What? Two days in a row she blogs?!?!?!?

Absolutely. Why not? Yesterday I was off and had time to blog. Today I'm working...and have time to blog. Our department has two excruciatingly busy days a week: Tuesday and Saturday when the Zuiderdam and Volendam respectively are in port. Those are the days we expedite the passengers moving from land to ship and vice versa. There's a little busy-ness Monday and Friday evenings when some come into Skagway via the train to overnight here at the Westmark. And a very little busy-ness on Wednesday and Sunday mornings as some overnighters leave on their Cruisetours.

Other than those times...what do we do? We man the desk. The customer sales and service desk is manned from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week...whether the hotel is full of those taking Cruisetours or those just finding themselves in town having driven in or full of nobody. We put packets of information together for those people coming in next week for Cruisetours or Ship. And we sit. Our boss is very laid back and we can read, watch a video on our computers, write letters or whatever. As long as we're here in our uniforms at the desk, if the work is done it's a lot of down time. Ok.

Yesterday afternoon, Mike invited me to go on his Best of Skagway tour. If I'd been a cruise ship passenger, he would have picked me and the others on the tour up on the pier where my ship is berthed for the day. He would then transport us all the way to the train depot. This distance is anywhere from .2-.4 miles. Walkable for most of us. No matter, all tours for Holland America/Princess leave from the red and white shack on the pier where your ship is docked. If I had a dime for every time I have and will be saying this line, I'd be a very wealthy woman!

At the depot we'd all take the train up to Fraser. Since I get to ride the train as part of my work...and I only have two free rides when I'm not working and because it gave us some time together...I rode up with Mike in his otherwise empty coach.

Fraser is a non-town in British Columbia. It is the destination for most of the one-way trips on the train from Skagway, 27.7 miles to the south. It is also where Canadian Customs is.It consists of 4 houses, the train depot (which only houses restrooms) and the customs building. Happily it's beside lovely little Bernard Lake with yet another gorgeous view.

There we waited for the train to arrive with the guests Mike had dropped off at the depot in Skagway. We all boarded the motor coach for our ride down the South Klondike highway on a crystal clear day with more incredible views. What is amazing is how fast the snow is now melting. Four days makes such a dramatic difference in how much granite is peeping out through the snow. Pretty soon we should be able to see the glaciers without snow cover. I hope.

Mike drove us on down the highway to Liarsville where we got to pan for gold, watch a show and eat a delicious salmon bake dinner. This time I also tried the chicken which was amazingly juicy and fell right off the bone. The show was the same although there were a couple of cast member changes which made it interesting. Call me corny, but I just like Liarsville.

I was in error the last time I discussed Liarsville. It is NOT a recreated gold camp as I'd mis-remembered it! Liarsville is on the last flat piece of land before going up the pass. It is, indeed, a recreated camp. But it was the camp of those who were responsible for much of the gold rush stampede: newspaper reporters. Not wanting to make the arduous climb, they camped here and waited for the tall tales that came down from the gold fields, writing that you could reach down and just pick nuggets of gold right off the ground and stuff them in your pocket. Thus the name: Liarsville.

Call me old-fashioned, but I like the cornball jokes, old-timey songs and melodramatically acted out recitation of Robert Service poems. All tour groups have to be taught to howl like a wolf before they arrive at Liarsville or the floozy girl won't let them off the bus. During the trip, Mike always asks for people to buddy up so that no one gets lost at photo stops. I said I needed a buddy and a foursome from the U.K. adopted me! AND even though they knew I was Mike's wife by the time I got to Liarsville, they bought me a beer. We sat with them and had a delightful conversation. Great people whose names I never learned, but they are from Manchester, England. If they ever find this blog....THANK YOU FOR THE AMBER!!!

Finally, the end of the tour is at the Red Onion Saloon where I finally got to see the cribs upstairs where the girls actually worked. This was a fascinating tour of a brothel with actual relics from the 1897-1899 time. Ok...the women were not still there. But each girl had been allowed to decorate her 10 ft. x 10 ft. crib and in some cases there were 18 layers of wallpaper, much of it in display cases. And more beer.

I would have to say that it was a great day off. Soon to come is the appearance of my esteemed co-workers in my department. When I have photos of them all in our sparkling uniforms, I will introduce you to this fine group of young people. When I mentioned that I'd blogged, they wanted to know if they were in it. At that time it was just Abby and Nathan. So I will be introducing you to Kayce, Sarah and Liz in the near future.

Thank you for your comments and for following my blog. I'll end with this photo...LOL...one of my art shots from Bernard Lake.