Still Alaska

Hello from Skagway, Alaska!
Today we got up early and went on the White Pass and Yukon Rail Railroad. We took the train up to the White Pass- 2800 feet (which was technically in Canada, but we didn’t have to go through customs because we just turned around); this is where the gold miners trekked through to Canada where the real gold was. Our car was built in the 1883 so it was a great history lesson too! Along our way, we learned great stories about the miners and railroad builders and went through two tunnels (with NO lights, it was dark!). At the top we saw the road the miners took to get to Canada. Wow! It was so small and we learned that the mounties wanted them to have 2,000 lbs of supplies (enough for the whole year). They weren’t able to carry it all up the first time so they would have to make approximately 50 trips up that mountain (20 miles)! At times it was a bit scary with the rickety old bridges that you couldn’t see under you until you passed over them. It was a great train ride and Benjamin LOVED being on a real train. It does make our trains in Florida a bit uninteresting though. After our wonderful ride we walked down Main Street and looked in some shops. We have no room in our suitcases going back so we didn’t get too much (not that we need anything anyways). We got back on the boat, had a good lunch and put Ben down for a nap. It was a wonderful relaxing afternoon. Tonight we had an informal dinner (had to dress up a little bit). Benjamin did okay. It is soooo hard for him to sit still for a long time. This time I brought coloring books for him and Madi to use. Now he is in the kids world- they are having a family disco tonight. Tyler and I are passing, but they will still take the kids. I think we are going to try to go to the show- acrobats tonight.
Yesterday we were in Juneau, Alaska. It is the capital city of Alaska and so much smaller than I thought it would be. We boarded a bus and went out to take a peek at the Mendenhall glacier. It was neat to see a real live glacier. I was surprised though that it wasn’t floating. It was between two mountains. We then proceeded to our Whale Watching and Wildlife Cruise. We were very fortunate to see orcas, humpback whales, juvenile sea lions, bald eagles, and stellar porpoises. My favorites were the orcas. It was a great boat trip! Afterwards we walked through the little town center and picked up dinner. We were late leaving Juneau (10pm). Still working on pictures. Sorry.