Day 13 Ferry from Juneau to Skagway

Gondola to Mount Robertson in Juneau

View from Mount Robertson

Bald Eagle

Bus getting loaded on the Ferry

A Glacier seen from the Ferry to Skagway

We are travelling by the local Ferry from Juneau to Skagway. It is still raining and the hope is that it will rain less in Skagway. We just saw several whales and two glaciers , if it was sunny it would have been gorgeous. But, it is still nice .

The quote of the day is from a young father, we were having coffee in a local cafe and this family with a seven year old boy was about to sit next to us ( outside the cafe) and the Dad said, “ **** we have to sit next to Subway, the boy asked what is wrong with Subway Dad? ( there was a subway sandwich shop next door) . The Dad , “ I hate that obnoxious sandwich smell “ ‘ and walked off( a big huff) with the kid and the wife. I wonder how will that kid turn out…..

We took the Mount Robortson Gondola up the mountain and learned a lot from the local Tilgit ( local tribe) owned operation. They have a treaty with the US government and own and operate lot of businesses on the Alaska Islands and are doing quite well integrating as well as preserving their culture. The local guide did talk about her parents generation when the American schools will make the kids wash their mouths with soap if they spoke in Tilgit language. SO, one generation grew up not speaking the language and with the idea that they where inferior to the Europeans ( usual stories) but things are changing and kids are learning both , English as well as their culture and the language. There is so much food off the land here that there is no word for “starvation” in their language and it seems like they lived off the land for thousands of years before Russians came and things changed.

We will get to Skagway at 11 pm so I may not post this tonight. Oh, one more thing : A little bit of panic yesterday when I tried to book a hotel in Skagway, there was no vacancy …L It turns out there are not many hotels there and most are prebooked by cruise line but there are lots of Bed and Breakfast. So, we will be staying at e Historic Bed and Breakfast tonight. I will let you know how it went…Good night and please pray to the rain God for us.

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