North! To Alaska, : Skagway

Monday 25 August 2008
Today was a long day... but not nearly as punishing as some of the more recent days. We started the morning at the Air Force Inn, in Watson Lake. After showers and some internetting, we moseyed over to the Belvedere for breakfast. I had french toast with blueberry-rhubarb sauce and little orange slices. Nice!

After I grabbed Gas, we wandered about the signpost forest that contains signs from every corner of the world. Originally intended to express the feeling of loneliness & distance for one guy, it now contains thousands and thousands of signs (many of which may or may not have been stolen from street corners and construction sites) commemorating peoples journeys through Watson Lake. I chatted briefly with a lady at the visitor center who told me that Homer Alaska's sign had been extradited a couple times, but keeps coming back.

Drive drive drive... Lunch in Teslin. The terrain we're going through is mountains and swamp and tundra. After lunch, we made a brief rest stop where I showed mom Crowberries, Blueberries, Labrador Tea, and a voluminous amount of cranberries (Lignonberries).

We eventually found our way to Whitehorse, where I devised the following plan: We're going to Skagway for a day & half. Then we'll drive to Haines Jct or Tok, and then on to Fairbanks. This plan, is dependent, of course, on how we're feeling.

We drove to Skagway, along the way seeing a black bear and a bald eagle. The road was beautiful, with fall happening in patches along the mountains and roadside. In the mountains, there's an amazing area of scoured landscape, scattered trees, and lots of water. Then there was lots of fog.

As I write this, I'm in a hotel room in Skagway. I can barely express my joy at being back in Alaska, even though I have a long way to go before I actually make it "home". We drove the town which is larger than I expected... stopped at the Westmark, a hotel that had reasonable AAA rates, and checked in. Then, we went to one of two restaurants that were open -- a Thai place. Mmm -- not as good as Fairbanks Thai, but pretty darn good. PLUS, they had Alaskan Amber. A beer which I know and like. How at home is this? very.

The waiter gave some good advice about what to do "Take the train" "hike up to the lake" "see wildlife from a trail that starts at the airport". I intend to take him up on at least 2 of 3 items. Currently, though, a wet wind is howling through town, slowing down only enough to make the "wind blowing through town" sound.