The highlight of today was a car wash.
We drove into Skagway, and on our to do list was get the car cleaned.
Big sign by the fire station “ Car Wash, $ 10.00 donation”
So Marla driving, we zoomed round to the back street, where we saw Chippendale Fireman doing his dance in the street, with a big fireman’s boot for the money.
I was unceremoniously dumped from the car as Marla opened her window to be chatted up by Chip.
She then drove between two fire trucks, one on each side of the road,
which were spraying water all over with their big hoses, then she stopped while several firemen and women washed and scrubbed the crap off the car, then drove between two more fire trucks, got the hosey treatment again, and emerged clean as a whistle, with a big grin all across her face. It was really cool, and there were dozens of cars going through, and lots of tourists taking pix, so we were lucky to be here today, coz it was not a regular occurrence. And all proceeds were to a very good cause.
We then wandered around the town and had lunch at The Red Onion Saloon, which was originally a brothel, back in the gold rush days.
Marlipops had a Madam’s Martini, which was pomegranate infused Pearl vodka, served cosmopolitan style, ( Janet, you would like this one ) and which seemed to go down with little problem, and your brave writer risked a Red Onion Brothel Brew, which was reasonable.
The brothel had a brief colorful history for a couple of years, the barman kept a doll for each of the “hostesses” at the back of the bar. When the girl was busy, her doll was put on it’s back, and when the fee was sent down the copper pipe through a hole in the floor, the doll was returned to the upright position, signaling the girl’s availability.
There was also a wonderful collection of used bedpans on the wall.
Later, we went into one of the two info places, and were given some wonderful tips by one of the National Park Rangers.
First, we were directed to Reid Falls, a stunning waterfall, only 5 minutes from the town center, and to get to it, we had to go through a small graveyard, full of people who died around the turn of the last century, all gold rush type people. Most of the gravestones were wood, and lots of graves had small picket fences around, and some had what looked like bed frames. All set in the most picturesque sunlight dappled wooded area. Very pretty, if you can use that word with a graveyard. It’s our travelog so we will use wot we want!!
Then we drove around the adjacent mountain to Dyea, which is no longer there!
It was the original city of the gold rush, built on mud flats, and had a catastrophic avalanche which killed lots of people, and very soon after the survivors all left at once, most of them taking their wooden houses with them.
The area now is flat, treeless and full of beautiful blue irises, and bears. We sat on the sand dunes overlooking the bay, waiting for the bears, but none showed up. Must have been our car blending so well into the background that confused them.
One thing which struck me as highly amusing, but might not be funny to everyone, was that there was a cruise ship in from Japan, and the passengers were doing the usual touristy stuff, and I saw a local Skagway man, getting into a truck, and he was obviously in his seventies or eighties, his license plate said US Navy Retired, and he was wearing a cap with a United States WWII Ship emblem. I wonder if they had met before, 60 years ago.
There is a tiny airstrip here, and to land, the planes must first fly up the valley, do a u turn right before the mountains and come in very low over our campsite. Very cool to see these little planes flying so low, with the green mountainside behind them as a backdrop.
Wildlife watch today …………zero.
