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Following up the reality of the Juneau day, we visited Skagway. Skagway is very much the Alaskan theme park. Fun, but according to the people we talked to from there, it pretty much folds up as a town during the winter. The town itself centers around the White Pass Railroad, which is an awesome journey up into the nearby mountains on a handsome old steam engine.
The town is mostly shops and museums, including the Red Onion Saloon, where you can meet some of the original ladies of the evening of Alaska. (Well, okay, not THE original ones, that would be gross.) There are authentic wooden sidewalks and re-creations of some of the historic buildings.
Our train ride took much of the day, so we didn’t have a lot of time to explore the town, but we did poke around a bit and take some pics in the morning.
Riding into the mountains was awesome. At this point, we were, on some level, saying, “Oh look, it’s just another majestic snow-capped mountain. I’ll bet there’s waterfalls somewhere, too.” If you’re a train buff, the old steam engines and passenger cars are absolutely fascinating. And the station offers a lot of the history of the railroad, along with a display of genuine items from the early trips. All in all, a fun day.
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