Detour Alaska

The town rolled out its red carpet to us and I swear that between the time we arrived and early afternoon banners had been unfurled along the main street. Took back more souveneirs from Haines than anywhere else and they were free. Two bald eagles traversed the waterfront and perched nearby impervious to our intrusion. There are a few shops for local crafts and a lovely old hotel. We found out a ferry runs to Skagway and jumped aboard along with a local and his wolf-dog. After missing the last boarding for the Yukon Railroad we joined a tour by a park ranger. One of the best tours we took throughout our trip. Afterwards we wandered the town with it's many stores filled with Russian goods, the driftwood visitor center and vintage city tour cars.

Quick Tips:

If you reach Haines take time to wander the water front and take home a couple sea rounded stones. Appreciate the unspoiled hospitality of this small town before hopping on a ferry to relatively bustling Skagway. Take time to meet with the natives. Alaskans are the most hospital hosts I've ever met in my travels.

Best Way To Get Around:

Walking is always the best way to wander in Haines although charters are available.

Take the ferry to Skagway and once there grab the Yukon Railroad or you can get a city tour by vintage car and costumed driver.

After a craft shop owner told me the rhodenite necklace I was looking at was made from a stone picked up on the waterfront I headed out to see what I could find.

This is not a beach but a waterfront of stones that have been worn smooth by the sea from the size and roundness of marbles to the oval and size of goose eggs.

I began picking up unusual rocks in colors ranging from speckled white and black to rose, pea- green and copper until my pockets sagged and I had to admit that one more stone and the gang plank would be beyond me. In the meantime the lovely mountains of the Chilkat Range hovered in the distance and an annoyed bald eagle kept watchful distance.

Sometimes the best souveniers are free for the fun of hunting.

The ferry provides a free tour as we pass waterfalls and glaciers and the onboard amateur and enthusiastic guide tells us about life in the tiny town of Haines where she'd grown up.

Sleepy against the Chilkat Mountains, between late October and December Haines becomes home to over 3000 bald eagles- one of the top gatherings in the world. She, child of two native tribes, has spent her life in various Alaskan communities and describes meeting her father and his community for the first time. She is open to questions. "What do you do in the winter?" "Rent videos- relax." Away briefly from a hamster on a treadmill world it's hard to imagine months of videos and relaxation as an expected and planned part of my year- A two day ferry ride to buy groceries. But can you imagine the sight of 3000 eagles?

We meet a commuter and his "pet" wolf on their way to the top (dog) deck. He works in Skagway and invites us to stop by his shop. Because of the currents here the ferry is open year round.

Our detour has provided unplanned opportunities.

Arriving from the uncommercialized Haines, Skagway seemed a bustling town.

Stop at the Skagway historical museum and join a park ranger walking tour. What will you learn about? A ton of stuff, and also what a "ton of stuff" means to the gold rush prospector and how without it they were turned back. Death, disaster and destroyed dreams. Foolish hopes and brave expeditions. How Mr. Moore thought he'd secured a fortune and a place in history but ended up caving to unscrupulous men who came after him who crushed his years of hope and planning. How marriages (sometimes to secure favorable relations) between dreamers, prospectors and Native American women in a frontier environment faired in the lower states.

Walk through preserved buildings and the Moore home. Learn a story of brave, foolish and steadfast individuals who tried to make their fortune or their home in Skagway.

As many women did, Belinda Mulrooney made her fortune from the men and not the mines of the Gold Rush Era. As you walk the streets of Skagway (no, she didn't, the soiled doves were never allowed on anything but the back streets of the town) stop by the bronze bust dedicated to her. Belinda used her shrewd wits to become what in today's terms would have been a multi-millionairess. When she used some of her money to build a hotel a bit from town people laughed at her. But she built it a comfortable distance to where the miners were seeking, finding and it seems willing to spend their gold. And considering that time away from their stake was money lost, her establishment proved this was one smart lady!

Sadly, Belinda proved herself to be the proverbial "whore with the heart of gold" and ended up a victim herself.

Don't miss the chance to find out about her life as you watch the "fancy-dressed" ladies drive tour cars by in the streets of Skagway.