Day 14: Wild things in Skagway, and Dyea

SO, I found her....

And more wild things

View of Skagway and the ships

Train Station

Skagway river

Road to Dyea, there are Bald Eagles and the Bear was supposed to be there too

We got to Skagway last night at midnight and drove into the town. There was nothing open and no street lights. But, the town is small enough that we were able to find the Bed and Breakfast with not much problem. The inn is really historic, right in the middle of historic down town and was built in 1897. The name is “ Historic Skagway inn”. Rooms are nice and clean and furnished with antiques but the floors creek and the walls have no insulation but that;s what one gets when they stay at the historic inn,

Skagway is tiny. Total of 400 people live year around but the population swells up to 8,000 or more in summer. There are at least 4000 tourists that come everyday and they were saying few years ago it used ot be 10,000 ( bad economy right now) .

Oh, you will never guess who we met ( well not really) but yes, she ( Sarah Palin) grew up here and they love her. They have a store dedicated to her, her calendars, CDs, books, tourist stuff with her on it and even larger than life cutout of her. I find it so hard to believe.

We learned about the Klondike gold rush of 1896 when over 100,000 people from all over the world came to find gold in Dawson creek. They came by ships to Skagway and walked 500 miles to the city through the mountain passes and frozen lakes and avalanches. This is how Skagway and the sister city Dyea started. It turns out that lots of those who came, died or returned sick and they say only 100 out of them got any gold. But people who “ mined the miners” , took care of them, made lot of money. Backpackers still do the "CHilkoot trail" ( one of the challenging hikes in America) We did the beginning mile of it, straight uphill.

Most of Skagway is national historic monument and buildings and streets are from that era , It is very pretty and walk able city. We saw bald Eagles on the beached and wild mushrooms on the trails. Here is an interesting question :

Why there are so many jewelry shops in all the ports that cruise ships visit???? I asked several people and no one could answer it..

Let me know if you have a theory. I may send this tomorrow morning because the internet is acting up right now. Good night and let me know the answer…