August 3 2009

We spent the day looking around Skagway. The Visitor Center is unique. The facade has about 8,833 pieces of driftwood arranged in a mosaic pattern.



We visited the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park. The park was established to preserve and interpret the history of the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-98. In 1998 it became the nation’s only International Historical Park, with units in Seattle, Skagway, British Columbia and the Yukon. In Skagway the park is a six block historical district in the business area, and areas on the Chilkoot Trail and the town of Dyea. We took a tour of the historical district led by a park ranger. We learned a lot about the history of Skagway.
We walked down to the dock area where 2 cruise ships were docked and we watched some harbor seals eating salmon. As you can see in the cruise ship picture, it is very smoky in Skagway today.




This evening we went to a Robert Service poetry recitation given by a man named “Buckwheat”. He was very entertaining and told stories along with the poetry. We had a great time.

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