"North to Alaska"...Day 31...Thursday, July 4, 2013

Wow...the 4th of July! And what better way to celebrate than with a fun train trip out of Canada and into the good old USA!
Bad news...Kechi can't travel on the train. So...Cousin Bill is driving to Skagway with his camper. He'll check in at a campground with his camper and take a train trip "north" for thirty miles or so and then return to Skagway. I bid him farewell around 7:00.
Meanwhile, I park my camper and wait for the bus. It's right there at 8:45 to pick me up and transport me forty miles or so to the town of Fraser where I'll actually board the train. It's a nice ride...a stop in the town of Carcross (short for "Caribou Crossing")...a little breakfast...then on to Fraser.
The train is comfortable and nicely equipped. The journey will only be 27 miles, but it promises to be exciting. And it is...in a scary way. We head out on level ground, but soon ascend up, into and through the "White Pass"...very high, very close to the edge. On the "Bill Thee Pants-Wetting Scale ("BTPWS")...with "0" being completely dry, and "10" being completely wet...this trip is a 7.8. I spend a good part of the trip on the opposite side of the "drop" of a few thousand feet.
I am relieved to finally descend into the town of Skagway. It's a "port" with several cruise ships docked. Fourth of July festivities are well under way...fireworks, a pie-eating contest, free hot dogs...kids run and play through the streets. For the forty years that I had my annual "Summer Picnic", I always spent my fourth of July weekend doing "picnic prep"...it's nice to finally spend one doing some actual "celebrating".
I find a "food truck" serving fresh Alaskan seafood...I opt for Halibut (my favorite fish) "fish and chips"...excellent!!!
Later, I wander over to my hotel. When I booked my room, I was cautioned that my room at the "Morning Wood" hotel was above the bar...and the bar is open until 5:00AM...and...wow...they did not charge extra for that!!!
Cousin Bill meets me late in the afternoon...we wander through the on-going "festivities"...have fresh Alaskan fish at the local Thai restaurant...bar hop. Late...I'm back at the bar in my hotel...more beer. I finally go to bed late...I can't evenm hear the noise from the bar below.
What a great "4th"!