The Last Frontier

What an amazing ride this has been.  Just before leaving Arizona I bought a book, Into the Wild.  I figured since I would be heading up to Alaska this book would be suitable.  I had no idea how suitable.  I'm not going to go into some sort of book report, but I will say that it's worth taking a look at.  It catalogued many of the areas in Alaska that my ferry actually stopped at, causing the book to impact me that much more.  

Malaspina stopped at a few more ports on the way up: Wrangell, Juneau, Haines and Skagway.  Again, short port calls.  But I was able to get out in Skagway for just about an hour.  It was worth it.  Skagway was the spitting image of an old western town. In my mind, the only difference was that snow was everywhere.  So much snow that it soaked up all the sound.  Those of you who've spent any time at all in snow-covered terrain

 know what I mean.  It was great.  Apparently a part of the White Pass & Yukon Railway Route, Skagway showcased one of the old White Pass rotary snowplows.  This plow was instrumental in clearing tracks covered with large snow drifts.  I assumed traveling between all the major cities and subsequent areas (Whitehorse, Carcross, White Pass, Chilkoot Pass, Nome and Fairbanks).  Across from the train section was a memorial park to what I assumed was for the frontiersmen of long ago.  In the middle, was a statue of what seemed to be a mountain guide and a man shouldering a pack.  Most likely searching for gold during the Klondike Gold Rush (circa 1896).  Within the town was a series of tourist shops as well as the Red Onion Saloon, Camp Skagway No. 1 (Hotel?), and a gold rush historic museum.  Unfortunately, time did not allow trapesing further into the town.  From town, I made my way around the marina and down the road to an exposed area of rock that passerbys tagged with their names, dates and the names of their vessels.  Really interesting.  After taking many pictures of the area, it was time to head back to the boat.  When I came up to the terminal to show my identification verifying my attachment to the boat, I was greeted by a merchant marine that was sitting at his table with a newspaper, cup of coffee and a flask of Early Times Whiskey.  It was a pretty funny sight to see.  All scenery aside, at that point I knew I was in Alaska.