Skagway, Alaska

Our ship pulled into port promptly at 8am and we were among the first few to step off the ship. We booked a 9am Yukon Discovery Tour through a third-party and we were advised to arrive 30 minutes before the trip. It was a short 10-minute walk to the Emporium Popcorn Shop where our tour begin. The early check-in was because our tour crossed the US/Canada border and they wanted to verify that everyone brought their passports. We had time to kill until the tour left and Tiffany, the lady who checked us in, advised us to visit a playground and restrooms a block up the street.

The small park was named after a lady name Mollie Walsh who was beloved in the town, but was tragically killed. The playground was immaculate and was very similar to the playground located in Orange, Ohio. It’s one of my son’s favorite playgrounds back home and he was super excited to play on this one! It really shows the value that this small town of 1,000 residents puts in their children. It is a really nice playground and not one I’d expect to find in Skagway. Later, I saw another equally impressive playground at the school. Their school is one of the best ranked schools in the state.

Promptly at 9am we rendezvous with our tour group and begin our adventure. There are 23 people on this trip and we fit comfortably in a van that holds 26 passengers. We find out later that six passengers didn’t make it because their cruise ship was unable to dock due to high winds. Luckily, our cruise ship was the first to dock before the winds became too rough. Anyway, our tour guide is named Dennis and has been a tour guide for 27 years. He was one of the best tour guides I’ve ever had. He was super knowledgeable, funny, and knew just what we’d like to see and hear!

Our tour began in the small town of Skagway. The entire town is part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. There are local shops and restaurants in town as well as museums and historical markers. This part of the tour was super short since the town is so small.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but Alaska is cold. The name, “Skagway,” is derived from a Native American word, “Skaguay,” which essential translates to. “windy.” The town held true to its name. It’s windy here!

We hop on Alaska Route 98 and enjoy the scenic views. Along our drive we pass several waterfalls, a cantilever bridge, lakes, a dessert, and many gorgeous vistas. Dennis stops often so we can walk around and take pictures. We eventually pass through Canadian Customs and make our way into Canada. Our main destination is at Caribou Crossing. A taxidermist built this little homestead we visit. Taxidermy was never my thing and personally found it pretty disturbing. Anyway, the main attraction here are the huskies and puppies! There is a dog sled team here that competes in the yearly Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. We make our way through the dog sled museum then through a wilderness museum. I wasn’t expecting much for the museums, but WOW! The wilderness museum was filled with artfully preserved animals native to the region. It was amazing to see such lifelike animals where you could really appreciate their size without being in danger. There were grizzly bears, black bears, moose, polar bears, coyotes, rams, deer, birds, and pretty much any creature you could think of that belong to the region. My son enjoyed this room too. We then made our way outside to where the live animals were located. We see Spirit who is a horse first, then goats, and then we find the puppies. Normally, you can hold the puppies, but because they were just vaccinated they stayed separated from us by a fence. The puppies absolutely loved my son and despite the fence separating them, they ran up and down the length of the fence chasing each other. I think having the fence made my son feel much more comfortable with them.

This stop is also where we have lunch which is included in the tour. We’re served BBQ chicken with a potato and coleslaw. There are also donuts, bread, coffee, and tea. The food was really good! It’s almost time to meet in the bus so we do a quick browse through the gift shop and head on our way.

The weather in Canada is sunnier and warmer than back in Skagway. We enjoy this nice weather at Emerald Lake which is a beautiful green lake colored by ancient coral. The color makes me think of the Bahamas. We stop at quite a few lookouts and lakes as we make our way back to Skagway.

We head to the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Visitor Center where we catch the last viewing of their 25-minute video. It expands on what our tour guide told us, and I found it very fascinating. The Gold Rush was essentially this hyped up thing where thousands of people from around the world flocked to Alaska/Canada to get to Dawson City and stake their claims on the land to find gold. It was an arduous journey that took over a year to complete. The whole gold rush only lasted two years, but left its mark on the area for years to follow.

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