Skagway, Alaska

Skagway is a town on the Alaska Panhandle. As of the 2010 census, the population was 968. Estimates put the 2019 population at 1,183 people. The population doubles in the summer tourist season in order to deal with more than 1,000,000 visitors each year.
The port of Skagway is a popular stop for cruise ships, and the tourist trade is a big part of the business of Skagway. The White Pass and Yukon Route narrow gauge railroad, part of the area’s mining past, is now in operation purely for the tourist trade and runs throughout the summer months. Skagway is also part of the setting for Jack London’s “Call of the Wild”. There is a nice campground on the outskirts of the town where we stayed overnight. The Skagway portion of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park is here with the other portion being in Seattle.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Cassiar Highway – British Columbia, Canada

The Cassiar Highway is an alternate route roughly paralleling the lower portion of the Alaska Highway. When driving the Alaska Highway it is a good way to catch some different scenery on the trip back from Alaska.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

The highway is remote and offers ample opportunity for viewing wildlife along the way especially bears. A junction with Route 37A (The Glacier Highway) brings you to Bear Glacier which can be seen right from a lookout on the road. Bear Glacier is now a provincial park.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

The tiny towns of Stewart, British Columbia and Hyder, Alaska are charming vestiges of coastal Alaskan Peninsular life.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Bear Glacier – British Columbia, Canada

Bear Glacier is a destination for travelers on the Cassiar Highway in British Columbia. Just a short side trip on Highway 37A towards Stewart, the Bear Glacier descends towards Strohn Lake, down Bear River Pass.
Ice once filled all of the pass, but in the 1940’s, the glacier began to retreat and Strohn Lake formed in the exposed basin. In 1967, Bear Glacier melted away from the valley wall and Strohn Lake was no longer dammed. Since then the glacier has continued its retreat.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Alex’s Twelfth Birthday

It was Alex’s twelfth birthday and with the COVID-19 quarantine still in effect we just had our close family come over to celebrate.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

We assembled a new barbecue grill,

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

and fired up all of our grills.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

The food is ready time to dig in.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Opening presents Alex got a drone, Roblux toys and a VR headset. We all had fun trying out the headset.

New video by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New video by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New video by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New video by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

After presents it is time for the cake.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

Alex had a fun birthday with family.

Venus Mill Historic Site – Yukon Territory, Canada

Venus Mill was built in 1908 to serve Colonel J. H. Conrad’s Venus no.1 and no.2 mines, located high on the mountain behind the mill. An aerial tramway transported silver ore to the mill with a capacity of 100 tons per day. Gravity and water carried the ore down through several layers of crushers, screens and concentrators. At the bottom, the concentrated ore was bagged for shipment, first by water to Carcross and then by railroad to tidewater at Skagway, Alaska. Although it incorporated the latest technology and operated around the clock, Venus Mill proved uneconomical and was closed within two years. Since my visit direct access to the mill from the Klondike Highway has been blocked off due to avalanche area. The mill can now be accessed via a 0.5 mile walk to the site.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos
New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos