May 19 Awoke to rain this morning. In fact it is predicted to continue all day. However, we have museums to visit, and we can take our own driving tour around Skagway. BTW, Skagway was originally called Moorestown after a man who homesteaded the townsite. But, with the rush of people coming for the gold rush, services were quickly established, and whoever started the post office, named the town Skagway after the native term skagua having something to do with "windy place". That name stuck. And, it is windy here today!
More later if the wifi pirating continues! Some poor soul in the neighborhood of the RV park has an unprotected Apple airport hub running. I've been able to "take liberties" with it. :o)
We were able to get out after lunch. The rain had pretty much stopped but a slight drizzle continued. We parked in the main street area and walked to the harbor. We got quite close to the various boats that were docked there. We saw a pair of ducks swimming. The male had very unique markings and I'm wondering if it wasn't a harlequin duck?? There seems to be less people maybe because there is only 1 cruise ship here.
The local volunteer fire department is having a fundraiser today- a car wash. They have positioned their fire trucks on both sides of a street with the hoses set on a misting spray. Cars are driven in between the trucks. Firemen with buckets of sudsy water brush the cars. The car then get a final rinse. Clean!
We then went to a museum that showed the Klondike Gold Rush. It is fascinating to think that 100,000 men and women came hoping to strike it rich, but for a majority, they ended up with nothing, finding only extreme hardship. Some of the stories are about how others with their entrepreneurism really made out financially. And of course there were those who operated beneath the common decency of the area.
From there we went back to the cabin and house belonging to the Moores. We were there yesterday with the NP tour but didn't spend enough time looking around. William Moore and his son homesteaded the land that later became Skagway. I mentioned this in the first paragraph of this post.
All this acquiring new knowledge gave us a thirst, so we went to the Bonanza Bar and Grill. There was MN Twins memorabilia up on the walls, and I found out that the owner and some of the workers are from Minnesota, don't cha know and ya' betcha!
Satisfying our thirsts, we then went to an area were the Skagway River runs into the inlet and went on a hike to the Yakutania Point. Fortunately the rain and drizzle had stopped, but it was windy and cold. However, we were pretty intrepid and managed to make it out to the point. It allowed you to look a long ways down the inlet from Skagway. This inlet with Skagway is a stop for the Alaska Inside Passage Ferry System.
On the way back to the camper we stopped at the local IGA store for some groceries. Needed milk but their sign says no milk (no eggs, too) until Tuesday. Guess that's what it means to wait until your ship comes in! We...er, Peggy is now doing laundry, and I'm updating our blog while we wait for dinner time. I've also posted more photos to our web site.
Tomorrow is our last day in Skagway as we leave Monday. The only thing on our agenda is to eat out at the Skagway Brewing Company. But there are other things to be seen and explored yet such as an old cemetary, etc. More then!
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