Sunday, October 12, 2025

Skagway, Alaska


 I am continuing with our family the Alaskan cruise we took in July to celebrate our 50th wedding Anniversary. 

This was the second time my husband and I visited Skagway, Alaska. On our last trip in 2019, where we toured both land and sea, we took an 8-hour bus tour excursion from Skagway into the stunning Canadian Yukon, which you can view in this post


On this visit, my husband and I decided to see more of the town of Skagway by taking a Skagway Alaska Street Tour. The tour guide was a costumed conductor who drove a retrofitted yellow 1927 sightseeing bus.  As we comfortably toured through Skagway, he narrated the story behind this very historic Alaska gold rush town.


Skagway, Alaska, is located at the northernmost point of the Inside Passage in Southeast Alaska. It's home to many gold-rush-era buildings that have been preserved as part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. The streets are lined with wooden boardwalks and colorful, restored buildings, looking much as they did over 100 years ago. 



Our tour also drove through the residential area of Skagway, where our driver, who is a school teacher during the school year, showed us his residence and told us an amusing story about a house a lottery millionaire from the Midwest who had a beautiful house built in Skagway but only stayed in it for one year. He said life in the dark, cold, and snowy Alaska winter days is not for everyone!



The tour took us to a high overlook of Skagway, where we could view the historic and residential areas as well as the inner passage inlet, which was filled with visiting cruise ships. Skagway is a popular stop for cruise ships, and the tourist trade is a big part of the town's annual business.


As the tour progressed, our tour guide passed around vintage photos and told us the history of Skagway, including the Klondike Gold Rushwhich brought an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of the Yukon in northwestern Canada between 1896 and 1899.  Gold was discovered there by local miners on August 16, 1896; when news reached Seattle and San Francisco the following year, it triggered what was called a stampede of prospectors.

The "Klondikers" could follow either the Chilkoot or White Pass trail to the Yukon River and sail down to the Klondike. The Canadian authorities required each person to bring a year's supply of food in order to prevent starvation. In all, the Klondikers' equipment weighed close to a ton, which most carried themselves in stages. Performing this task and contending with the mountainous terrain and cold climate meant that most of those who persisted did not arrive until the summer of 1898. Once there, they found few opportunities, and many left disappointed.



We visited a gold rush era cemetery, located high above town. Observing the ages on the gravestones, it was easy to see the hard and short lives many Skagway gold rush residents endured during that era.


Our tour guide told us the tale about a gold rush era swindler and scammer, Jefferson Randolph Smith, who went by the nickname "Soapy Smith." Smith gained notoriety through his "prize soap racket," in which he would sell bars of soap with prize money hidden in some of the bars' packaging in order to increase sales. However, through sleight of hand, he ensured that only members of his gang purchased "prize" soap. The racket led to his title of "Soapy."

Our guide explained that on the evening of July 8, a vigilance committee organized a meeting on the Juneau Wharf in Skagway. With a rifle draped over his shoulder, Smith began an argument with Frank H. Reid, one of four guards blocking his way to the wharf. A gunfight followed, and both men were fatally wounded. They are both buried in this city cemetery, although Soapy's grave was deliberately located on the unconsecrated land a few yards off to the side.




Our tour ended back in the town, and my husband and I had time to walk around to visit some of the exhibits. I made sure to visit the Arctic Brotherhood Building to take a close-up. During the gold rush era, Charles O. Walker gathered over 8,800 driftwood sticks on the shores of Skagway Bay and nailed them to the front wall of the hall!




We visited a replica of a gold rush era saloon and ...


...and the exhibits about one of the engineering marvels of the world, the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad! Built in 1898, the scenic railroad travels up the Coastal Mountains’ White Pass, into the wilderness of Canada’s British Columbia & the Yukon Territory.



Both of our children and families took a long railroad ride on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, and they all marveled at the beautiful sights they saw along the way and back!




Alongside the Railroad Dock in Skagway is an impressive wall of solid granite that is home to one of the most unique art collections in Alaska. Since 1928, the crews of ships have been "autographing" this wall to commemorate their first voyage to Skagway.


We were soon back at the Skagway port, where we boarded our Princess Discovery cruise ship again.


That evening, we enjoyed listening to "Puppies on the Plaza" as our cruise director, Jayson, and his assistant, interviewed an Alaskan Iditarod race winner who told us about his race win and showed the new Alaska Sled Dog puppies he was raising to run in the race in the future.

Our ship was headed back to Seattle the next day, after a brief late afternoon stop in Victoria, Canada. It was a wonderful cruise, and sharing all the fun with our children and grandchildren made our special anniversary very memorable! 

Thanks for coming along on my blog!


Sunday, September 28, 2025

Alaska Cruise in Juneau, sightseeing Glacier Gardens, Nugget Falls and the Mendenhall Glacier



 This was my husband's and my second visit to Juneau, Alaska. We took an Alaskan Land and Sea Cruise of Alaska in 2019 and visited the city then — click here --- to read that post. On that trip, we visited the Mendenhall Glacier  Visitor Center and enjoyed a delicious outdoor Salmon Bake lunch afterward.

On this visit with our family, we again all took different excursions. My husband and I chose a two-part tour beginning in the beautiful Glacier Gardens in Juneau, Alaska.


Glacier Gardens is full of unique Flower Towers — stunning upside-down trees adorned with vibrant flower baskets, created from storm-felled trees by founder Steve Bowhay.

The Bowhay family has welcomed visitors since 1998 to explore the lush surroundings of their botanical paradise and the Tongass National Forest. Their tours offer an unforgettable journey through 50 acres of natural wonder, blending manicured gardens, old-growth forest, and sweeping mountain views, from the comfort of their guided, covered golf carts.


Our tour guide told us that in 1984, heavy rain and snow deposits caused a landslide that demolished much of Thunder Mountain, uprooting nearly everything and destroying one of the main streams. In 1985, Steve and Cindy Bowhay bought up nearly 50 acres of the destroyed land to reclaim it. As part of a "happy accident," Steve took downed trees and buried the tops in the ground, which placed their roots up in the air to form a basket to cradle colorful, trailing flowers.
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Among the other flowers that flourish in this unique botanical garden are rhododendrons, azaleas, Japanese maples, devil’s club, elderberry shrubs, and Alaska's flower, the blue Forget-Me-Not.


The large covered golf cart took our tour group up a total of 600 feet to the top of Thunder Mountain through a section of the Tongass National Forest of majestic Western Hemlock and Sitka Spruce trees.


It was fascinating to view the plant growth in this forest of skunk cabbage, lichen, moss, ferns, and other forest floor growth. Our expert tour guide also shared fascinating stories about the history, ecology, and wildlife of the area.


 When we reached the top of the mountain, we were able to get out of the golf cart and walk over to a viewing platform overlooking a part of Juneau. The weather was foggy, so visibility wasn't the best.


At the end of the tour, we visited the Glacial Gardens Visitor and Event Center. It was full of the most gorgeous and colorful hanging baskets and flower sculptures.

We really enjoyed our tour of Glacier Gardens and highly recommend it if you visit Juneau during the summer.


The next part of our excursion was a visit to the Mendenhall Glacier

The glacier is a 13-mile ribbon of ice that flows from the Juneau Ice Field. which is a 1,500 square mile frozen plateau that feeds a total of 38 major glaciers. The Juneau Ice Field is the fifth-largest ice field in North America and is a leftover from the last ice age. Mendenhall Glacier has been in a period of retreat. In fact, there were various markers that were placed on the lakeshore, and in the visitor center, that showed how the glacier at one time covered those areas in as little as 60 - 90 years ago!



Since we spent a lot of time at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center on our last visit, this time we decided to take the two-mile round-trip hike to see the nearby spectacular Nugget Falls!

This spectacular waterfall plunges about 377 feet down the rugged mountainside into Mendenhall Lake, about three-quarters of a mile south of the active face of Mendenhall Glacier. Powered by meltwater runoff from the hanging Nugget Glacier




A short video of the powerful Nugget Falls!



Our son and family also visited the Mendenhall Glacier area and some of the town, while our daughter and family took a helicopter tour, which landed on top of Mendenhall Glacier for a thrilling close-up of the glacier!


Our last view of Juneau, Alaska, where we all had a wonderful time!

We would enjoy another day at sea, and our cruise's last town to visit is Sagway, Alaska--my next post.