Thursday-July 20-Day 30- Good-bye Scagway, Good-bye Alaska!

The first thing on our agenda this morning was to walk the town of Skagway. It is an interesting old town, and it  is interesting to think back to the turn of the previous century and imagine what this place was like.  So many men, still living in an economic depression, spent their small fortunes to get to the gold fields,  hoping to strike it rich. And only a very small percentage did! And they lost what little they did have to begin with. The story is fascinating, but the reality was devastating.

Steve and I are "museum people" so we started out at the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park, (in the yellow building) to learn more about the gold rush days. Barb and Marie went "shopping". (window shopping!)

Broadway Street, where most of the shops are. That A  B  building facade is just short sticks. 

There were so very many jewelry shops.  Steve did a quick count along five blocks and he counted 26 jewelry shops. We were wondering how they all can make a living in just the few months of tourism annually. But then we remembered that there are several cruise ships in port daily, and the day before there were 10,000 people in Skagway for the day. Yes, the streets were full! So if that happens everyday.....good for them that not everyone is like us! 😊

When John and I  were here 20 years ago, we had our picture taken beside a large rhubarb plant on the street, with a sign that said something like "growing big from Alaskan long summer days and watered by Skagway's stray dogs." Things have changed here in 20 years, so I was pleasantly surprised that I found the rhubarb plant still along the street. However, no sign.  There are most likely now no stray dogs in Skagway today.😊

We passed this truck with two big dogs that looked like lions,

And many beautiful flower planters.

When we met back at the RV, Marie had bought a frybread from the Klondike Doughboy, for us to share.

Last evening on the return train ride, the conductor, the brakeman, and the narrator of our ride, came into our car to chat for awhile. They sat down and made themselves comfortable. In our conversation, Marie asked them about a local bakery, and they told us about the Lil Log Cabin bakery, found at the natural food store, called You Say Tomato. And they added, " they make delicious sandwiches!" We also asked about the old steam engine which occasionally pulls the train up the mountain.  They said it would be running at noon today. We told them we will be watching for them along the road.  They called us train chasers, and seemed quite pleased, as they said no one does that anymore.

So after the morning on the town, we went to this store and bought sandwiches, then headed north on the only way out of town, and parked along the highway to have lunch and watch for the train.

Marie got The Goombah, and Barb got The Godfather.

Mine was called The Big Bird. Steve opted to eat a sandwich in the frig from yesterday. And he saved $12.😀

This vibrant river was way down in the gulch, as we watched for the train across the on the other mountain.

What a nostalgic  sight, to see the train chugging up the grade, steam pouring out the smokestack! We waved both arms frantically. And we hope Conductor John and Brakeman Ben saw us and smiled!!😊

Then we said good-bye to Alaska😔, headed back up the 11% grade for 11 .5 miles, drove back into Canada, and headed east on the Alaska Highway again.....
enjoying the scenery along the way.......
Enjoy it with us!

Then sings my soul

my Savior God, to Thee.....

How Great Thou Art!

How Great Thou Art!

I know.....I go shutter crazy.....the blue sunny skies today really create lovely photo opportunities!

We stopped at Teslin to gas up, and , although we drove only 158 miles today, decided to stay for the night in their Lakeshore Campground.

Awhile ago (and we don't remember when), we bought 4 baking potatoes to make for a meal.  But they take long to make, and usually when we stop for the day there isn't time to bake potatoes.
So stopping earlier than planned gave us time to bake them today!

This was our view behind our RV!

Steve thought I had taken enough pictures for the day!
So I stopped!  BTW- the  baked  potatoes topped with chili and cheese  were very good!

😟😟