Obviously not blogging as often as I'd planned...

So that is a picture of one of Mike's first passengers and the snowman they built...see previous blog for that story.

So what has happened in the last week? Sunday was supposed to be another training day for me, but it ended after just a few hours. Therefore, I had the opportunity to go on a hike and chose to go a place called Upper Reid Falls. Lower Reid Falls, a lovely waterfall, is very easy to get to and is within a very short walking distance from a popular tourist spot: The Gold Rush Cemetery.

Everyone buried in this particular cemetery was buried here before 1900 because the cemetery filled up. Buried there are the two "stars" of one of the most popular stories about Skagway during the gold rush. It concerns a shady character by the name of Soapy Smith. He was a con man, a murderer, a gangster, etc., etc., etc. He came to town and imposed "order." And also proved to be very "helpful" to the stampeders. For instance, they'd want to wire some money home and for $5 you could send a telegram anywhere. Only thing was, the telegraph wire went into the bay and stopped right there. He was quite the gangster of his day!

The Committee of 101 was formed by a man named Frank Reid, the town surveyor. They'd had enough of Soapy and three days after Soapy was grand marshall of the 1899 Fourth of July parade, Reid and Smith met on the dock and shot each other simultaneously. Soapy died instantly. Frank Reid, not so lucky: shot in the groin and lingered for 12 days of agony. Soapy is buried with bars around his grave just outside the consecrated ground. Three people attended his funeral. Frank Reid has a large stone monument and over 2000 attended his funeral.

This story is SO big that it is told by every tour guide: the National Park Service, the street car, any tour guide driving tourists anywhere around town, and "The Days of '98 Show." We can all practically recite it in our sleep.

But back to my hike. This hike, like the ones I took to Lower Dewey Lake and Sturgill's Landing, are part of the Dewey Trail System. This was a great hike with a wide path that led down to the shores of Icy Lake. At the shore of the lake, the path narrowed and just had "a few tricky spots" that required using my hands to give myself a boost up. I began to think I was on the wrong path as it became increasingly narrow. Then I saw three hikers, two of them driver guides who live on the same floor we do. I asked them if this was the right path. They said it was, but that there was snow ahead and they were turning back. There was also this loud noise and I asked if they'd seen someone with a chain saw or something. But it turned out to be the hydroelectric pipe and it was SPEWING water like a fire hydrant.

The directions for the upper falls said that the trail paralleled this hose. Parallel? That may be true later in the season! There was a little bit of snow, but not much. There were, however, relief valves/holes(?) in the bottom of the pipe jetting out little or lots of bits of water. Ended up walking ON the pipe for good distances. Now the pipe was either flush to the ground or about 2 feet above the ground. I just kept walking and repeating to myself: "I have the balance of a mountain goat." It is said that if you start thinking: "What if I fall? What if I fall?" that you're more likely to do so.

At the end of the trail, there was Upper Reid Falls, partially obscured by trees. There was also a no trespassing sign. Still, it was a good 7 mile round trip hike on a scrumptiously beautiful day.

Mike tried out for the company softball team. They need a certain number of women per team to be allowed in the "league." I not only said no. I said: "Hell, no." Just am not interested. But Mike went to try-outs and played all-out. You'll have to ask him how he's feeling about it now.

Mike had a couple of days off and then has worked 3 VERY long days. He goes to the coach yard usually between 6 and 6:30 a.m. to pre-trip his coach...which is going over a checklist of things to look at on the coach. This pre-trip can take 30-60 minutes. Usually he then drives the coach down to the docks or the train depot to pick up the first passengers as they disembark from the ship. For some docks, they want you there up to an hour before the passengers get on your coach. He'll usually have a couple of different itineraries during the day.

I was in training through Wednesday and had yesterday (Thursday) off. During this training we went to Liarsville which is a recreated gold camp. They do a fun little show with music, floozy girls and poetry by Robert Service. Google him. His poetry is big up here. And the poems are quite interesting. They also do a salmon bake which is just a big meal outside. Yes, there is an open sided, wooden pavilion to protect you from the elements. You don't have to have salmon, they also had chicken...but the salmon was mighty tasty. But then, doesn't most food taste better outside?

Most of the training of the Sales and Service Dept. involves the paperwork and figuring out the logistics of moving a couple of hundred people off of a ship onto their "Cruisetour" into the interior or vice versa...moving a different couple of hundred people from their Cruisetour onto the ships. Although Mike has been guiding people off of ships for a couple of weeks, my department's "ship days" are Tuesdays and Saturdays. So today was prepping for tomorrow. Tomorrow, my assignment is to ride up to Fraser, British Columbia with the station master of the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad. From there, I (and a co-worker from my department) will board the train. We deal with anyone who has booked a shore excursion for Skagway in the previous 24 hours. We get their payment and give them their vouchers. At the end of tomorrow, these particular passengers will be boarding a ship. We also deal with a couple of hundred people coming in this evening...also from the train. They will stay overnight and board the Volendam tomorrow. Saturday=Volendam. Tuesday=Zuiderdam. And pretty much, these things are the most important parts of my job. Others in my department go onto the ship and assist in the disembarking of those starting their cruisetours.

In preparation for this, we've visited both ships. We got to have lunch on Tuesday on the Zuiderdam which appears to be newer than the Volendam. Everyone on the ship was very accommodating. And the food! Well, if you've ever been on a cruise, I don't have to tell you that the food is decadent. But here's a bizarre thing. If you took any 6 random people and put them together...what are the odds that all six people would like sushi? Well, we all do. So we had a couple of California rolls on the Lido deck and the next day in Whitehorse went out to a superb Japanese restaurant and had amazing sushi.

Another FAM (familiarization) trip was to ride the railroad. We were briefed on the railroad and its operations in between hearing the narration of the tour that the tourists (on the other 8 railroad cars) heard. The WP&YR railroad is a narrow gauge railroad that was built to help move the stampeders into the Yukon for the gold rush. Unfortunately, it was finished after the gold rush ended. Still, it was used for freight and passengers for many years. Several years ago it was reopened for the summer tourist trade. Most of the engines are diesel, but they do have one steam engine. However, I haven't seen that in operation yet. The luck is to take this trip on a day when the skies are clear...and for us, it was crystal clear without a cloud in the sky. If you squint, you can see the train in the lower left hand corner of the mountain photo.


And you get to ride on the platforms...though not walk from car to car...unless you're part of the Holland America Sales & Service Dept. Then you have to walk from car to car. There is STILL plenty of snow up in the mountains!

Annually, "The Days of '98 Show" does a free performance for the locals. During this particular show, they also auction off a garter off the leg of one of the dancers. The proceeds go to the Elks Club which is the only service club in the area. They support literacy and other projects locally. So we "locals" packed the place. I was very impressed with the talent! A nice little show...of course...about Soapy Smith.

And last, but certainly by no means least...as we were returning from Whitehorse on Wednesday, we got to see our first bear...and our second bear. They were both black bears. Black bears can be any color from black to brown to tan to red to almost blonde. Our first was dark brown, good sized and very blase. S/he was just munching on leaves and walking along the rode. We slowed down and drove at the bear's walking pace, furiously snapping away with our cameras in the hopes of a dynamite shot. The other bear was dark black and very skittish and ran right into the woods as we slowed to the side of the road. And so with that, I leave you with a pic of my first bear in Alaska: