45 years old … sheesh … how did that happen

Oh well … at least I’m on vacation.

I’d like to give Karen a big thanks for the birthday balloons on our door.

The ship docked in Skagway pretty early today, before 7:00am.  We had breakfast by the pool again.  I love having breakfast with stunning scenery.  Karen and Nana headed into downtown Skagway before 8:00am to shop til they dropped, while Papa and I hung around the ship.  We tried to go gambling but since the ship is in port, the casino is closed.  We instead checked out the various spots on the ship before heading back to the room.

Karen and Nana came back just in time for lunch before we headed out for our excursion.  We booked the White Pass & Yukon Route ($110 USD/person).  What is great about this train is that they have a wheelchair car.  What was even better was that the car was not completely full so each of us had our own row.

The train leaves from the cruise ship dock and heads up to the White Pass Summit, which is on the border between Alaska and British Columbia.  The trip is only 20.4 miles but it takes about 1.5 hours to get to the summit.  Along the way, you get to see the most breath-taking views.  The views are even better if you stand on the platform between the cars.  You can see the locomotive as the train rounds the curves, crosses bridges, and heads into tunnels.  Nana saw another bear – a brown one this time, just a few feet from the tracks.  Once the train gets to the top of the summit, the locomotive gets detached from the front of the train and is reattached to the end of the train for the trip back down.

Karen’s friend Cheryl West came from Whitehorse (in the Yukon) to some time with us.  It was really nice to have a local’s perspective on Skagway.  We did a bit more shopping in town.  Cheryl got a recommendation that the Thai restaurant in town, Starfire, was good and boy was it ever.  After dinner, we drove around Skagway to shoot some photos before Cheryl dropped us off at the dock.

We ended the night with chocolate cake from room service for my birthday.  It’s 9:40 PM now, and still very light outside.  With 18 hours of daylight here, we rarely get enough sleep.  Oh well, I’ll sleep when I get back to work. We need to be up by 5:30am as we enter Glacier Bay, and another day of jaw-dropping scenery.