On day 3 of our Yukon adventure, we took my parents to Skagway, Alaska for the day.

We took a beautiful, scenic drive through the mountains, marveling at how we had to go south from Whitehorse to get to Alaska. We got to the border only to learn that, due to unpredictable weather, there is a 12 mile stretch of land between the actual border and the border guard post. At the Alaskan border, we were asked to leave our car and enter the building for an inspection–yikes!!! The customs officers wanted a bit more information on the four of us—I guess we looked threatening 🙂 but we were on our way in just under 10 minutes.

Skagway is a tourist town, and pretty much the sole reason for its existence is the cruise ships that pull in there daily. I think there were 3 ships on the day that we were there. They have tried to create a Wild West kind of feel to the town, with wooden buildings and wooden sidewalks. We had lunch at the Red Onion Saloon, a former brothel during the Gold Rush. The employees are all dressed up as Madams, with corsets, push up bras and tips (dollar bills) stuck in their boobs. They WORK this angle with the visiting tourists, and are outrageously flirty with all of the customers. Here is a picture of my Dad with one of them:

Tel and I were watching the reaction of the men to all the boobs, wondering what it is about them that makes men turn into absolute morons. We watched one of the servers shake her boobs in an elderly guy’s face, and he actually giggled!! While we were sitting there feeling all superior, one of the servers walked up and shook her boobs in Tel’s face, causing her to spill her drink down the front of her shirt!!! The server’s response? “Don’t worry about it honey, we like when we get you wet”!!!!! Nice!! Tel turned 17 different shades of red!!

And it was this setting that gave us the title of today’s blog post: a man was sitting at the bar, literally slack jawed and staring at the bartender’s boobs. The bartender, tips stuffed down her bra, asked him “What are you looking at Sir? My tips?” We killed ourselves laughing!

We decided to take a 3.5 hour train ride to the White Pass, one of the two routes taken by prospectors during the gold rush (the other was the Chilkoot pass). The train ride was amazing, and for me was the highlight of our trip so far. Here are some pictures of the scenery:

We were amused and galled by being in the presence of so many Americans; there are some things I forget about that always surprise me when I find myself around large groups of Americans, and the YELLING thing is always the first thing that catches me off guard. I say this knowing that there are many Americans, some of whom I count as friends and that I love dearly, that do not in any way conform to this stereotype. The other thing that never fails to disappoint and frustrate me is their absolute lack of knowledge for anything outside of the US. Here are some of the conversations we heard while on the train:

Son: is the Yukon part of Alaska?
Father: No, it’s a state in Canada.

Grandfather (while sitting on a train, 20 meters past the Canadian border): well, we’re in Canada now and it really feels different here.
granddaughter: I know, it’s definitely colder.

Dumb guy: hey Mom, look at this Canadian $20 bill–it’s real!
My Dad: hey, look at this American money–it all looks the same.

Dumb guy’s Mom (to Tel): wow, your money is really interesting, it looks plastic.
Tel: you just have to be careful in the heat, it can melt.
Dumb guy’s mom: really?
Tel: No, not really. I was just kidding.

Truthfully, these things were more amusing than anything, and we were able to laugh off most of the stupid comments.

We took our time driving back from Alaska, and really soaked up the scenery and enjoyed the drive immensely.

On day 4, we went to the SS Klondike, a paddle boat that used to sail the Yukon River and we also went to the Fish ladder, a structure built to help migrating salmon bypass the Whitehorse dam. It was fascinating, and the next time I am on the blog I will post more about it. For now, we are heading out to enjoy our last day in Whitehorse before heading north to Dawson City tomorrow.

Bye for now, and thanks for reading!

Mel

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