Trip Index
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On Monday, Jewel of the Seas docked in Skagway, AK. We had about 12 hours in port...what to do? When I scoured the
Alaska forum on Cruise Critic for things to do in Skagway, the two choices that tickled my fancy was the
train ride over White Pass (ship's excursion) or renting a car and driving on the South Klondike Highway and over White Pass. The train offered more scenic views through the wilderness and mountains, but since Kaleb and I had taken the
TranzAlpine train in New Zealand last year, we decided to rent a car and explore the Yukon on our own.
The only major car rental agency in town was
Avis. The reviews for a local agency were lukewarm so I stuck with a nationally-operated brand, even though the day's rate for a compact car totaled $137 (not including fuel). It was expensive, but less than purchasing the ship's excursion for two people. No coupons could be used either. I reserved the car immediately after I booked the cruise as I read in the forums that there was a limited number of vehicles available, which was understandable for a seasonal tourist destination. I didn't take to heart the warnings from other posters to get to the rental office early or risk losing your reservation. (remind you of a
Seinfield episode?) I figured that having
Avis Preferred Plus status (complimentary with a "World Elite" Mastercard, such as the Barclays Arrival Plus; for more details, visit the World Elite Mastercard Travel Benefits
website) would help secure a car. If all the rentals were gone, we'd just hang out in town.
I also purchased "
Murray's Guide" as recommended by the Cruise Critic forum. It was only $5 and had a lot of detailed information about the highway, sights to see, and time-saving tips. This was nice to have on our road trip.
One more thing...since we were crossing the U.S.-Canada border on the highway, we had to carry our passports.
Day 4 Cruise Compass and inserts:
Back to our regularly scheduled programming...Kaleb and I got up, had breakfast at the buffet, got off the ship and walked close to half an hour to the Avis rental office, arriving 15 minutes prior to our reservation time of 9am. There was no line. The office was curiously located in a corner room of a motel. Paperwork was easy and we were led to our car which was parked in a dirt lot across the street. And we're off!
We followed GPS as well as Murray's Guide to get out of town and onto the highway. There is only one highway in and out so there is no way to get lost. Every so often, we'd stop to take pictures.
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| our Corolla |
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| Pitchfork Falls (and electric pipeline) |
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The road would take us from snowy environs to refreshing lakes that you want to jump into, but won't because it'd be freezing...
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| we were driving the same time as the train |
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| snow! |
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30-second clip of driving on the highway: (click
here if you cannot see the preview below)
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| lakes! |
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| huge colorful dandelions everywhere |
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For lunch, we decided to stop by
Caribou Crossing, a place that Murray's Guide mentioned would be busy with tourists and offered "chicken barbecue". I thought it would be a big place based on website photos, but it was just a few buildings with simple wooden facades. (someone did good Photoshop on the website) Since it was still early in the tourist season, there weren't too many people. We did find the chicken barbecue place...the employees asked if we were part of the tour group that was visiting from the ship, as they were taking meal tickets. We replied in the negative; they recommended that we eat in the
Caribou Cafe instead of the food they were serving!
There was just one person in the cafe when we stepped in. The menu posted on the wall only had a few items so we decided to share a panini and a chocolate dessert, which was decent.
Then we drove all the way to
Emerald Lake. It was
completely thawed so we got to see all the beautiful namesake colors.
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| striking rings of color |
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| I'd like to have that house |
We hiked down to the lake but I didn't stay long as there were plenty of mosquitoes buzzing around, attracted to my blood. Kaleb explored a bit more while I got back to higher ground.
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| mosquito breeding grounds |
Emerald Lake was the furthest north we planned, so we turned around, then stopped at the "world's smallest desert",
Carcross Desert. (a dried up glacial lake bed) It was strange to find sand dunes amidst snow-capped mountains, sparkling lakes and green trees.
Nearby was the town of
Carcross. For some reason, I was expecting it to be larger but downtown Carcross was the length of a few blocks. We bought ice cream in homemade waffle cones at the oldest general store in the territory. We didn't have any Canadian money on us but they took U.S. dollars at a convenience rate of 1:1.
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| restrooms and gift shop for tourists |
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| downtown Carcross |
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| ice cream and passport stamps at the general store |
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| warm enough for an icy treat |
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We walked down to the nearby beach to enjoy the views.
Back on the highway, we approached the Canada-U.S. border. A large sign welcoming visitors to the Yukon was on the side of the road but we skipped it coming north as there were too many people taking pictures. The sign was devoid of tourists by this time (before 2pm). A tour shuttle driver was kind enough to offer to take our picture.
Even though we had already driven this way, the afternoon light made the same views even more spectacular.
I shortly spotted two brown bears right on the side of the highway, so Kaleb turned the car around so that I could catch them on video.
13-second clip of two brown bears: (click
here if you cannot see the preview below)
The shuttle driver (who earlier took our picture) saw us stopping to film the bears so he was able to provide the same opportunity for his tour guests, with no need to make a U-turn like we did. Fortunately no other cars were around at this time.
We made random stops on the road so Kaleb could climb up and see what was on the other side of the hill.
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| at the top |
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| beyond |
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We crossed into Alaska...
When we reached the U.S. Customs station, the officer checked our
passports and asked where we went and if we were on the cruise.
He was happy with our answers and let us go without further
questions.
We stopped at
Pioneer Cemetery (Gold Rush Cemetery), just outside of Skagway, to see the historic graveyard and also hike a short trail up to
Lower Reid Falls.
Afterwards, we drove up Dyea Road to get a scenic view of Skagway. There were plenty of tourists at the viewpoint on the
Skagway Street Car Tour.
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| town of Skagway |
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| sister ship Radiance in front, Regent at foreground |
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We found a gas station in the middle of town to fill up, then parked the rental car back in the dirt lot and returned the keys to the office. I didn't feel like shopping so we returned to the ship to get some dinner. We tried the main dining room again to mix it up; the food was still just okay. I found that whenever "garlic herb butter" is mentioned on the menu, it's always been the same yellow-green bland mixture.
Day 3 Dining Room Menu:
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| caprese salad |
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| antipasti |
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| arancini (decent) |
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| garlic tiger shrimp |
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| chicken marsala |
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| tiramisu |
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| sticky bread and butter pudding |
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Tonight's towel animal was a monkey. (or ape? or something else? It's like looking at a cloud and guessing what it is)
Tonight's sail away was very pretty.
Tomorrow is a day at sea, with a morning cruise around Tracy Arm Fjord. Stay tuned!
***
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