Saturday, June 2nd

Last night at midnight, we ordered 2 chocolate chip cookies and a pot of coffee. This was partly because we wanted a snack, partly because “we could” and partly to commemorate one of my favorite cruise memories from about 20 years ago.

We were on a Disney cruise in the Caribbean, it was midnight, and Jason and Kyle (5 and 6 years old) were hungry. I introduced them to the room service menu, where they spotted “giant cookie” and I spotted coffee. A phone call and 10 minutes later, room service delivered a pizza-sized cookie, milk, and pot of coffee.

The boys were flabbergasted! The very idea that, with a simple phone call, a “free” giant cookie would show up at our door…at midnight… was more than they could bear.

With that memory firmly planted in his mind, Kyle has taken advantage of several midnight room service chicken Caesar salads this week. Not to be outdone, Landon has primed his muscles with midnight PB&J’s, Laci has gotten a chicken club with fries, and Caleb has gotten several cheeseburgers…all at midnight…all “for free.”

This morning, we headed into Skagway, our first port of call. The town, a popular touristy stop for cruise ships, was part of the setting for Jack London’s book The Call of the Wild. John Wayne’s film “North to Alaska” was filmed nearby.

The area around modern-day Skagway was inhabited by Tlingit people from prehistoric times. On at least two occasions, our traveling companion Lauren had to be reminded they were not Klingons, a fictional extraterrestrial humanoid warrior species from Star Trek. Honest mistake.

The Tlingit hunted the land, fished the waters, and became prosperous by trading with other coastal and interior people. I learned that the Tlingit people still inhabit the far northwest part of British Columbia and Canada’s southern Yukon Territory.

I also learned it’s inaccurate—“intellectually lazy” as our guide put it, to refer to these people as Eskimos. They are Tlingits. Eskimo is a French term for “those who wear snowshoes.” So, calling them Eskimos is like referring to Southerners as Comedores de Sémola de Maíz or “those who eat grits.” On second thought, that’s pretty accurate.

Skagway made its mark in more recent history in 1897 when gold was discovered in Canada’s Yukon Territory. People from across the globe raced to the Klondike hoping to become rich beyond their wildest dreams.

Thousands boarded ships, steamed up Alaska’s Inside Passage, and disembarked at Skagway or Dyea. Skagway’s waterfront was a chaotic scene of pitched tents, shouting stampeders, neighing horses, and barking dogs. Streets were quickly laid out and buildings and wharves constructed; the town even boasted of having electricity, running water, and telephone service in 1898.

From Skagway, stampeders traveled the 45-mile White Pass Trail, infamously nicknamed Dead Horse Trail because pack animals perished in large numbers. Of the estimated 100,000 prospectors who set out for the Klondike, only 30,000 made it and only a handful of those became rich. Most who became rich ultimately died in poverty, having squandered their wealth in other risky, get rich quick schemes.

Today’s real lesson, though, is about conquering fears. You see, my wife is terrified of water. While taking swimming lessons and spending considerable time in water was part of my childhood, the same cannot be said for Janet. Anything deeper than bath water makes her anxious, and the thought of being submerged in water makes her nauseous.

Thus, it took more than a little coaxing to convince her to go on today’s kayaking trip on Chilkoot Lake. I reminded her that:

1. This kayaking outfitter, over many years of operation, has never had a customer submerge in water, much less drown.

2. She would be wearing a life preserver.

3. Even if we were to tip over, the famed piranhas of Chilkoot Lake typically target the larger of the two kayakers…which would be me.

4. I had gone horseback riding.

We boarded a ferry for a scenic 40-minute ride to Haines. Glacier-fed waterfalls poured off the mountains before us. While Skagway and other ports of call are somewhat touristy towns, Haines seemed more like a typical Alaskan town. In addition to being known for its underwear, Haines has the highest concentration of bald eagles in the world between October and February. We saw several of them flying high in the sky.

From Haines, we took a bus to Chilkoot Lake, one of the best red salmon fishing locations in Alaska. But today wasn’t about salmon in the water, but Janet on it. My brave little warrior, with her heart racing, stepped into the back of our 2-person kayak. We pushed off with our fellow kayakers and Janet steered us around the beautiful lake. Our guide showed us the salmon spawning area and told us about wildlife, glaciers, and the Klingons who once inhabited the area.

I don’t know that Janet will take up scuba diving any time soon. But on one magical afternoon, on a glacier-fed lake in southeast Alaska, she decided to stare down her fears. She dug deep, boarded a kayak, and paddled her little heart out. Amidst the food, fun, and sightseeing of this amazing adventure, her guts in tackling her greatest fear might have the most lasting impact.