Cruise Diva Goes Ashore in ALASKA
Sights to see & things to do 
Skagway, Alaska
Waves of fortune-seekers passed through this small town on the northern end of Lynn Canal during the gold rush of 1898, inflating the population to over 10,000. Today’s White Pass and Yukon Railroad follows the trail to the gold fields of the Klondike. The spirit of the gold rush lives on in Skagway, with wooden sidewalks, horse-drawn carriages, and old-fashioned saloons.
Diversions
Cruise ships dock at the pier and it’s a short walk on Broadway to downtown. At Fifth and Broadway you’ll find the Skagway Convention and Visitors Bureau where walking maps are available. Several times a day free guided tours leave from the Klondike Gold Rush Historic Park located at the corner of Second Avenue. Stop at the Trail of ’98 Museum, which houses the finest collection of Gold Rush artifacts in Alaska.
The White Pass and Yukon Route Railway is one of the most popular shore excursions, transporting visitors in the vintage parlor cars of this narrow-gauge railway from the dock to the boundary of the United States and Canada at White Pass Summit. Motor coach tours cover the same route of the “Trail of ‘98” and are preferred by shutterbugs because of the stops along the way for photo opportunities.
Various helicopter and flight seeing tours fly over the trail and offer the thrill of landing on age-old glaciers. For the less adventurous, take a spin around Skagway by Streetcar. Taking performance art to a high degree, guides attired in period costumes are just as likely to relate the latest scandal interspersed with a bit of song-and-dance and historic sights.
The Red Onion Saloon is the spot in town to wet your whistle at the turn-of-the-century mahogany bar. Originally a honky-tonk tavern in Skagway’s lawless gold rush days, it housed the obligatory bordello on the second floor.
Shopping
Numerous small galleries and shops display artworks and handicrafts created by local residents. For tee-shirts and sweatshirts, head for the Skagway Outlet Store.
Cool Cruising-- Spring! It's in the air and cruisers' fancies turn north. North to Alaska, with thoughts of majestic scenery, frontiers to explore, and what to pack.
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