Day 18 Skagway and Railroad Days

Today I return to the port of Skagway for the last time this year. It is a cute town with the village looking much as it did in the goldrush days. The most popular place of the town is the Red Onion Saloon which doubled as a bordello up until 1960.. I was passing through town and just happened to see a few of the ladies of the saloon having an afternoon chat. As a crew member I get to escort some of the excursion so today I went on the Yukon Railroad for a three hour ride. It is a really nice trip in that you see some of history and some of the territory of old. We went past the cemetery where “Soapy” the town villain is buried and on up the side of a huge mountain. There were rapids that were so bad along the side of the train that no one has made it through them in raft yet. The scariest part of the trip was the train tressle we went over which was way above the valley below. At the end of the trip we entered Canada for about ten minutes just long enough to move the engine from the front of the train to the front of the train going back. As we passed the border I couldn’t help but wonder if this wasn’t one of the ways men left the US to get to Canada during the Viet Nam war days. Today it is so quiet and peaceful up there. Speaking of perfect days we have yet to have a bad day weather wise. The temps have been great, there have been few clouds, no rain and smooth seas. It is hard to believe the end of this third leg of time here is almost over.