Chuck:
We are staying over another day in the Whitehorse area. Today we drove the CRV to Skagway, Alaska. It was a little over one hundred miles, went through the little town of Carcross, Yukon (named because it is a traditional caribou crossing). While in Carcross we tried to locate friends of Jack & Gerry Horner: Dustin Davis at Cabin Fever Adventures. No luck, a lady at the local Post Office thought they had moved to Whitehorse, split-up, and that he had been mauled by a bear and lost his left eye, however, we are not sure we have the right outfitter (if his ex’s name is Vanessa, he is in trouble).
When enroute, we had to cross from Canada into Alaska. Oops, we forgot our passports and the ‘vet info’ for our little k-9 friend, Mitzie. After a bit of a hassle, they allowed us to re-enter our homeland. Skagway was a zoo. It is a small town that has worked closely with the US Park Service to recreate the boomtown of the 1897 – 1904 gold-rush. To add to the pandemonium , it is a very popular cruise ship stopping point. Holland America’s USS Statendam had just docked here a few hours before we drove into town, just long enough for every passenger to be roaming the streets, bars and brothels. We sampled the Alaskan Pale Ale and other goodies in a “questionable house” called The Red Onion; the old time music was good too. Side Note: at the stroke of 12 o’clock the shady lady on the stairs announced that they had a “Special”, Nooners were $20 for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in the better part of town, Betty did a lot of window shopping with Mitzie, she only entered pet friendly establishments.
After a few hours we were driving out of Skagway and Betty asked if any of us had our little camera. Oh no; mega-search of car, clothing, etc, nothing found. Ok, Bren & I let Betty out to re-trace her path through town while we found a shady parking place and strip-searched the car. I have a sinking feeling that we may have been victims of “light fingers” yet again (I have had 2 cameras stolen in years past). Bren and I found nothing; we drove around until we located Betty with a big “I found the camera” smile on her face. It had slid out of her purse into the weeds when she set the purse down in a back alley. This raises some other questions, but she did find it. Now back on the road, at Canadian customs the agent did his bit to ensure that we never forget our passports again, ever (Note: until, 9 – 11 a drivers license was all that was needed to cross between US and Canada). While we were gassing up in Carcross, a man asked me if he could get a ride to Whitehorse. I told him I had my family along and did not take strangers. He convinced me he was not strange, but the principle of Carcross School (150 students, K-9). After, discussing it with the B’s, we had a new pax and gained a lot of local knowledge on the 30 mile drive back to his car and our campsite.