Day 5 : May 31st Skagway, Alaska

May 31st

Yesterday's trip to Tracy's Arm Fjord exceeded my expectations. I came to Alaska looking for mountains and I saw mountains. Some with snow caps, some with verdant vegetation, others with rocky cliffs. Our ship was dwarfed on both sides by peaks and valleys. The waterfalls that dribbled off the sides of the cliff were sourced by snow melt. As for wildlife, we saw seals, birds, eagles, 2 whales, and a black bear. The weather was also great, colder and windier as we got close to the glacier. There were giant icebergs. Particles were so condensed that the only color they radiated was a brilliant blue. 

Today was our first port of call, Skagway, Alaska. This town thrives only on tourism and is basically one block by seven blocks long. Only in the summer it is filled with people visiting in for the day via cruise ship. We did all of our shopping today and mailed the post cards. The post office was larger than Gotha's, but largely understaffed. In fact, the system crashed and we had to leave. Then they closed for lunch for an hour. 

The weather started as bearable, just cold and cloudy, but then by the time of our excursion, it was a heavier cold rain. We dropped off our purchases and made our way off again. Rock climbing and rappelling  I'm not exactly the outdoorsy type, but I never let the comfort zone get in my way. So despite the rain and cold, we tried to climb. John did great. He's tenacious, but may think that physics are like video games. I'm not a climber, it goes against everything I was told to do as a kid. The rappelling part was most interesting. We hiked to the top of a 75-foot cliff then leaned backs toward the ground and rappelled down. I did it relatively easily, expect that my response to fear is anger. I took it upon myself to yell and insult the nice young rock climbing guides. They were all amused. By the end we were sore, tired, wet, and cold. Nothing a warm sauna and hot shower didn't fix. 

Tonight's dinner was great too. I love a good chicken noodle soup and turkey. Delish! 

Skagway is the definition of tiny town. It has two bars, but when the cruise ship leaves so does a majority of the population. This town is more reliant on tourism than Orlando. This was also our first time breathing Alaskan air. It's clean and crisp. This is also probably best known for the Yukon train, which used to bring gold hunters to local mines.

Also, when I said that we did all our shopping here, we really did. We bought so many souvenirs that I thought we may need to purchase another suitcase. I bought some totem poles, random souvenirs, a watch, smoked salmon, and an awesome sea life coloring book, which I'll blog about later. The post office was a hot mess and good thing I bought stamps before their lunch break. Ironically, the post cards arrived at their destinations the day we returned to Orlando. The post mark came from Juneau, AK.

We were perfectly safe with these rock climbing guides certified and trained by Alaskan Mountain Guides. They're all so young! All the equipment was provided, but the biggest challenge was the cold and rain. I'm not sure that it was my thing, but definitely a good Alaskan adventure.

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