Skagway - White Pass Steam Train by Jessica

After our dog sledding adventure, we walked through town a bit before boarding the White Pass steam train.  This railroad was built in 1898 to facilitate the Klondike gold rush.  By 1900, the US Mint had received 48 million dollars worth of Klondike gold, making it the largest Gold Rush the world has seen.

After snapping a quick picture of Joe and Ben and collecting our parents from the ship, we boarded the caboose.  This turned out to be an excellent choice as we could stand out on the back and take pictures the whole way up.  On the way up my mom and I stood out back and took pictures.  

We came up on our first tunnel and our tour guide asked us to come inside.  I wanted to question her and figure out why, but thankfully she quickly explained that the tunnel would fill with smoke from the engines and we wouldn't be able to breathe if we stayed out.  That was all I needed to know.  I quickly jetted back inside to wait out the smoke.

Since we opted for the longer train ride with the steam engine, we were able to go into Canada and didn't turn around until we hit the town of Frazier. 

They even popped some champagne and apple cider at the top to keep us occupied while they refilled the engine with water.

 Fun fact (the engine holds 5000 gallons of water and uses 4500 round trip.)