Travels with Samantha Slide Show Page 16

At Moe's Frontier Bar, the "oldest operating bar in Skagway," Samantha attracted the interest of William, a German-American farmer from Ohio in the final stages of drunkenness. His intoxication was perhaps unsurprising for someone who has been here for five months and has spent "$4500 drinking, $500 eating and had a spectacular time all the way." He is doing maintenance work at a hotel here for the summer, but has to "get back and see what my crops are doing. I don't trust people to do my job." He'd like to stay forever.

"I came up here to fulfill a lifelong dream. I was born 100 years out of my time. I enjoy the outdoors so much that I can't live without it. Once you come to Alaska, it is in your blood. You will return."

Sam, a 41-year-old pioneerwoman type, just come down here from Anchorage in a motorhome with her husband Ken.

"We came here to see southeast Alaska. The only way to see it is to live here and take the Marine Highway. You have to be part of it."

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Following the Klondike Gold Rush route to Skagway

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[BIG] I anticipated hopping onto the Alaska Marine Highway.

Amateurs stake out chaise longues on the solarium for the four-day journey but professionals have a better system: .

The ferry is a great place for meeting camping partners, although sleeping next to a 14-year-old with a loaded shotgun can be a bit unnerving [BIG].

Fortunately, his mother was there to guide him. [BIG]

Why does every city with a hill call itself "little San Francisco"? I have two arms and two legs, but I don't call myself "dark-haired Robert Redford." Some of Juneau's streets are steep, but not because there are hills; rather, the city is cut into a mountain side like Honolulu. With under 30,000 population, Juneau survives on two industries: state government and milking cruise ship passengers. Alaskans have been talking for twenty years about moving the capital to a small town near Anchorage but are never quite ready to spend the money to do it. Alaska's Inside Passage is one of the world's most popular cruise routes and Juneau is the only city the passengers see after Seattle or Vancouver. Three enormous ships were in port today and their passengers thronged five blocks of souvenir shops hawking everything from fudge to Eskimo Ulu knives.

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Sunny weather made for delightful mountain biking in Juneau

[BIG] and a nice smooth ride on the next ferry segment

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More typical Southeast Alaska weather came in the next day. [BIG]

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