Whitehorse-Skagway

I thought Marv wanted to go to Skagway; he actually wanted to go to Haines. He agreed to Skagway instead because he thought I wanted to go to Skagway.  I picked a train ride in Skagway, because I thought Marv would like it.  Well Skagway was okay, but by far, not our favorite place in Alaska.  We booked a train ride that we thought was from Whitehorse to Skagway.  In actuality, we ended up taking a bus to Fraser and there got a 1-2 hour train ride to Skagway.  The train ride was nice - no complaints there.  But with the 2 hour overlay in Skagway and taking the bus with multiple stops on the way back - we basically spent the whole day taking this trip.  Poor Arlo - a ten hour nap in his crate!

Skagway is the essence of  "tourist" Alaska.  It had 4-5 cruise ships in the harbor, which certainly detracted from any appreciation of the harbor area.  The streets were packed with people off the trains, off the ships.  Of course, Alaskan crafts could be purchased, as in any populated area of Alaska ( it is how they spend those long winter days).  And lots of packed restaurants if you wanted to eat lunch there. Luckily, I packed our lunches so we didn't have to pay high prices in overcrowded restaurants, wondering if we'd get served in time to make our bus connection.  I'm not crazy about crowds or crowded buses; so it wasn't a real relaxing day.

I was happy that we had decided to take a side trip to Hyder Alaska from Canada before entering the US mainland.  Because I would hate for Skagway to have been our last taste of Alaska.

Trainride was cool:

But this is not the kind of scenery I care about seeing:

I guess I am just a nature kind of gal.  But I really don't like tourist hotspots.  But, I am not diss-ing cruise ships.  With just a week or so to travel, it would be the way to go.  I wouldn't miss the opportunity to see Alaska again - even on a cruise ship!  It's beautiful!  Go....any way you can get there!