Day 11: The Garden City

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
We woke up this morning in Skagway, the Garden City of Alaska. Once again (do you sense a theme here), it was overcast and a bit rainy. We were already docked when I woke up so I have no idea what time we arrived. Our ship was docked along side a rocky hillside that was covered in painted messages from all of the ships that had come to port in the last century. We were also right next to railroad tracks with trains taking people to various excursions.

The trains next to the graffiti covered walls in Skagway.

Why would you name a rail car or a lake "Mayo"? That conjures up disturbing images...

Dad was going off on his own today, taking a bus ride up into the Yukon Territory in Canada and then a train back. He left pretty early that day, long before the rest of the family (besides myself) got up. When everyone else did finally get moving, we had breakfast and then hung around for awhile. It was a nice relaxed morning. After lunch, Sarah, David, and I headed out to our excursion. Steve and Sophie had the afternoon together to make their own trouble.

Dad heading off to his early morning excursion.

We made our way out to the dock to catch the bus to our activity. We were participating in the Golden Glassblowing Experience, where we'd get to make our own glass ornament. Our guide, Brooke, explained the graffiti on the hillside. Apparently, the first time a ship comes into Skagway, the first mate is responsible for painting the ship's name and captain on the cliff. The higher the painting, the more the captain is supposedly respected. Some of the graffiti is nearly 90 years old and the tradition of painting on the rocks is much older than that.

The temptation was too strong...

Brooke continued to give us a nice little tour on our way to the glass blowing shop. Skagway is a really cute town - much smaller than the other ports and a lot nicer looking. At the glassblowing place, we got to dress up in stylish smocks and goggles. Brooke and Bob, the expert glassblower, gave us a little tour of the equipment (including a glory hole?!?!) and what we'd be doing. We were creating our own glass spherical ornaments - we got to pick the colors, design, and if we wanted gold leaf applied. There were lots and lots of choices so it was tough to decide. Sarah chose purple swirls. David decided to go with blue and gold leaf. I was feeling incredibly indecisive until I had a brilliant idea. I would try for a globe, if possible. I thought that seemed appropriate, being a social studies teacher and all...

We were the last of our bigger group to go. We got amusing pictures of each of us blowing into the tube with our chipmunk cheeks. Sarah's had the most trouble - Bob had some difficulty getting the air bubble to grow, but eventually all worked out just fine. We got quick pictures with our still-very-very-hot ornament before we headed over to the gift shop and then to tea.

David heating up his glass and spinning it around in the heat.

I'm blowing the ornament up while Bob does his thing...

Sarah and Bob with the finished product.

This is the final product - what they mailed home to me. It doesn't really look like the earth, the greens didn't really show up, but it's still neat.

Tea was yummy, though we had lemonade instead. The sandwiches, scones, cookies, etc. were good. In a surprise to no one at all, David only ate the chocolates. We then explored the garden for a couple minutes before we had to head back to the ship. I wish we had more time in the garden because it was really pretty and quite large.

The gardens, with glass leaves.

The goodies that came with our tea.

Sibling bonding time...

We got back to the ship shortly after dinner began so we quickly changed (David didn't join us at dinner tonight...) only to find Dad and Steve at dinner in their jeans. Shame on them. Sophie was cute looking, though. I don't really recall much about dinner other than I got the giggles at dessert because the big option was the menage a tois.

After dinner we watched the ship pull out of Skagway and then played Uno again. I didn't do nearly as well this time. Perhaps it was due to the fact I didn't have a good luck fish like Steve. Words can't really describe what happened during this game other than to say that Steve is insane. He attributed each of his wins to the fish and he then proceeded to kiss the fish and talk in a, um, "loving" way. It was hilarious. Thankfully, Sarah got it all on video.

Departing Skagway...

Sarah and Steve, who doesn't tolerate a little bit of cold...

Steve and his inappropriate fish relationship.

We also continued our new-found delight in ordering a second dessert. Another perk of the suite was being able to order off of the dinner menu. Last night, some of us got full meals, as well. Tonight we just got dessert-y food. Yum. This was preferable to the stupid fruit bowl they delivered every single day. There is no possible way we could eat the fruit they kept delivering, but that didn't seem to stop them. There were apples, pears, bananas, and kiwi coming at us from all directions. I wonder if, because we asked for one the first day, they felt the need to give us one everyday. Sigh. We did keep getting our tuxedo strawberries - those I'd never turn down.

Sophie doing her part to eat all of the fruit - her mouth is stuffed with banana.

Our Journey, Thus Far (Part 2)