To Skagway and Back

First I gotta warn ya, this is a pretty photo-heavy post! Our overnight trip to Skagway was soooooooo nice! We left the farm in the morning (fighting with a car battery that would NOT hold a charge of any kind...no turning off the engine whatsoever!) and drove to Skagway. We hit the Red Onion for a beer after my ritual visit the local yarn shop to buy a skein of gorgeous yarn (you'll see the new scarf for my Etsy shop soon!). We checked into our hotel which was small but comfy and did some serious window shopping and gift buying for the kids (wooden train whistles, bubble blower guns & giant marble sets). We had dinner at the Bonanza Bar & Grill on the main street but I didn't actually pull out the camera till today. We got up and moseyed through town pretty early (around 8:30) and went for breaky at a little greasy-spoon diner called the Sweet Tooth Cafe and strolled about just enjoying having no agenda of any kind! Here's a look at the main street in the morning. Note the large cruise ship in the background. It was one of three!








Here's my beau, Ray with the same blissful look on his face that I have been wearing all day - the one that says..."Aaahhh..."
Get a load of this machine! It is a snow blower and it's steam powered. A beast of a thing, really.
We found a neat shop that had a museum tucked in the back that neither of us had visited before and there was this unbelievable display of tradebeads - read the story below to get a sense of their value!
And this little guy prompted us to stop and take a load of photos (about a hundred by my count!) He was just young, maybe a spring baby from last year and no kidding, he was only about 6' away from me. I did NOT at any time exit the vehicle though, he's a wild animal and I didn't want to do anything that would put either of us in harm's way. Remember if you ever see wildlife on your travels, please don't feed them or get out of your car. It's stupid and extremely dangerous. Bears can kill you if you piss them off! (there, I've stepped down from my soapbox now!) It was super cool nonetheless.
It was such a relaxing trip and I can't wait to go again. If you have never visited Alaska, you really ought to do it sometime. It's beautiful. A typical coastal town but lovely. We decided to leave just before lunchtime because A) we weren't hungry and B) none of the restaurants had a single square inch of space for us to even step inside so we decided to make our way back homeward. We were greeted with this just outside of town. In case you can't tell, that's snow. That's six inches of snow. In June! Can you say "WTF?!?!" Luckily, there's none at the farm but it's cold and yucky. I want to go back to my holiday spot! :( Oh well, it was good while it lasted.