Sgt. Preston's Lodge Skagway

... and climb. Outside the Skagway city limits we can move about the passenger car and ride outside on the platforms, where Hayden rides most of the three hour trip. Some of the twist and turns taken by this narrow gauge train are treacherous and precarious and the sing-song voice warns people in some places not to look down. "Focus out your window to the left of the train on the beautiful waterfall, and if you are at all afraid of ...

... churches were replete with icons and religious art, and had screens before the altars, creating a private space between the congregation and priests. For the native experience, we went to the Sheldon Museum displaying all the original cultures of Alaska, but especially the Tlingit (pronounce 'Tl’ by putting your tongue to the top of your mouth and blowing air out the sides). These were sophisticated peoples, with defined cultural norms and excellent workmanship in ...

... the reasoning but obviously these outlets have been successful in the past...they have to be for there to be so many of them.<br><br>We spent about 3 hours wandering around the town...nothing spectacular really. Just another tourist trap so we headed back to the ship for lunch and happy hour<br>

... down the peninsula to Homer, at the very tip. The coast road was cloudy and foggy again. We drove out onto a spit of land at the very end, where we had lunch at the Little Mermaid, a combination restaurant, B&B an bookstore. Wandering the aisles stacked with books, I came across a multi-volume translation of Plato's works by Benjamin Jowett, a famous scholar at Oxford. What scholar or dreamer brought all those volumes to the tip of an Alaskan peninsula? (He was satirized by his students ...

... brought a dish. Long tables were set up under a tent for a family-style buffet. Joyce, the campground owner, came around and showed us how to get the meat out. Joyce made a really nice little speech about how she feels like everyone is family and wants us all to have a great time in Haines; it was very touching! We got three crabs and could only eat two so have lots left over for another meal ...

... dinner. We finally pull into camp pretty late and exhausted, but Tripp has dinner waiting for us, having gone ahead. We finish that and our tent is set up, too, a welcome gesture, so we try to get some sleep for the big push tomorrow. It's almost midnight, but it's still not really dark; Terri thought to bring a sleep mask, but I make do by draping my small camp towel over my eyes...<br> <br>

... pockets for cheap souvenir gold. Nevertheless, it is one of our favorite destinations in Alaska.<br><br>We rode the White Pass &amp; Yukon railway, getting shaky video of a dead miner's cemetary, Dead Horse Gulch, Black Cross Rock, and Bridal Veil Falls.<br><br>Back in town, we shopped til we dropped, and then settled in for Skagway's Fourth of July celebration. The town's streets were blocked off to traffic, but everywhere there were people ...