Once again, we are again reminded that cruising the inner passage is just as much about the cruising as it is the destinations. The majesty of the mountains plummeting into deep water on a canvas of clear blue skies trimmed by fluffy white clouds is just awesome. The ship manages to dock itself snugly in a small dock at the entrance to the town.

Once again, we had arranged for a pair of planned excursions as part of our cruise package that would fill our day . Once again, we were totally satisfied. We met a motor coach which brought us to gold rush town of Liarsville. During the Klondike Gold Rush era, Liarsville was full of newspaper reporters who authored stories for the American continent. It was reported that truth telling was not necessarily the focus. In between shots of whiskey, womanizing and gambling, stories were created and published. A funny and entertaining stage show was provided to us followed by lessons on gold panning. We then escorted to a gold panning station where we would soon discover our grain of gold obviously seeded for a novice gold panner to find in the sand.

Next, we traveled by motor coach up the Klondike Highway to the Canadian border. The lively and informative commentary provided by the driver was perfect. He stopped at several key points along the mountainous climb for us to spot mountain sheep and other sites while we raced the train to the top. At the top of the trip, we boarded and then took the train ride back to Skagway aboard the world-famous narrow gauge White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad. The 26 mile trip back was fully narrated and followed the footprints of the Klondike Gold Rush down the steepest grades in North America. The train was pulled by an authentic steam engine! You could almost smell the decaying carcasses of the horses that fell to their death along dead horse gulch. Klondike gold fever claimed may lives and rewarded few. One wonders how anyone managed to get their required one tons of supplies up the narrow, steep and winding foot trail ultimately enduring a 500 mile journey to the goldfields in Canada.

Look at our pictures of the historic town of Skagway. You will likely agree that this is like Disneyland.