I’m pretty sure most grown adults in my same age range all played the Oregon Trail and Yukon Trail computer games as kids. (I still have Yukon Trail in my possession on 7 floppy discs that my computer can’t read)  Well, Yukon Trail was always my favorite, so I have this giant nerd obsession with the towns of Skagway and Dyea. (for the record, I always chose Skagway).  So I was super excited to visit Skagway!

First thing I noticed is that the town actually still looks a bit like that. 😉 No, but seriously, they have it painted up all pretty to turn it into something a tourist would actually like to see. There are a ton of little cafes and souvenir shops and an actual old steam train that still runs around. According to a tour guide we were talking to, the town of Dyea was dead for a long time until tourism brought it back. Dyea was the starting point for the Chilkoot Trail and the first step towards finding gold for a lot of people.  Eventually a railroad was built that eliminated the trail. Pretty interesting history in this area. Click Here. and here.