Day 4 of our cruise took us to Skagway, where we finally set foot on Alaskan soil for the first time. Skagway was the northernmost point of our voyage, located at the far north end of Lynn Canal, the longest and deepest fjord in North America. If I HAD to choose a favorite port, it would be Skagway. From gorgeous scenery to the picture perfect weather to the charming historic downtown area, Skagway was like a living postcard!
In this port we chose to take the
Ocean Raft Adventure tour, which had us donning orange space suit-looking "exposure suits" and going for a ride down Lynn Canal on the same kind of high-powered boat used by the Coast Guard. After the exhilarating fun of our raft adventure, we walked the streets of downtown Skagway, stopping for a drink, snack and museum tour at the (in)famous
Red Onion Saloon. Once back on board, we enjoyed a sushi dinner, piano bar entertainment, and topped the night off with a magical sunset and views from our aft balcony. It was the perfect end to another perfect day!
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| Balcony Selfie before getting off the ship in Skagway |
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| It wasn't long before we were suited up and ready to raft! |
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| Walking around in these suits was an experience in itself! |
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| We didn't get any shots of the raft, so this one Shaun took from the front during one of our stops will have to do |
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| One of our stops in the fjord was to take a peek at this Bald Eagle's nest |
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| Seals sunning themselves on an absolutely gorgeous Alaska day |
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| And of course, there were waterfalls... |
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| LOTS of waterfalls! |
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| I never tired of basking in the mist of waterfalls!! |
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| More views from the fjord |
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| Can you spot the Bald Eagle in this picture? I swear it's there!! |
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| Holding up traffic (not really) in downtown Skagway |
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| Perhaps what I liked so much about Skagway was that it reminded me a lot of my hometown of Placerville... another gold rush ground zero (with a few distinct differences of course!) |
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| Red Onion Saloon Selfie |
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| This smoked salmon dip was the only food we ended up purchasing off the ship on our whole trip. Delicious! |
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| After a drink and a snack we took an entertaining tour of the old Brothel Museum upstairs. Because why not. |
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| On our walk back to the ship we stopped for a pic in front of this segment of a White Pass Railway train. The train to the White Pass Summit is still up and running after over 100 years, and is one of Skagway's biggest tourist attractions. We were looking for a little more adventure this trip, but we'll definitely check it out the next time we're in town! |
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| Pic in front of our ship before getting back on board |
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| Ready to dig in to dinner at Bonsai Sushi |
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| "Ship for 2" -- Delicious!! |
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| Much later that night, we returned from the piano bar to this sight from our aft cabin balcony. We had just emerged from Lynn Canal as the sun began to set. Photos from the finest photographer could never do justice to this experience... it was beyond beautiful. |
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| Shaun played with the settings of the camera, attempting to capture even a sliver of the tranquil magic of the moment, as I just stared. |
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| Eventually I realized I had been holding my breath as I was taking in the beauty that surrounded me, and had to consciously take a few deep breaths! "Breathtaking" is an adjective that kind of gets thrown around, and I have to admit I never truly experienced that state of bliss until these exact moments! |
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| We also had a great view of the distinctly different shades of green water, due to different concentrations of glacial silt |
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| After a quick run to Lido for late-night pizza, we returned to our front row seats for one of the most magnificent shows on Earth... an Alaskan sunset at 11:00 at night! |
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| Having 20 hours or so of daylight each day made this cruise an even more unique experience! It always felt like we were going to bed so early! Soon after this pic was taken, we called it a night in anticipation of our next day's adventures in Juneau. |
