Day 04 - 08/23/25 - Skagway to Whitehorse

 Day four started out as a very early morning. When our alarms went off at 6 AM, we could see that the ship is already docked in Skagway in the Primo berth which is at the end of the main street that runs through town. We had to vacate our room by 7 AM and we successfully did that. We had one last breakfast in the Lido before heading down to the World Stage where we met our tour guide for the land portion of our trip. Jesse has been doing guiding for six or seven years after starting as a bus driver for the company. Following a brief presentation by Claire, the ship's cruise director. We were then free to leave the ship and explore the town. We had to be back by 11:45. But we were encouraged to be back earlier as the Dive In would be open at 11 o'clock with burger & hotdog service.

Around 8:30 AM we checked our hand carry luggage on deck five of the World Stage so that we would not have to carry it around while we toured Skagway. Blue skies with a few clouds greeted us, and the temperatures were quite moderate. This has been quite a change for the locals who have had a lot of rain in the last few weeks. We strolled up the main street and ducked into a few shops as many were still closed and would open in the 9 to 10 AM range. A quilt shop caught our fancy and we enjoyed shopping in there and chatting with the proprietor. There may be some fabric there that we may purchase when we return in early September on our south bound voyage.

One of our objectives was to visit the local grocery store, Alaska Commercial, and stock up on some snacks for our upcoming bus rides. It's a spartan little store stocked with a number of Costco Kirkland brand items and is actively used by the locals. Since we've been to Skagway so many times, we strolled back towards the ship and eventually just sat down on a bench in a little park beside the vintage train snowblower, and enjoyed the sunny morning.

We were back on the ship just before 11 AM and I got in line for a burger at the dive in. Angela headed off to find a hot chocolate and eventually she joined me at a table with some folks we met that are on our tour. However, they are in the second group so we won't see them except at our hotel stops. At 11:45 we went back to the world stage on deck five and retrieved our luggage and met up with our tour director, Jesse. Once everyone was there, he escorted us off the ship for the final time. We easily found our motorcoach whose driver was a gal named Judy who is a seasonal worker who resides in Texas in the off-season.  Judy took us on a short tour through Skagway and dropped us off at the White Pass and Yukon railway train which was near the train maintenance shops. She and Jesse then drove the bus on up to the Canadian border where we eventually met up with them after our train ride.

I really like doing the train ride and today was really special because the weather was so clear. As is our custom, we obtained seats on the left side of the coach as most of the scenery is on that side. A train provides a visitor guide along with water in a box. One also has the opportunity to purchase a baseball cap with the White Pass i& Yukon Railway emblem on the front with 125 years of service for $10. The cap is only available on the train and I had purchased one of one of our previous trips so I didn't need to buy one today.

The train route climbs some 3000 feet up over the pass and terminates at Frazier, British Columbia.  There are a number of scenic spots along the way and a very spectacular crossing over a very high wooden bridge before entering a tunnel. The train also made a couple stops to let hikers get off and take a hike up into the mountains. They then have the option of camping up there or hiking back and catching the last train back to Skagway later that day.  I highly recommend any tourist visiting Skagway to take this train. I've done it at least five times that I remember and it never gets old for me.

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At the top of the pass, there is an obelisk and flag monument marking the border. However, we traveled another 12 miles or so to the actual border crossing station. They had to relocate the station there because the weather is so severe at the border. It was very tough to man the station. On the US side of the border it's the same situation. The border station is seven or 8 miles inside the US border. At the border station two officials boarded the train and did a facial scan of our passports. We then disembarked the train and boarded our bus, and the bus went through the normal border crossing station where the border guards came back on, and scanned our passports and took our declaration cards.

That process took only a few minutes and we were soon on our way. Since were're so high in elevation, we're in a very challenging growing environment for the trees and other vegetation. Trees that are several hundred years old are not more than five or 6 feet tall. The growing season up here is very short again but with the very clear blue skies the scenery was very spectacular. Judy made a few photo stops along the way before we reached a scheduled stop at Carcross.  Since we had been here before we knew that we needed to head directly for the hardware store and the very delectable ice cream. The portion sizes are generous, and so a single scoop was more than enough. It was good to stretch one's legs and walk around the little town where I took a few photos.  From Carcross, it was only about a hour and a half or so to Whitehorse, where we were dropped off in front of our hotel, the Golden Nugget. It's a very nice hotel as part of the Best Western brand. And it's a different hotel from where we stayed last year.

Jesse had a list of recommended restaurants and we ended up taking his recommendation for a Mexican restaurant La Cara. It was a great suggestion and we really enjoyed the meal. I had a burrito called Barbarosa, while Angela enjoyed Mexican chip sliders. She also helped me consume the burrito. Our waiter was super cheerful and the place was full the entire time that we ate there. Given that it was around 9 o'clock when we finished eating, we decided to head back to the hotel. There I downloaded pictures from my camera from today and we prepared our checked luggage for an early 6 AM pick up tomorrow morning. It seems that these travel days start really early, but we have some long distances to travel to the various destinations. We decided that we will skip breakfast in the morning and use our snacks as a breakfast item and eat them on the bus as we have a lunch stop that is already scheduled for tomorrow. Besides, fig newtons make a great breakfast!

Again, I can't say enough good about how Holland America schedules this type of trip. Everything is taken care of and about all one has to do is show up. Then our tour group organizer, Travel with Alan adds in extras like meals.  In Dawson City and Denali, there are opportunities to schedule separate shore excursions, but we generally haven't done that.