“To awaken in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world,” says Freya Stark. Peeking out the window for our first glimpse of Skagway is surreal, not only the lush forests, and snow capped mountains, but a rather “big” city awaits us by Alaskan standards.

Our plan today is to not only explore the town but board a train for a rail adventure to White Pass and the Yukon. It’s like stepping back in time when the railroad first carried weary miners toward their destination in the Klondike. The scenery is stunning and only leaves me hungry for more, so after gorging on shimmering glaciers, and towering waterfalls Looney decides we need more substance. Alaskan king crab anyone? Hell yes. 

As luck would have it, a rustic crab shack is conveniently located on the very pier where our ship is docked, so we can stare at the ship that has free food and booze, while we pay for cold drinks, and royal crab. One leg cost Ron a bloody fortune, but it was fleshy, with plenty of crab for all, and our waiter came with a plethora of information. He told us Alaskans work approximately six months out of the year, while the cruise ships run, and then he boasted, “I practice doing absolutely nothing the rest of the year.” #Goals

Skagway has a population of about 900, what I found impressive was the PFD (based on oil reserves), developed by the state of Alaska, which pays, yes pays, the residents of Alaska to live there as an incentive to help make up for the higher cost of living, and “doing absolutely nothing,” so keep that in mind when considering retirement communities. 

Marcus Sakey says nobody is accidentally in Alaska. The people who are in Alaska are there because they choose to be, so they’ve sort of got a real frontier ethic. The people are incredibly friendly, interesting, smart – but they also stay out of each other’s business. Did not know this when interrogating our waiter, we’re big tippers, no regrets.

Back on ship we had to hustle to prepare for “white night,” yes it’s a real thing, decked out in white from head to toe, we met up in the Silk lounge, and ordered expresso martinis just to be rebellious. I believe dancing was involved at some point in the evening, then we put down a fabulous dinner at the W. I had a generous slice of prime rib, baked potato (with all the toppins), and salad. I have no idea what the others ate because I was so engrossed in my own plate, minding my own business, I’m all about acclimating to the culture. We ended the night out on the deck, sipping wine, counting the number of buttons that have popped off our Nordstrom cruise wear. #allworthit

DAY FIVE 

Today was epic! Yes, I throw words around a lot but honestly “epic” is the only word that adequately describes what our eyes beheld on this day. While we slumbered our fearless captain guided our slender ship down a narrow passage known as the Tracy Arm. Larry was barking orders before I downed my first cup of coffee, “Get up, get dressed, let’s get outside.” #Sacrifices

I slept in my Spanx, because they’ve finally grafted to my skin, and will not come off. Honestly, all I had to do was slap on sweats, put a brush through my unwashed hair, a touch of lipgloss, and we were out the door. I’m what you call low maintenance and that’s not up for debate. 

We found our people, and as if a school of salmon, we stood there with our mouths wide open, as God claims in Psalm 81, “open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.” She did indeed, the views were breathtaking, colorful icebergs dotted the water, upon which groups of seals lounged in the sun. Older icebergs reveal vivid hues of green and blue, resulting from a high concentration of color, microorganisms, and compacted ice, just like people who grow more colorful with age.

As we made our way deeper into the bay we stood in awe before robust waterfalls, and valleys so lush it’s as if they were painted by the hand of God. Two enormous glaciers mark the end of the passage appropriately named Endicott. We stood before this majestic slow moving river of ice absolutely mesmerized as pieces broke off and slammed into the water with a delayed boom. “The glacier was God’s great plough set at work ages ago to grind, furrow, and knead over, as it were, the surface of the earth,” says Louis Agassiz. #That