Tour of a Lifetime!!

We have been trying to catch up with Sherry Corrington's Frontier Tour to hear her version of the Gold Rush.  Having lived here most of her life, she's not only knowledgeable, but funny and a great guide.  At the last minute, she called and we scrambled to meet her down town.  We started off on Broadway, the main street of Skagway.  At the end of the street are the docks for the cruise ships.  You can see one parked at the Broadway dock.

The tour started out sunny and beautiful, but soon we were headed to the top of the White Pass where the wind and clouds picked up quickly.  Tutshi (Too Shy) Lake looked amazing!!

This is the river at the bottom of the canyon.  You really wouldn't want to fall off this cliff, cuz it's a LONG way down to the Skagway River.

We stopped at the very top of the pass ... still pretty warm at this point, even though you see lots of snow.

The clouds started coming in faster over Tutshi ....  no matter, it makes for nice images.

And really, up to this point, it was pretty ho hum ... until we saw several cars stopped on the side of the road with 6 or 7 people hanging over the guardrail.  As we pulled up to the rail Sherry saw what they were looking at .... a large bear within feet of the people.  "Do you know how stupid you guys are????"  At any time, the bear, fresh out of hibernation and VERY hungry, could have had a great meal that he would probably say "tasted like chicken"!!!

Finally seeing the error of their ways, the people scrammed to their vehicles as the bear was headed down the hill.  As soon as they were gone and we pulled up to the guard rail, he returned.  Seems they aren't afraid of the buses ... the bottom slanted area of this image is the guard rail.  

Now situated about 4 feet from our window, our entire tour group got to take close up images of this magnificent animal.  He's got a mouthful of dandelions here ... and continued to eat for the full ten minutes we were parked.  Talk about an excited tour bus!!!

We thanked Sherry for having him pose on the side of the road for us ... but alas the tour had to continue and we headed back home.  

There are a couple of miscellaneous pictures I haven't posted due to the internet service.  This is the Norwegian Jewel.  Most days there are four big ships at the docks, some days only two or three ... but when all four docks are filled with the big ships, 11,000 people hit town!!!

On one of our little Dan-guided Tours, we found these guys river rafting beside the Chilkoot Pass Trail.

This little store named Temptations is owned by Patty and Dan's good friend Lisa.  What a great lady ... as is her store, with some of the nicest fashions I have ever seen.  

Not sure what's on the schedule today ... possible Long Bay and Dyea ... and of course more shopping.  Tomorrow we take Dan to the train in Carcross, which means  s h o p p i n g day!!!!