Travel Blog

Sue:

Yesterday afternoon, I was walking around the store with my boss looking at all his artifacts up in the rafters so we can sign and price them. It was really fun because he told me all about the things I've been looking at for two years but had no idea what they were. So I thought I'd take some pictures and take you all around the shop.

The first picture is one I should have had with my previous Oosik Ode post. This is what an oosik looks like (the one in this picture is about 2 feet long):

This next item draws the most attention from the visitors, and it will probably be more popular this season because my boss moved it directly over my favorite register:

It's a seal skin float with ivory valve and wooden plug. My boss even blew some more air in it yesterday. Now that was a sight to see. So what this was used for was as a float attached to a harpoon, so when the fishermen harpooned an animal, these floats would keep it at the surface. It's a full seal, skinned and flipped insideout.

The next picture is a seal rendering spoon. They used it to skim the fat off the top of the rendering pot.

This next picture shows polar bear stakes. After the hunt and the skinning, these stakes were used to stretch the hide in the snow. The hide would freeze and thaw over and over until it was cured.

And last but not least, and away from the killing of critters, the scales in the following pictures are from the Gold Rush of 1898, and were a part of the H. Kirmse estate sale (Kirmse is a family that's been in Skagway since the Gold Rush).

Makes you want to come shopping up in Skagway, right?

Sue:

Funny how things work in life, isn't it? This afternoon, our boss, who has seen our Obama stickers on our truck, told us to be nice to Sarah Palin's dad who would be in Skagway sometime this summer to check out the Sarah Palin commemerative coin that we're going to be selling this year (Palin on one side, Obama on the other - let me know how many ya'll want). We said that of course we would be nice. We may not agree with his daugther's politics, but we don't dislike her personally or anything. A few hours later, our General Manager was on the phone with our boss and told him he just saw Sarah herself getting off the boat down at the docks. Apparently, Sarah Palin used to live here and was coming to town for a funeral.

I'm not going to bug someone who's in town for a funeral, obviously, but if I see her tomorrow, I'll try to snap some pics.

Let me know about those coins (we also have a t-shirt featuring her this year as well, so if that's more your thing, let me know. I'll try to post a picture of that on here sometime soon).

Sue:

Phil and I came across this in our upper office today at work, and it brought the following ode to mind:

Ode to an Oosik

Strange things have been done in the Midnight Sun
and the story books are full
But the strangest tale concerns the male,
magnificent walrus bull!

I know it's rude, quite common and crude,
Perhaps it is grossly unkind;
But with first glance at least, this bewhiskered beast,
is as ugly in front as behind.

Look once again, take a second look --- then
you'll see he's not ugly or vile
There's a hint of a grin in that blubbery chin
and the eyes have a sly, secret smile.

How can this be, this clandestine glee,
that extrudes from the walrus like music?
He knows, there inside, beneath blubber and hide
lies a splendid contrivance --- the Oosik!

"Oosik?" you say --- and quite well you may,
I'll explain if you keep it between us;
In the simplest truth, though rather uncouth,
Oosik is, in fact, his penis!

Now the size alone of this walrus bone
would indeed arouse envious thinking ---
It is also a fact, documented and backed,
there is never a softening or shrinking!

This, then, is why the smile is so sly,
the walrus is rightfully proud,
though the climate is frigid, the walrus is rigid,
Pray, why is not man so endowed?

Added to this is a smile you might miss,
(though the bull is entitled to bow)
The one to out-smile our bull by a mile
is the satisfied walrus cow!

-   author unknown

Sue:

We got our porch all built and our awning out this weekend. Now all we need is a banjo or two and we'll be set. I have a tin whistle, but somehow it's just not the same.

I know this picture doesn't show off our little wooden porch too well, but check out that awning! It's the only part of our RV that's in perfect working condition. I guess that's because this is only the second time we've ever had it out. The first time was three years ago in Yellowstone. I guess that's the key to longevity in an RV. Don't use it and it will last.

And since we had a nice porch to sit on, we couldn't exclude our little doggies. We can't be outside enjoying the mosquitoes without them.

A porch and an awning bring out the social in people. We've had more people come over to the RV since we built the porch than we've ever had. It may have something to do with them coming over to congratulate us on finally washing our rig more than anything.

We've had a good 3-day weekend, cleaning vehicles and building porches. We are meaning to take a drive to Dyea, but this couch is awfully comfy, so who knows. I think I'll end this with a picture of our acrobatic cat, Bailey, taking the high road.

Sue:

Let's take a little drive around Skagway, shall we? The weather has been wonderful lately, but Phil and I have been working every nice day (we have the next three days off, so it will probably rain), but we took a quick drive around town to show you some more Skagway sights (sites).

We first went down to the docks to see what's going on in the water. Our friend, Sherry, had told us she saw a whale already, so we were excited about that. We didn't see a whale, or even a seal, but it's still quite a nice place to be.

On our way back to town, we passed the Skagway Police Department (which is right by a stop sign that Phil never remembers is there, so he always runs it). Like a lot of buildings in Skagway, the Police Department is, well, a trailer.

And we ended our tour of the day right after we passed a, well, trailer with snowmobiles parked on top of it. I have to find out why vehicles are put way up high like this.

If the nice weather holds, after we wash our rig (all our neighbors are asking us when we're going to wash it...I told them they could feel free to wash it if they didn't like it, but so far none of them have taken me up on that offer), we'll head out to Dyea and hopefully have some great pics to share this weekend.

Sue:

Sorry I had two days of the same pictures. I meant to update them this morning, but we were running late. For some reason, we both were zombies yesterday and couldn't function very well. We blame the first real day of work, dealing with the public and all. So this morning we couldn't get out of bed. I'll try not to let it happen again.

Sue:

Our first working-with-tourists day is over. It actually went pretty well. We only had minor language barriers, and I only got mad at one old feller who was giving me a hard time about the way we don't include the tax in the posted price. Other than that, everyone was happy and friendly, and it was a good day overall. Even the sun was shining.

As for the title of this post, it came from another fellow who handed me some money and when I asked for more because of the tax, he offered up that exclamation. I thought it was funny, just the way he said it. I got a kick out of it. And it would be easy to forget where he was because they're all on a world tour.

So now we're back to just getting ready for the real opening day. We have two weeks until the next cruise ship comes in. So we're back to cleaning and straigtening and making signs. I think we can handle that.

Sue:

The Halibut Man came to town yesterday. It's much like Santa Claus coming to town, only in reverse. Everyone hears he's coming and runs down to the docks with their sacks. Phil and I were going to get some too when we thought it would be nicely fileted for us, but no such luck. This dude was on his own, and there's some law about the captain of a boat not fileting the fish. So we would have had to get a whole fish, guts, bones and all, and even though a couple of our neighbors offered to filet it for us, we decided to pass. Even though it was only $5.00 a pound. Woo nelly. That's a deal. But I did get some pictures of our neighbor's haul before they cut it up:

Ron wanted me to take a picture of him with the halibut, but I refused to show his face because he was not the fisherman:

Aren't halibut cute, with their two little eyes on the same side of their face? And look at it smiling. Ok, it really looked like it was frowning, so I rotated the picture until it looked happier about its fate.

A little while after I took these photos, some other nice neighbors of ours showed up at our door with a sack of freshly fileted halibut and told us to take some. And they wouldn't even take our money. Isn't Alaska a friendly place? Smiling fish and giving neighbors. To quote a beer commercial, "life doesn't get any better than this."

Sue:

We rocked the house last night at trivia. We actually sort of won the second round. I say sort of won because we think we answered one question correctly, even though the judges ruling was against us. But if the largest earthquake in North America occurred in Missouri, then we won. We think we're so smart. The judges must have felt bad for us because they gave us a certificate for a Big Ass Pizza and a pitcher of beer. That will go down nicely next Thursday when we whoop some butts.

Google note: I just looked up the strongest earthquake in North America, and it wasn't Missouri. It was Alaska. I have to give back my Arctic Brotherhood card. Maybe we not as smart as we think we are.

Sue:

You got to be hearty folk to come up to Alaska. You have to be heartier to stay. A couple of workampers got here three weeks early, complained that there was nothing to do (no kidding? I wonder why. Nothing's open yet), complained about the weather being dreary (no kidding? Is it dreary in Alaska in early spring?), complained about how small the town was, complained about everything, basically. So they up and left. The season hasn't even started yet, and they bale. This is maybe a good thing to write about in our Workamping section because we believe that once a committment is made, you should do everything in your power to honor that committment. And the Corrington's are especially screwed because Skagway is so far away that it's almost impossible to get folks to come up so late (even though it's been done), and there's not really much of a local pool of employees to draw from. We're just flumoxed as to why they left. They knew what they were getting into, they were told to make absolutely sure they wanted to come here, and they didn't even give it a chance. Weird.

How's everyone's tax day been? Our refund's already been spent, so we didn't do much to mark the occasion. I bought a new pair of walking shoes, but I don't know if that has much to do with tax day.

Our Easter was very good this year, believe it or not. Usually Easter is marred by convenience store dining, bloody dog fights or broken truck windows. This year we went to a party, ate a lot and had fun. New trend?

Tomorrow night is Trivia Night again at the Red Onion Saloon. Last Thursday, me, Phil and Sherry teamed up as the "Whatever, Whatever, I'll Do What I Want" team, but we didn't do all that great. I think we came in third the first round, and next to last the second round. We'll get 'em tomorrow night, though. I'm feeling smarter this week.

Sue:

It's Phil's 36th birthday today (get it? Bettis birthday? yeah, I'm a dork). We didn't really do much celebration-wise because we had been social butterflies this past week, but I did bake to commemorate:

See Xander down there hoping for one to fall? Little bugger.

And here's the birthday boy:

Skagway Note: Sherry told us that the trouse in our previous post already has a name...Birth of a Trailer.

Sue:

It's April, right? This is what it looked like yesterday in Skagway:

Sue:

Phil and I are leaning towards trouse. Maybe we should make this a poll question. Just another interesting Skagway structure.

Sue:

I spent my day in the upstairs stockroom, finishing up the jade shipment check-in. It wasn't so bad except for how cold it is upstairs. But that helped to keep me awake. That and our boss, Dennis, taking us for coffee.

Upstairs stockroom:

Looks pretty empty right now, doesn't it? Well, it won't be that way for long. We keep getting more stuff in every day. I'm really not sure where it's all going to go. And see those boxes on the floor closest to us in the picture? Those are boxes of jade pebbles. 300 pounds of 'em. We had to heft those up a flight of stairs that aren't wide enough for a normal foot. Makes life interesting.

The upstairs looks better than the downstairs right now. Because it's being beautified right now, we can't put things away quite yet so stuff is just lying around everywhere.
I'm trying to get them just to leave it like that and have a big rumage-sale kinda deal, but so far they're not going for it.

Downstairs:

Anyone interested in that big totem pole? It's only $6,000 (not including shipping and handling).

I have some more interesting shots from the town of Skagway. I'm not sure what's going on here, but I'm thinking this is how you renovate in the winter in Skagway. It could be a winter home for the inlaws too, knowing this town:

Then there's this house up on risers. Not sure what's going on there either. Maybe they knew there was going to be a lot of snow this winter, so they were being proactive. I guess they could just be moving too. That happens a lot around here.

We've not been up to much, but we're going to be social tomorrow night and go to the Red Onion Saloon for Trivia Night with our friend Sherry. Then on Sunday we've been invited for Easter dinner at the Corrington's. They are a lively bunch, so I'm looking forward to that.

Speaking of Corrington's, we met up with Sherry and Noah the other day. Noah had to get some creamer for his coffee (yes, that creamer container is full). He likes to carry things.

Sue:

This goes out to Jerry and Jeanie Harlin, good friends who were here in Skagway last season but who couldn't make it this year. We miss you and wish you were here. Nick is keeping us updated on the online cribbage games. He says he kicks your butt, Jerry. Nah, just kidding, he says even though he taught you how to play, you beat him as many times as he beats you.

Jerry, I thought of you today as Phil and I were unpacking the jade shipment. Remember all those little bears we had to unwrap? Well, it's almost as fun to count them in...all 7,000 of them. I made Phil do that (hee hee) while I unwrapped 98 little jade inucksuks (sp). My hands are raw and bleeding (damn Chinese wrapping paper).

You're also missing all the fun of detailing CAI. Since we have Dennis and Nancy as our bosses this year, we're cleaning that store with toothbrushes. And Nick and Ron are having a ball painting the place. I bet you are sad you're missing all that.

The totem pole you and Phil were working on is not in the lake anymore. We're finally drying out a bit around here. We still have about an inch of ice under our RV tires, and we think it will be there until May since the sun can't get to it under there, but we don't have to use our kayak to get from our RV to our truck anymore, and that's a good thing.

That's about it for now. We hope things in Texas are going well, but we do miss you and wish you were here.

Sue:

I may have just spent the laziest weekend on the record books. The weather was the pits here, so we just holed up and did nothing. I think I have a bedsore that's how little I moved this weekend. Healthy? No. Enjoyable? Yes (except for the sore).

Sue:

We're back at work and cleaning our tookises (tooki?) off. Skagway is a dust magnet on a good day - multiply that by 6 months and you get a very clogged Dyson. Here's Phil hard at work:

I call that one "Phil Under Glass."

Once we're all done dusting and vacuuming, we get to check in all the new merchandise and put it where it belongs. Oh, the joy of it!

But it's good to be back in the Skag. I think this year, since you've seen tons of pictures of Skagway over the past two years, I'm going to focus on the local perspective. With that in mind, I took this picture on my way to work this morning:

I'm not sure why it's up there, and I'm certainly not sure how it got up there, but that's Skagway for ya.

We're also getting a new brewery this year, supposedly. We like the old one, but this new one, if that's what it really is, is sooooo much closer to where we live. It would be cool to have something so close so we can stop by after work, knock a few back and stagger home. Nice.

Sorry it's not a good view. I took the picture from the car.

Skagway this year has more snow piled up than we've ever seen. We were told it was quite a rough winter, snowwise. The creek behind our RV is all blocked up with ice, all the way into town. It's weird. And I'm not sure if the snow did it, but when we got here, a couple of signposts for our RV park had fallen down and we're blocking the entranceway. Our wonderful maintenance guys got it all cleaned up, but here's what our beautiful Group Home sign looks like now:

Not much else to report on right now. We haven't even made it down to the docks yet to see who's swimming around. We'll do that soon.