Alaska Gold

[Rambler5678]

Anyone buy any gold nuggets while on their Alaska cruise? If so were did you buy them.

 

[WestFamily]

My son did! Well at least the little vile of gold nuggets in mineral oil or water. There were other bigger pieces too but we nixed those. We got them in Skagway.

 

[GPaLarry]

We did a DCL panning for gold, at Liarsville, excursion in Skagway where you could "mine/pan" your own gold flakes. Wife and I were in the gift shop while kids/grandkids did the panning. The woman in the shop said, "don't overlook the stream." That's all she would say. We walked back to the panning area and the little bridge to get there and I looked into the water...WOW, small "gold" nuggets in the stream. I told our 8-year-old granddaughter to come over to the water's edge and look down. She almost waded right in, shoes and all. She filled her little plastic bag in a heartbeat, the word got out and a kids' gold rush was on. The stream was panned out in no time. Granted, they were not real gold (just painted stones) and the stream was salted, but the kids had a great time. We saw small bottles of gold flakes for sale in various gift shops almost everywhere in Alaska. Our grandkids (8, 11 and 13) love scavenger hunts (and the detective agency on the Fantasy), so, for them, finding real or fake gold wasn't the point...it is the challenge of the hunt, solving a puzzle. The Alaska cruise was awesome. We hope to go again.

 

[SlickWilly]

In Skagway, we wanted to do an dog cart and the White Pass RR excursion, and I couldn't find one tour that also included gold panning. So, on our way from the train, we stopped at the Back Alley Rock Shop and let our DS 11 & 8 pan for gold. They had a great time and the lady working there took the time to show them tricks of the trade. As always, the first pan is pre-loaded, so you are guaranteed to get a few flakes of real gold.

We had enough time to pan before they closed and then walked to the ship. It may not have had the ambiance of Liarsville, but it was a nice, relaxed end to the day.

 

[Rambler5678]

What time did the Back Alley Rock Shop open and close?

 

[SlickWilly]

I don't know the opening - we were on an early excursion.
I had read they closed at 4:30, but that seemed to be a very loose time (like most cruise port shops in AK). We stopped there around 4 and there was no one there but the worker. I actually thought they were closed, but she said we could still pan.