Day 39 - Day trip to Skagway, AK

The majority of my summer has been centered around my project with SEARHC - identifying reasons for missed appointments, recognizing shortcomings and lapses between the administrative and clinical staffs at SEARHC, and working with patients to develop new education material - but I have also spent a fair amount of time exploring the culture and geography of Alaska. To me, one of the most unique aspects of the summer project is that it not allows gives you an intensive, hands-on opportunity in your field of interest, but the stipend also provides you with an opportunity to explore parts of the world that you may have never had a chance to travel to otherwise. Keeping this in mind, I have taken a few days over the past 6 weeks to forget about work and see something new or experience part of a culture that is different than mine.

All of my travels have been in Southeast Alaska which is a unique part of the state. First, the climate here is not what you would expect in Alaska. It is rainy, not snowy, and many places are covered with green Sitka Spruce trees and not hundreds of feet of snow. Southeast Alaska is also unique in that there are no roads, well, unless you count the large series of highways and byways that are in the water. The only methods of travel around the Southeast are boat or plane. Some of these villages are literally 20 or 30 miles from each other, however, your car or SUV is useless unless you load it onto the Alaska Marine Highway System. I am currently in Haines, AK which is just a 45 minute ferry ride from Skagway, AK. Since I will not be this close to Skagway again, I decided it would be a fun day trip to go and see what the city had to offer.

Skagway is a very interesting place. If not for the tourists off of the cruise ships in the summer, the city would not be a viable place to live. Between October and April only about 800 people live in the city. Come summer though, about two or three hundred extra people migrate to Skagway and work in the local jewelry or gift shops. Skagway is a big port for the major cruise lines so on some of the busiest days in the summer there may be 5 or 6 ships docked in the harbor. It is funny to think that the tourist population dwarfs the actual population of the city nearly 3 or 4 times over.

Initially, Skagway was a starting off point for the gold miners heading to the Klondike River during the gold rush of the early 1900's. People would travel from the continental United States, stop in Skagway, and then take the White Pass Trail into Canada towards Klondike. The city developed a reputation as a trade town, a last chance for hopeful miners to stock up with any necessary supplies. Skagway also competed with a nearby city called Dyea, which was also a starting off point for some of the gold miners. Dyea is the start of the Chilkoot Trail, another trail that lead into the Yukon and towards Klondike. Skagway eventually overtook Dyea because the city was able to build a railroad that eliminated the need to carry thousands of pounds of supplies over steep mountains during freezing cold winters. That railroad is still in service today and provides tourists with unmatched views of the expansive Yukon region. In addition to the railroad, other feature of the current town pay homage to its storied past. All of the storefronts are set up like they were over 100 years ago, and the entire city is designed to make tourists feel like they are about to embark on a difficult, dangerous journey in search of gold.

I took the 6 AM ferry to Skgagway so I arrived a little before 7. I had spoken with a women in the Haines dental clinic who lives in Skagway so she recommended a few things to see and do. Her first recommendation was a breakfast place called the Sweet Tooth Cafe. I sat and ate while the cruise ships unloaded and the stores opened. I then took a walk around the town (all 7 blocks of it!) to see what was there. Like I said, the town is completely geared towards tourists. Every store sells "unique Alaskan artifacts" or "the World's Best Fudge" or "High Quality Diamonds". It was still fun to walk around because in addition to those stores, there are a few buildings that are still in a historic state. I walked through the gold rush museum and watched a movie about the journey towards Klondike. Also, I walked through some old buildings that were still set up like there were in the early 1900's including the news depot and the saloon.

The highlight of my trip to Skagway was supposed to be a helicopter ride to a dog sled camp on the Denver Glacier. Once you got off of the helicopter you were supposed to get to walk around on the glacier and then drive the dog sled team through the snow. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and I had to cancel my tour. I was scheduled to ride in a helicopter with a woman named Terri. She is a third grade teacher and was so excited because one of the lessons that she teaches is on Alaska and the Iditarod. What better way to teach about dog racing than by having a picture of yourself leading a husky over a glacier? Not only did her tour get rained out today, but she also got rained out yesterday in Juneau. The weather is Southeast Alaska is pretty unpredictable so you can either come to Alaska and never get rained on or come and never see the sun. While I felt bad for her, I am lucky because the same tour that operates the helicopter tours in Skagway operates tours in Juneau so I will be sure to use my refund before I leave. We traded email addresses and I agreed to send her my pictures from my sledding experience.

I ate lunch at Starfire, a Thai resturant, that was also very good. Jenna really did a great job with her suggestions. Skagway is fun for an hour or two, but if you do not go on any sort of excursion the town gets very small, very quickly. I was banking on having the helicopter ride use up a few hours of my day but, when that fell through, I decided that there was no way I would last in Skagway until the 8 PM ferry.

I took the early ferry back to to Haines and met up with the Cones and Stefan. We went out to dinner at a pizza place called, ironically, Klondike. The restuarant is on the town fairgrounds. A few years ago, Disney filmed a movie called "White Fang" in Haines. Once production ended, they left the set standing and it has since become a focal point of the town.

That's about it for today. I'm about to crash because of the early ferry and excitement of walking around Skagway. Tomorrow is my last day in Haines so hopefully the weather clears...

**New pictures posted**