Back again

We were without Internet service for a couple of days while in Skagway Alaska. We actually were in two different Provinces or Territories (BC & Yukon) and two countries (USA + Canada) in the space of 50 miles. On the way to Skagway, we had actually planned to camp at Carcross, but they really weren't open for business yet, so we carried on to Skagway. On the way we had to climb ( with the truck) White Pass. No problem for the Dodge handling the 11.5 mile climb with a 11% grade....WOW. The elevation at the top.....3292 ft...Skagway.....0 ft ( sea level). The population of Skagway, during non tourist season is 865, but they will get 893,000 visitors, mainly from the cruise ships, during the season, which this year started May 5th. We did a walking tour of the downtown area on the 20th noting the large number of crafts made of silver, gold . Most of these are done by the Tlingit people that are native to the area. In the evening we attended a free ( for the residents of the town) live theatre show called The Soapy Smith '98 Review. This is production highlighting the life of a real con-artist of the area. Great show. Prior to that evening show, we visited Dyea a ghost town that in 1898 had 10,000 people living there...5 years later it was deserted. The Chilkoot trail also started at Dyer. This is the trail is the one that shows an endless line of men going up a trail loaded with cargo on their backs, in heavy snow. Each person was required to take 2000 lbs of provisions up this trail. It took up to 30 trips to do this. We walked about 200 yds, in the summer, and called it quites. After leaving Skagway on the 21st, we headed towards Whitehorse. On the way we stopped at Emerald or Rainbow Lake for lunch. This is a lake that has many bright colours caused by the minerals in the lake. We also saw the smallest desert in the world. Quite a contrast with the mountains in the background. Yesterday, Saturday, saw us take a tour around Whitehorse, after meeting the sons of friends from Shelburne, for breakfast. One of them is an RCMP officer which seemed strange to be sitting beside in an eating place. We saw the Klondike, a stern wheeled river boat that is now a museum. Also visited was a log church which again is a musum showing the hard life these early preachers had. The Transportation Museum was also of interest as it showed the various modes of transport in the early north ( including a '29 AA Ford). There is also a full size airplane out front which is the world's largest weather vane. An unusal site was the 3 story log structure which is now an apartment building from the look of it. We will leave Whitehorse tomorrow and I will try to post pictures to the album today. We are on dial-up here so things are S L O W .