Today we docked in our first port o' call -- Skagway.
Everybody had different tours planned -- Bill and Cindy were riding the Yukon Pass railroad, Kathleen and the Wawerchaks were going to the summit (they weren't quite sure where that was), Amber was going mountain biking, and my mom was going on a bordello tour. (Honestly -- she was so excited, she even convinced Kathleen to go with her!)
Mark and I had a different agenda. We were going to a musher's camp to ride a dog sled cart. Frankly, I'd seen enough dogs, but Mark really wanted to pet a husky puppy, and I had to throw the little dog a bone. I'd dragged him everywhere I wanted to go in Alaska, so I made sure he got to pet the pups.
We wandered out to the end of the pier and met up with our group. Our driver, Shiloh, joked that we were driving 10 miles out to Dyea on a treacherous gravel road with hairpin turns, but not to worry because this was her first time driving it and she was sure it would be fine. Well, she was only half-right -- it wasn't her first time driving it, but it was a thrill ride to be sure!
Like everywhere else in Alaska, it was a beautiful drive. Shiloh told us all about Skagway -- how the graduating senior class had 5 students: two were exchange students, four were girls, and there was one lucky guy on prom night; how trailer homes cost $300,000 because everything had to be shipped in to town; how they had a clinic but no doctor (nurses only); how expectant moms went to Canada a few weeks early so they could give birth to their children in a hospital with doctors. It was all pretty interesting.
We wound through the mountains and along an inlet. Sandbars covered the floor of the inlet, and you could walk all the way across if you wanted to. But Shiloh warned of the sudden high tides that came rushing in; they rose as high as 22 feet and came in like a flash flood. She also told us those sand bars would be covered by the time we returned, and she was right.
We made it to the musher's camp about 30 minutes later. We unloaded from the shuttle, and I smiled; purple wild irises dotted the entire landscape. We stood next to a winding river, and the grasses and trees were really tall. It was breathtaking.
But Shiloh rushed us over to two vans with big ol' 4-wheel tires. Two young girls drove us up a steep, narrow dirt road with sheer drops on either side. I'll admit I feared for my life a bit, especially as the vans were rolling side to side a bit and rocking dangerously close to the sharp edges of the cliffs. Mark took great delight in watching me clutch the seats until my knuckles turned white, and observed that this was kind of like a scary roller coaster ride.
Luckily, it was a short ride. We piled out of the vans. The dog teams, with 16 dogs each, were hooked to huge carts with six seats each.
The dogs are ready to RUN
We climbed aboard, and the dogs realized they were gonna run. They went NUTS, barking and yelping and jumping side to side. They just love to run, and it's the highlight of their whole day!
As soon as we were loaded, the musher released the brake and the dogs took off like a flash. They kept barking as they ran, but eventually calmed down and focused on the path. I couldn't stop smiling -- it was a blast!
About two minutes into the ride, the dogs all halted. There was another team ahead of us, also stopped at the bottom of a small incline. The musher explained that these were all working dogs -- they had all run in the Iditarod, or were training for it. Iditarod dogs are bred to be lean and fast, not big with muscles. The dogs could run up the hill, the musher explained, but pulling the carts would make them muscular, which trainers did not want. So instead, we waited until a tractor drove over, hitched up the dogs, and pulled them up the hill. It was pretty funny.
Because it was so hot, the dogs stopped halfway into the run for water. The trainer then ordered them up and off. They ran right past the kennels, and the dogs not running went ballistic, barking and jumping on their doghouses. (Shiloh told us later we were really lucky to ride the carts -- because of the heat, the dogs haven't run in days -- they overheat. But there were some fires in the Yukon, and the resulting haze overhead cooled down Skagway, enabling the dogs to run again. Just one more lucky break in our already lucky trip!)
The ride was over pretty quickly. We loaded back into the van and drove downhill for a demo of Iditarod clothing and gear.
The doghouses. The dogs love to lay on top of them!
Then it was on to Mark's favorite part, the puppies. There were three sets of them; two groups were really new, one- and two-weeks old, and hadn't even opened their eyes yet. The third group was 2 1/2 months old and much bigger. They were also sleeping, so when Shiloh started handing them out for people to hold, they didn't object.
Mark was a little freaked out to hold the puppies -- they looked half his size! But he finally sat on a bench and I handed one, and he was in heaven.
Yawning puppy. As soon as she woke up, she started chewing on Mark's jacket.
We had some time to look around and of course visit the ubiquitous gift shop. Mark purchased a stuffed husky puppy to go with the other husky stuffed animal he'd purchased.
"Oh, I guess you're big husky's a girl then, since she had a puppy," I said.
"No, it's still a boy," Mark told me. "He just adopted the puppy." That kid is too quick and too smart for his own good!
We returned to town along the beautiful gravel road. Along the way, we encountered horseback riders, rafters, and hikers. There were four cruise ships in town, and all of Skagway was running excursions to keep the tourists busy.
We drove back through the town, which was one long street of refurbished old buildings. The restaurants looked packed, so Mark and I returned to the ship for lunch rather than beat the huge crowds. The town population is about 800 people, but swells to 12,000 people on days like today, when the cruise ships are in town.
After lunch, we changed into into short-sleeved shirts to fight the heat, then moseyed back to town. (We have been incredibly lucky with the weather -- I was expecting cloudy, rainy weather but it has been sunny and warm every day! A total aberation, especially since it rained for 42 days straight last summer, which apparently is the norm for summer.)
We moseyed back to town, walking along the railroad tracks, which are famous because of their narrow gauge. (28 inch tracks instead of 32 inch ones -- not sure why that's important, except it means any parts must be handmade specifically for the track.)
The narrow gauge tracks 
Somebody handed Mark a coupon for a free wooden train whistle, which I immediately regretted. I informed him he'd better blow it all he wanted in town, because I was putting it away once we got back on ship.
Totems in town
We fought through the crowds, and at one point, saw my mom and Kathleen walking down the street with their bordello tour.
"There's Grandma!" Mark shouted, waving furiously. "Let's go join them."
"We can't," I explained. "They're on a tour."
"So? We'll just join the tour, too."
I didn't want to explain that the tour was not really appropriate for 9-year-old boys, so I just told him we hadn't paid for the tour, so we couldn't tag along. Then I pointed to a nearby souvenir shop to distract him; the lure of cheap trinkets always wins out.
We met up with Kathleen and my Mom at the Red Onion Saloon after their tour. It was filled with tourists, ladies of the evening and even an old-style saloon piano player. We enjoyed an Alaskan Amber, the local beer brewed in Juneau, which we've been drinking at each stop.
The crowds were a bit much, especially since we hadn't been in large crowds of people much during the past week and a half. Besides, I didn't need any jewelry or trinkets, so we headed back to the ship.
My seasickness pills were affecting me so much I could barely keep my eyes open. So we skipped the dining room once again. Instead, my parents took Mark to dinner, and Kathleen came up to my room. We ordered room service sandwiches, and ate out on the balcony. It was very relaxing.
Around 7:30, the ship left port. Kathleen and I sat up top and watched Skagway disappear. It was so gorgeous, sailing away between all the trees and thick forests. We passed snow-capped mountains and lush forests, and even the occasional eagle soaring by overhead. It was the same scenery we'd passed the last two days, but I still couldn't get enough of it.
Alaska is really growing on me...
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