CRUISE WEST TRAVELOGUE NO. 4 - SKAGWAY

CRUISE WEST TRAVELOGUE NO. 4

SPIRIT OF YORKTOWN

GOLD RUSH INSIDE PASSAGE – JUNEAU TO SEATTLE

August 15, 2010 to August 25, 2010


SKAGWAY – JEWELL GARDENS AND GLASS BLOWING

Skagway is a small town at the very end of the Lynn Canal and is well-known for being the jumping off point for the Gold Rush of 1898. The thousands of hopeful prospectors came to Skagway and then found themselves having to hike the treacherous Chilkoot Trail up the mountains to the Yukon Territory and Dawson City where gold was found by Mr. George Carmack. Back in the late 1800’s, thousands upon thousands of people converged on this small town increasing its’ population almost overnight from a mere 500 natives to a city where 1,000 people were passing through it every week for several years. The population grew to almost 20,000 during the Gold Rush. There is a lot of memorabilia around Skagway from that period in tine. There are many pictures of the unbroken chain of people hiking four miles of the steep trail and climbing the last 1,500 steps that were carved out in ice because of the weather conditions then. It is hard to imagine what they endured in hopes of striking it rich.

Today, the year-round population is only about 300 people and increases to about 800 during the summer. When the mega cruise ships come in to port, the town has an influx of almost 2,000 people or more instantly.

We cruised down the Lynn Canal early in the morning and arrived in Skagway about 7:00 a.m. It was clear but windy outside. We disembarked the ship around mid-morning to go explore the shops on our own then returned to the ship for lunch.

Skagway is known as “The Garden City of Alaska” where the long days of summer considerably increase the growing of the flowers and vegetables. It is a city where giant cabbages and tomatoes grow seemingly overnight because of the continuous sunlight during the summer. On this visit to Skagway¸ we thought we should explore this phenomenon a little more and chose to go visit The Jewell Gardens. Our group gathered at the end of the pier, and we were taken by shuttle buses to the gardens. As we drove into the parking lot, we saw a small building not more than 75 feet wide with a window on either side of the door with a painted wooden sign “Jewell Gardens” above it indicating we had arrived at our destination. Off to one side there was a gazebo where we were instructed to gather and begin our tour. There were a few flowers out front in planters or pots but once the gate was opened and we walked inside, it was like walking into a floral fairy land. The flowers were every color of the rainbow and with the lush evergreen bushes and trees as a backdrop, the dimensions of the landscaping became apparent. At one point as we were walking along the path, I looked across the small acre of land focusing on the beautiful colors and as I brought my head up the majestic, snow-capped mountains were off in the distance against a sky of blue. I just had to stop and take in all the beauty at that moment.

The begonias were stunning. These flowers do not grow well in Southern-California where we live. The flowers at home are only about 1 inch in diameter. The flowers we saw before us were magnificent and almost 4 inches in diameter. The colors were beautiful; and I wanted to just stand there and admire them because I had never seen a begonia like that. We continued on along the path where the gardens were meticulously manicured and landscaped. Then, when we reached the middle of the area, we realized there was a miniature train running through the area. The train set was also landscaped, complete with snow capped mountains and the main street of Skagway. As we stood there, a train whistle blew and here came The White Pass and Yukon Railway train right through the city. It was adorable and quite authentic after being scaled down as much as it was.
From here we ventured on into the vegetable garden where we found plush growth with cabbage heads twice the size of any I’ve ever seen in a grocery store before. The zucchini and yellow squash were double size as well. And, the artichokes were larger than the giant artichokes I purchase from Monterey, CA area, still standing tall on their stems. It became immediately apparent that the myth of Alaska growing larger vegetables because it is “The Land of the Midnight Sun” is very true indeed. These vegetables that we saw were proof positive.

After we finished our tour of the gardens, we were directed into a barn where we sat on long wooden benches and treated to a demonstration of glass blowing. The final product was a stunning red, white and blue decorative glass bowl. As we left, the bowl was placed into an oven where it would cure for 24 hours and then be available for purchase. Yes, our next stop was the gift shop where incredible pieces of blown glass from vases and bowls to wine glasses and miniature Christmas ornaments were available for you to purchase. Each of us in the group chose something special and carried it gently and carefully out of the building.

To our surprise, our afternoon was not over yet. We were taken into a lovely garden tea room with picture windows on one side of the room overlooking the Jewell Gardens. The room had a tall ceiling with white fans gently turning to keep the air moving. There were square tables for four set up with white linen table cloths and pastel pink floral napkins placed inside adorable silver tea pot napkin rings on each table along with white china and tea cups. At the end of the room on a table were beautiful old-fashioned ladies hats complete with feathers, lace and ribbons; and we were told to pick one out and wear it for our “tea party”. The hat I chose was a small black calico print with black ribbons and tulle netting with a wide brim and soft, puffy top. It was gorgeous; and I wish I could have purchased it. We enjoyed our tea (many of us were warm and chose iced tea) along with our tray of traditional tea edible delights like cucumber sandwiches, a slice of carrot cake, scones and English shortbread cookies.

After that we were shuttled back into Skagway where we opted to stay in town for a little longer to wander through some of the quaint shops before we walked back to our ship. On our walk back our path took us along a street where pyracantha trees were growing along the sidewalk. Their red berries were bunched together; and it looked almost as if it was a tree already decorated for Christmas. We also passed an old wooden skiff alongside one of the buildings near the dock that had been filled with dirt and transformed into a gorgeous planter of bright purple lobelia and white alyssum. The flowers were so thick and plush that they were flowing over the edge of the old wooden boat; and it was gorgeous just sitting there on the ground.

That night after dinner, Exploration Leader Dave talked about the three different species of bear in Alaska – Polar, Brown/Grizzly and Black bear.