Note: On all pictures a larger image is available by clicking on the picture itself.
The ship was in port in Juneau about 12 hours, much longer than the other three ports. After the float trip Onalisa and I decided to go back on the ship to get a free lunch and take a nap. To relax me to sleep I thought I would watch a little television. The ship picked up the three major networks from Nashville (of all places), MSNBC, and some other movies and highlights of ship activities. As usual I went right to MSNBC and learned that Ronald Reagan had just died. I watched the coverage for hours. Although I can recall Nixon, Ford, and Carter; Reagan is the first president since I took an interest in politics. He took office when I was 15 and left when I was 23, so throughout my high school and college years he was the only president I ever knew. Throughout the rest of the vacation I followed much of the coverage about him and rituals of the state funeral. I won't say how I felt about Reagan's politics, just that I would have been moved had any former president died. Carnival Cruises never mentioned anything about it to the passengers. After the news broke some shops put signs on the door announcing the news. If it had not been for the news and the flags at half staff it would have been hard to tell anything had happened.
The headline of this paper, the Juneau Empire, is Ronald Reagan Dies at age 93.
Our next port of call was Skagway. There didn't seem much to do in this small town and damned if I was going to do another excursion. After studying the map I thought an excellent way to spend the day and cross off a province (can I call it that?) of Canada would be to rent a car and drive about 60 miles to the Yukon. This was the best idea I had the entire trip. The drive across the Chilkoot Trail is one of the most, if not the most, scenic drive I have ever done. Endless lakes, snow covered mountains, and waterfalls; words just can't do it justice. There is a train in Skagway that does part of the route but the scenery goes on well past where the train turns back.
Here is a waterfall up the pass. Those who did the bicycle excursion started out here. I felt sorry for them as it was not that high up and certainly would have been a short ride back to town going downhill.
This picture was taken at a pullout along the highway.
Here is a picture spot not to be missed. We had to wait a while as a big Chinese group was taking lots of group photos.
I think this is Tutshi lake.
After about 30 miles in northern British Columbia we reach the Yukon (yeah!).
Our first and only town in the Yukon was Carcross. Here are a couple pictures of it.
Per the advice of the woman at the Avis office in Skagway we went several miles further to Emerald Lake. It was worth it. The water was various beautiful shades of green.
Close to Emerald Lake is the smallest desert in the world, or at least I think that is the claim.
