Both Juneau and Skagway are tourist towns. the main streets are lined with cheap jewelry stores and gift shops hocking Ammolite stones and the Ulu cutting tool. This “knife” must be incredibly cheap to manufacture, or the cruise ship got a great deal on a bulk purchase. The did a demo of using it, and while the chief hypes it up with how easy it is to chop an onion, the way he holds the blade, by one of the sharp tips itself, seems pretty dangerous. The Ulu doesn’t look like it was made to slice at all, but either chop straight down once, or to peel the skin back from a deer. Thats it. So, its interesting to see every shop sell these things. You are all getting one for either birthdays or Christmas, along with a towel (coincidentally branded with Royal Caribbean).

Our camera battery died, so we didn’t get any pictures of Juneau, but I did take a few of Skagway. What I did find in Juneau was a respectable pub, that offered both Chimay and Guinness on tap. I think Michele saw the longing in my eyes for a proper pint, so she encouraged me to stop in there while her and her family go shopping. It was nice, Owen and I hung out off to the side of the bar and had a drink. I had Guinness, and he had milk :)

I would have like the train ride in Skagway, but Michele and I didn’t plan on doing any excursions this trip, with both kids and all, so we walked around town and found a park. That was pretty nice, though the locals there didn’t seem to like us.

I’m not sure if Alaska has caught on to the whole “Internet” phenomenon, but finding a free wifi access point in these two towns was near impossible. Coffee shops didn’t have wifi, or there was a utility based wifi service that you had to pay for. I didn’t bother paying, which is why these posts are a week old :)

Speaking of coffee, I’ve had a severe lack of quality coffee on the ship, and during our travels in general. The stock coffee on the ship is very weak, and I’m pretty picky about drinking it. The ship does have a coffee shop that will make lattes and other drinks, but you have to pay for them and they are still pretty weak by my standards. Still, to avoid any headaches and to help up my mood in general, I’ve been getting a small coffee loaded with 3 - 4 espresso shots :) After that, I’m all for tackling gift shops and walking the kids around.

Now, for pictures: