Settling into Skagwegian Life

Arrival in Skagway, Cruise Ship Capital of Alaska

From my bookstore at the NPS Visitors Center

My first digs  in Skagway were on Broadway over a tourist shop.  For $1,000 and utilities I had a studio with two beds, a simple kitchen, a bathroom and all the street noise I could handle.  Kathleen and I unloaded the car.  I got a P.O. box and a library card before collapsing.  She visited the quilt shop.

Skagway small boat harbor

Skagway was still winter grey but in the 50s with sunshine.  The majority of shops were still closed with trucks unloading, painters painting and window washers cleaning up in anticipation of the first ship coming in a week.  Kathleen and I walked to the cemetery, Yakitania Point and drove the nine mile dirt road to Dyea at the foot of the Chilkoot Trail.   We had low tides at the new moon.  The tidal flats extended half a mile or more.  We've had can have a 21 to 27 foot difference between high and low tides.  

Dyea Tidal Flats

Dyea cemetery

Because the local Alaska Maritime ferry dock mysteriously sunk, Kathleen had to fly out to Juneau.  Poor girl, having to fly through these glorious mountains in a teensy-tiny plane! 

The only challenge at work will be creating displays and trying to sell more Alaska Geographic product.  Right now it’s boring because the cruise ships aren’t in full swing but two weeks from Monday we will have 10,000+ people get off four ships. 

It only took a few days to get over my usual loneliness in my new situation.  The NPS folks are friendly and open.  Every evening I’ve been biking or hiking.  I’m working my way up to White Pass into Canada by going one mile marker more on each trip until I make it the 14 miles and 3200+ feet to the top.    Patience!  The reward is the screaming ride back down to sea level, past waterfalls and dropoffs and views of the railway inching up the far wall of the valley.

Skagway locals are a breed to themselves.  Yards, vehicles and trailers are a bit rundown but no one apologies.  One of the NPS Interp Rangers took me for a ride in his Ford truck.  The main difference between old Montana ranch trucks and old Alaskan trucks is the number of cracks in the windshield.  Here the cold takes a steep toll in glass.  In Jay’s truck our tour of Skagway had to follow a certain pattern because the truck can’t turn right on narrow town streets. Every turn had to be to the left.  He doesn’t take it out of town except on the curvy dirt road to Dyea.   Sam, my roommate from South Carolina, said he is just a wannabe Nascar car driver since he can only make left turns in his truck. I’m not brave enough for that ride.  Another local is Kareen, the Laundromat operator who has a hermaphrodite pug dog.   She tells the story with a straight face but I missed half of it since I was laughing so hard.  Tom, another local, who is legally blind but drives a garbage truck is too cheap to pay for a yearly parking permit so he shuttles the truck back and forth on the ferry to Haines. When he is ready to collect garbage he may have to wait a day or two depending upon the ferry schedule. 

Sam, my roommate

The whole town smells like weed but I do believe I will like the people here.  Here’s from an ad in the newspaper:

Very Subdued Party:  Anyone who gives a hoot is invited to join His Worship the Lord Mayor of Dyea; His Serene Majesty the King of Redona, I am Kushta-kah, I am a Wolf.  Demons and others with no sense of humor attend at their own risk:  Exorcists will be on duty; bring your own protective spells.

The police blotter:

Police checked on two men reportedly drinking from a Jim Beam bottle while parked at a Long Bay overlook.  (Real story is that they were trying to put their mom’s ashes into the bay but the wind blew the ashes into the car of some Canadians who then complained to the police.)

After three days I discovered  a $400 a month apartment with more space, my own room, and a delightful roommate, Sam, from South Carolina.  With her stories of growing up on a small island off the coast of South Carolina she has me crossing my legs and laughing all the way to the bathroom.   As she says, “There is crazy and then there is ‘crazy’ and sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.”  Our outlooks on life are similar.   She also has a library card and we have yet to turn on the TV.  

There’s something about having a new job in a new place every year that suits me.  First, there’s a honeymoon period where I fall in love with the new location.  I know I won’t be around long enough for anyone to really detest me.  And there’s a part of me that loves no having any social obligations.  At the moment, outside of work hours, I belong only to me and I’m the only one I even consider when choosing my activities.  It is such freedom!

My new address is:

Charlotte Henson

P.O. Box 855

Skagway, AK  99840

Since we have a grocery store open at least six hours every day of the week and it even carries produce the first three days after the barge comes,  I don’t really need those wonderful care packages that many of you sent last year, but I would appreciate a postcard occasionally.

Day before Tuesday barge arrives.

A gallon of milk and a loaf of bread are each $7.