Song of the Open Road: Skagway, Alaska

A native once told me that when she was a little girl she would sing up to the brisk winter night sky to conjure the aurora and make it dance.

As I reflect back at this moment, I was sitting in the taxi on my way to the Juneau ferry terminal. The native Alaskan driver happily shared stories while the rain hit the windshield. I hoped it wouldn’t rain as much in Skagway.

I wrote the following while on my ferry ride to Skagway….

If we didn’t spend days in the dreamy cloudiness of the west coast we wouldn’t appreciate the warm rays of sunshine. As I sit on the deck of the Columbia ferry, sunrays kiss my face and a slight cool breeze ruffles my dreads. The boat purrs beneath me as an eagle flies overhead and an otter slithers around in the cold water. The surrounding mountains are blanketed in thick clouds leaving the waterways with room to breathe.

I have no expectations on this journey I am embarking on, I will have a wonderful summer.

Skagway a town 24 blocks long and 5 blocks wide

Skip forward a month now and it is July, the typical bi-polar weather I am used to in Washington State has followed me here. The locals say that it has been a strange and gloomy summer but you wouldn’t know it, for today is the kind of day where people are out in their summer dresses and shorts. I am working full-time as the produce girl at the Fairway Market. One day it got into the high 70’s maybe and people were complaining up a storm, one woman even pressed her face against the milk cooler as sweat dripped down her face. Having just been in Central America I sported a light jacket, secretly giggling inside.

I went on one of Shelby's tours into the Yukon

Unfairway Market

But anyways, back to the market…. there is one other store here, called You Say Tomato but it has expensive natural food so I’m pretty sure almost everyone goes to the Fairway Market. Or should I say, the Unfairway Market? The typical local routine goes like this, either do your shopping on Tuesday or Wednesday because the barge arrives on Tuesdays with all the produce and goodies. After those days don’t expect to find what you need in the store, we most likely don’t have it. Being the only one running the produce section I am trying to order enough produce to last the week but it is a challenging job to accomplish on my own, amongst other obstacles. I have managed to keep the shelves mostly full and I enjoy seeing the huge grins on locals when they see a delightful fruit or vegetable they need for a meal.