut sandwich.
Now, we're on the ferry. It's called the Malaspina and it's one of the older ships. We'll be on a newer one when we have a sleepover on our way to Prince Rupert. This ship was quite comfortable and the weather was perfect for sitting up on deck and watching the mountains go by.
There was some excitement when we saw a humpback whale off the starboard, or maybe port bow... or stern. Anyway, the whale surfaced a few times and I managed to get a fin and a tail shot. Not spectacular but, hey, it was still a whale!
Towards the end of the trip, it got very windy and dramatically cooler on deck so we moved inside. I would go out every once in a while to take some photos and was lucky to get this of a partial rainbow. Marilyn actually noticed it while we were inside and I went to check it out. I watched it for 10 minutes or so and it increased in intensity before fading away. We've never seen one quite like this.
This was the scene as we arrived in Juneau. Heavy, threatening clouds and quite a bit of rain. You can also see the Mendenhall Glacier above the city. We'll be checking that out in the coming days.
After leaving the ferry, we drove to our hotel which is the Best Western Grandma's Feather Bed. When we got there, it looked like a B&B. I don't stay in B&Bs. I did the research on this place and it is a normal hotel that kind of looks like a B&B. Everyone has their own bathroom. However, the suites, as they are called, are pretty cool. Ours has a whirlpool tub with shower, a tall bed with a quilt if we need it and a little sitting room in front of a window. I'm falling asleep now so here are a few pictures of it. Back tomorrow...
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