*Lana's Daily Fun Fact*
During the gold rush of the late 1890s, Skagway became known as the gateway to the gold fields. The White Pass & Yukon Route railway was completed in 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days and cost $10 million. The railway hits elevations of 3000 feet and is 110 miles long, although the train only covers the first 40 miles of the original line.

*Dave's Daily Fun Fact*
Skagway was originally spelled "Skagua", a Tlingit word meaning "windy place". During the gold rush, prospectors added a "y", and eventually local businesses changed the "u" to "w". When I saw some shops use "Skaguay", I thought someone had made a mistake. Hau waz I sopozed two gnow wurdz wer speld defrentle n Skaguay?

Skagway! Since our excursion didn't start until 8am, we actually got a chance to "sleep in". Our train ride on the White Pass & Yukon Route railway (the WP&YR for short) provided us with beautiful scenic views, most of them from thousands of feet above sea level. There were a couple of stops for tourists to go on hiking expeditions, but needless to say, Lana and I weren't that ambitious. The tour guide kept us entertained with lots of gold rush history. When we hit Fraser, we met up with Chilkoot Charters & Tours and took a van the rest of the way up the Yukon and back down to Skagway. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgable and kept the jokes rolling, and we stopped at many great photo-op locations. We stopped at Carcross for lunch and ate at Caribou Crossing Trading Post (don't worry, we didn't eat any caribou, although the homemade donuts were great!). Here's an extra fun fact: a reindeer is a domesticated caribou.

We made stops at Bove Island, Emerald Lake, the world's smallest desert, and a couple of other beautiful locations. I didn't get a chance to do my "hey, I'm in two countries at once" routine at the American-Canadian border because I had already done enough embarrassing antics on the trip, but maybe I'll get a chance next time!

Back in Skagway, there weren't too many good shops, but we did manage to complete our cup set (the same style of cup with Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway etched around it) and we saw the first Starbucks since Vancouver. The weather was pretty bad, with a little drizzle, wind, and cold all mixed together. We took a shuttle ($1.50!) back to the ship, ate dinner, and then packed it in for the rest of the night.