Day Four of my Alaska Railfan Adventure

On day four we left Skagway for a brief stop in Juneau where we boarded a flight to Anchorage. The flight out of Skagway left at 2 in the afternoon which gave the group time to explore Skagway. The souvenirs and craft stores in this city close early in the evening which did not allow for any of us to go shopping on the previous days. Today was the day to buy souvenirs and other memorabilia. Along with the standard souvenir type of gifts I wanted to find items that were created by local crafts persons. I found some small stores run by local folks in small shops far from the docks. On my way to these stores I passed many large chain stores selling items that were stamped "Made in foreign-country." The owners of the small stores were warm and very friendly down to earth people who proudly displayed what they and others crafted. In one store I chatted with a woman, a full time resident of Skagway, who shared local gossip with me. She also explained that the population in Skagway doubled in the summertime. These summertime residents are needed to help handle the many tourists who arrived on the cruise ships.

Skagway, Alaska

The Golden North Hotel in downtown Skagway. Outside of one of the stores on State Street were some carvings. A sunny day, flowers in bloom and a locomotive peeking through the bushes - a perfect combination for a photograph full of memories. I was surprised at the large numbers and varieties of flowers that were in bloom everywhere we went.

Two o'clock came and we climbed into 2 airplanes for the flight to Juneau. We had a five hour layover in Juneau. It was raining in Juneau which was the only rain we saw in Alaska. While waiting for the flight that would take us to Anchorage some of us visited the city. It was Sunday and the public bus service from the airport to the downtown area was not operating. The group heading for the city was broken into two smaller groups. Each group rode into the city in mini-van taxicabs. The driver of the cab I rode in passed out a sheet of paper towel to each of us before we left the airport. As we started into the city our driver passed around a ziplock bag filled with LARGE pieces of smoked salmon. He had made it from a salmon he had caught four days earlier. Yummmm. He was very friendly and accommodating gentleman. After we explained that we were tourists who wanted to visit the city while waiting to catch a plane he gave us an impromptu tour of Juneau before dropping us off at a restaurant. One of the places on the tour was to the location where he had caught the salmon he shared with us. After dinner we were brought back to the airport and boarded the flight to Anchorage. We arrived in Anchorage at 10 PM. I was still in awe of the daylight that was still available at such a like time. I took this photo of the sky at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport to show just how much daylight there was at night.