Mile Zero Bed and Breakfast Skagway

We board the train to White Pass in Skagway. The antique diesel engine begins to chug and we are hauled away from the Movie Set Town. A voice chimes in over the intercom and begins to narrate in a lively, sing-songy, very pleasant fashion. The train chugs along and as we pull up higher and higher into the mountains the view becomes more phantasmagorical at every turn. Mist and clouds and green and rock and crags and we climb and ...

... the Bishop. The Russians came to harvest otter furs, which they traded to the Chinese for tea, and they dominated Alaska with power and sophistication. The Bishop’s residence, constructed by Finnish shipwrights, had beautiful wood and a complicated heating system, with excellent insulation, raised doorsteps between the rooms (to stop the circulation of cold air) and huge stoves in each room, some inter-connected, that were the equivalent of central heating. The ...

Friday, August 28, 2009 - Skagway, Alaska - Day 4 of 4<br><br>This morning's early rising reminded me of my childhood days when dad would call up the stairs, "All hands on deck!" Our carpool was scheduled to leave at 7:15 for our 8:00 a.m. cruise on the Skagway-Juneau Fjord Express Catamaran.<br><br>It was a rainy morning, and it seemed as though our "good weather luck" had run its course. Although we have encountered our share of rain on ...

Thursdy, August 27, 2009 - Skagway, Alaska - Day 3<br><br>Today's agenda included an excursion on the White Pass &amp; Yukon Route Railroad. We carpooled to the railroad depot near the waterfront in Skagway at 12:15 for our 12:45 departure to the summit of White Pass.<br><br>Built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush, this narrow gauge railroad is an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, a designation shared with the Panama Canal, the Eiffel Tower ...

After sailing overnight we arrived in Skagway. Port for those arriving by ship for the gold fields and the terminus of the White Pass and Yukon railroad.<br><br>This was our first port of call in Alaska and our first taste of the many outlets selling expensive jewelery. Darelyn and I just don't ...

... Everyone is very friendly. The food is wonderful. I can feel the<br>weight going on already. We went to the show last night and ended up<br>on stage with a couple from Adelaide. We were given a free drink for<br>our efforts. At least no-one knew us and it was all a bit of a laugh.<br><br>Today we are at sea. It is cool out on<br>deck but very comfortable inside. I have been to some digital photo<br>classes. Rob is reading somewhere. <br><br>

... of town, complete with its own BBQ. The salmon were running, and all the rivers and streams were full of fishermen in waders, many of whom were taking home 2-3 foot fish. The son of the owner of our dinner restaurant - the Bearclaw - caught 20 salmon that afternoon in the 2 ½ -3 foot range. A beautiful, lush fog shrouded the scenery, and Cook Inlet was wreathed in clouds and mist as we made our way back to our cabin. On Tuesday, we reserved a room at Hooligan's in Soldatna and then ...

... dinner?" ($6 each). <br> <br>About six of us went with Ben (campground assistant) and got fresh Dungeness Crabs right from the fishing boat. Ben showed us how to clean them&#8212;hold the claws and legs from behind, hit the shell so it comes off, break in half and shake the guts out. Not really very hard to clean. Good thing I got the heavy rubber gloves! <br><br><br>Ben boiled the crabs and ...

... within. We spot a merganser with ducklings while we're stopped to refill the water bottles.<br><br> At nearly 7.5 miles in, we come upon the ruins of Canyon City, including this rusty boiler which once belonged to the Dyea Klondike and Transportation Company, who constructed a tramway powerhouse here in the 1890's. <br><br> It's just after 6 PM, but we've still got lots more uphill to do ...

We we woke today, we were docked in Skagway -- made famous by Jack London's "The Call of the Wild" It's considered the Gateway to the Yukon, from whence many easterners (fools) began their journeys over the mountains to the gold fields. The real people who got rich were the one's in Skagway who sold the greenhorns supplies because they were so ill-prepared.<br><br>Skagway still resembles a turn-of-the-century mining town, where vendors mine ...