"If Ya Wanna See the Other Leg, It's Gonna Cost Ya!"

by Pa Rock
Harbor Rat

Greetings from beautiful downtown Skagway, Alaska – and no, Sarah Palin’s picture is not on the town’s welcome sign!

I am sitting in a downtown electronics store blogging - at just five dollars and hour - a price which beats the hell out of the ship's wifi racket!

Skagway is in the Klondike National Park, and it also functions as a very colorful tourist trap with many shops and places to spend money.    Of the two hundred or so stores in town, at least three-quarters specialize in jewelry sales – and many of those are owned by the cruise ship companies.    The old ladies who spend their lives riding on cruise shops must have a thing about jewelry.

The cruise ships have to dock about a half-mile from town, and the best way to get from the ship to the shops is by shuttle – that will be two dollars please.  I bought the all day pass for five dollars, and by the end of this jaunt into town I will have ridden in six times.  What a deal!

One of my main stops today has been to the post office – three times to mail three packages including gifts for the kids and grandkids and my dirty clothes.  Gail gave me a lot of grief about buying tee-shirts for everyone, saying that she spends her money on herself – but as the day wore on I noticed she was beginning to look at clothes and souvenirs for grandkids.  She’s just an old softie at the core!

This morning there was a saloon gal in an upstairs window of one of the business establishments.  She had one of her legs hanging out the window and was enticing all of us old men staggering up and down the sidewalk with a promise of “If ya wanna see the other leg, it’s gonna cost ya!”  I had to pass because I didn’t figure that I could get up the stairs!

A note about the cruise.  I went to the ship’s show last night and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the performance.  A group of very energetic young singers and dancers put on what they called  “Boogie Wonderland.”  It was mostly a tribute to the disco era.  “It’s fun to stay at the Y.. . . . M. . . . C. . . . A!!!”  Now, try and get that song out of your head!