Haines to Skagway June 23

We entered Skagway after a scenic, 30 minute, $160, ferry ride. Three cruise ships were in the harbour, meaning about 4000 extra souls were roaming the streets. Hail former patrons! We'd been there twice before with the wallowing hoards.

The downtown Gardencity RV park was a busy place with a community laundry, no registration, no locked WC and double back-in spaces. This was to be a crowded park. Our host on seeing Blarney said, in a rich, southern drawl, "Ya wore that darn dog's legs right off!" Joan and I thought it was the funniest quote of the day.

Joan found a unique and very fine quilting shop. It was unique because almost every other shop in Skagway is souvenirs, T-shirts, jewelry, tours or restaurant. Blarney and I weaved among the tourists and eventually settled on a sunny bench near the shop. "You waiting too?" was a phrase I heard often. Blarney stayed under the bench behind my legs to catch the shade.

As tourists we did a tourist thing, we went to the Klondike graveyard and Reid Falls. The Falls were named after Reid (first name lost) who shot Soapy Smith dead but was fatally wounded himself. Soapy Smith was a notorious thug and con man in the wild days of 1898, that needed to be stopped. They're buried in the same graveyard although Reid has the largest tombstone.

We were busy taking snaps of the White Pass locomotive as it thundered past us on the way into town. Somewhere, Joan found mention of a photo contest, not too many details, but about the train doing its daily work. The contest never reappeared but we have many pictures of this popular train.

Later in the afternoon a heavy wind came up and we were reminded that Skagway is a native word for "windy place". I cycled a few back roads and discovered four large parking lots bulging with tour buses of every size. No doubt this town couldn't survive without the cruise ships.

We ran out of Blarney food and Joan bought him a standard can of dog food. After finding her glasses and reading the label she shoveled out more than half the can based on "recommendations for a small dog" printed on the label. Blarney was turning cartwheels! Later we discovered the recommendation was for a "daily allowance" not a singe meal. Since Blarney had already had breakfast and sundry snacks, he was smiling wickedly behind all the burps.