Culture and Commerce: six days of Alaska

Although we saw loads of natural wonders during our trip, we did not learn very much about the local culture or history.  This was not necessarily the fault of the cruise line.  It’s possible they offered chances to learn more, but we didn’t notice any.  There were a lot of things about the cruise line we didn’t notice right away.

I did learn that Tlingit, an indigenous people group in Southeast Alaska, is pronounced “Klink-it”.  The Tlingit people (and other Pacific Northwest people) engage in making totem poles and formline art in a distinctive style.

Formline art on a building wall.
I think this is Eagle.

Probably Raven.

Artist studio/defunct sawmill

As part of our tourist experience at the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary, we visited an abandoned sawmill converted into an artist’s studio for carving totem poles.  The poles are made of one single tree, usually red cedar.  It takes about a year to make one. The artist was making this one in honor of his uncle who passed away recently. The uncle was also a totem pole maker. 

Totem pole under construction

Chief pole, welcoming us

The explanatory plaque told us the above is a “Chief Pole” of the Tsimshian indigenous people, with arms extended in welcome to all the guests at the Sanctuary.

Three totem poles

The pole on the left is titled “The Woman Pole”, carved in honor of all women.

Haida Eagle, with Common Household
Husband, in Juneau

This one, at the port in Juneau, for all tourists’ pleasure, is titled Haida Eagle.  The eagle is second down from the top, below the clan member wearing the top hat. Eagle is one of the clans of the Haida people.

This formline art fish seemed to be the logo for the town of Icy Strait Point, developed by a cruise line, which worked cooperatively with the nearby indigenous town of Hoonah to boost the economy of Hoonah without creating a wholesale tourist invasion of Hoonah.

This totem pole (an eagle, I am guessing) stands guard outside one of the visitor buildings at Icy Strait Point.

The buildings at Icy Strait Point included a small museum.  Since 1977 oil has been an integral part of the Alaskan economy. 

Alaskan pipeline info
at little museum

From our standpoint, tourism is a major part of Alaskan commerce.  I am guessing the town of Ketchikan, population about 8,000, doubles or triples when the cruise ships arrive.  And when we went whale watching, there were probably 6 to 8 boats on our section of the water, all watching those whales.  

Shipping containers and (on the left) cruise ship
at Juneau.

A small boat from a bygone era
Icy Strait Point

Then there’s the Alaskan seafood industry, which we were happy to partake of frequently, in this seafood feast and also on the cruise boat. The crabs at this feast were HUGE (not sure if they were King Crab or not). Alas, no Old Bay seasoning for this Maryland girl, but they were quite tasty anyway, and less work than the smaller Maryland crabs.

Mussels and shrimp and crabs, oh my!

Part of our excursion in Icy Strait Point included a theater presentation on this small stage. High school students acted out the Raven creation story using impressive artistic masks and capes.  (No photos allowed).  The Raven is a sort of Greek god-like character, and the creation story involves some trickery.

stage with bear skin

flag of the state of Alaska

The history of white settlers in Alaska, in my dim understanding, was, early on, a battle between Russia and the United States, with the U.S. acquiring Alaska by paying Russia (for land that actually did not really belong to Russia anyway -- remember "Seward's Folly"?) in 1867. Then the gold rush, commercial fishing and mining, followed by finding oil. Alaska was a colony of the US until it became a state in 1959.

During our trip, some place names shouted of colonialism:  

Dawes Glacier

Endicott Arm

Mendenhall Glacier

Gastineau Channel

Juneau

Some place names derive from local indigenous culture:

Alaska

Ketchikan

Hoonah

As a Pennsylvanian,I find it important that, according to AI, the city of Juneau was first named Harrisburg (also the name of PA’s capital city), after a gold prospector named Richard Harris, who named the place after himself.  Joe Juneau was also a gold prospector from Quebec.  Joe  complained that not enough stuff was named after him (remind you of anyone?), and convinced the other miners in the new town to rename it after him.  

Juneau can only be reached from the Lower 48 by air or water.  There are no roads or rails connecting to Juneau from elsewhere in Alaska or the continental US.

Orca

All rights reserved for photos and text.  This means just look, don't copy.

Posts in this series:

Alaska: flora and fauna

Alaska: rocks, fjords, and water 

Seattle: West Coast whirlwind

Flora and Fauna: six days of Alaska

Our first port call brought us to Ketchikan, where we had arranged for a trip to the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary.  This is a privately held enterprise, not a government-sponsored park.  Nevertheless, I found it an excellent experience.  An elevated boardwalk provides a great vantage point to see foliage and wildlife.  For the more adventuresome, there is ziplining at the top of the forest.

The temperate rainforest setting is beautifully eerie – perpetual fog, but not cold, with moss or lichen growing on anything stationary.  

red elderberry

Salmonberry - fruits like raspberries, in several colors.
Yes, there is a black bear in there.
This is the best photo I have of salmonberry.

Everything was dripping wet.

A lichen called Old Man's Beard

Salmonberry, with its colorful raspberry-like fruits was common. It’s edible for humans and bears, although the guide told us the fruits taste sour.  But it felt wrong to me to disturb the forest by tasting one.

Our guide Basil instructed that if we saw a bear, we should not shout, “LOOK!  A BEAR!” but rather silently raise our hands up in the air (like bear claws), shake our hands around, and point to where we spotted the bear.   We had been told ahead of time to not bring any food. No flash photography.  It seems a good practice for humans to not draw attention to themselves when in the presence of a bear, although I gather that black bears are less threatening to humans than other bear species.

The easiest way to spot a bear is to watch for movements in the ground foliage.  We saw at least three black bears, possibly more, although they might have been the same bears in different spots.   How thrilling it was to see the bears making their way through the forest!  

Mother bear

two bear cubs, about 1 1/2 years old

More fauna in the Rainforest Sanctuary: a bald eagle and a Sitka black-tailed deer.  We saw bald eagles at every stop.  Bald Eagles are no long an endangered species, but are still protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

When we were off the elevated boardwalk,
the guide gave us extra instruction on what
to do if we encounter a bear.
Mainly: don't run.

bald eagle

bald eagle

Sitka black-tailed deer.  In Pennsylvania
we only have white-tailed deer.

This website has a much better photo of bald eagles, and explains how the Orange Menace’s regime (of course) reduces incentives for private companies to use practices to protect birds.  

Layers of trees

The first solo car trip I took without my wee children (at the time I had two) was in Nova Scotia.  I rented a car in Halifax and drove northeast for two hours to a small town for a family event.  There were no other cars on the road, and I seemed surrounded by nothing but trees for miles and miles.  

When it comes to tree population, Alaska was Nova Scotia on steroids.  While hardly setting foot in the Tongass National Forest, I am grateful for its existence.

We chose well for our activity in Juneau - a photo safari.  I was just getting re-acquainted with my “fancy” camera.  Anya, our guide with Gastineau Guiding Company, allowed us time to soak in the atmosphere and choose our photo subjects, rather than rushing us along.

Among the excursions it is good we did not do in Juneau are:

Dog sledding on Mendenhall Glacier 

Seaplane

Self guided jeep tour

Bicycle tour

Bike and Brew

Anya pointed out interesting plants along the Trail of Time.  The Northern ground cone, which rather strangely grows not on a pine tree but right from the ground, is parasitic and does not do photosynthesis.  

Devil’s Club (“Oplopanax horridus” - what a great scientific name!), has medicinal uses but we were warned to stay away from those nasty-looking thorns.  

Northern ground cone

Devil's Club

lupine wildflower near Mendenhall Glacier

The Trail of Time also showed us a stream with sockeye salmon cavorting.

salmon in stream

Our photo safari included a trip aboard Captain Rob’s small vessel (only 14 people!) for whale watching.  That was when Anya revealed her camera with an enormous lens.  I was glad I had brought my 55-200 mm zoom lens, which I had not used for maybe 10 years, but recognized I was in the presence of photography gurus.  

That's the Common Household Husband
standing at the bow of the boat.
Anya is just to the left of him.
I could not stand in the bow for fear of 
provoking extreme vertigo.

Here are a few of the 200+ photos I took of whales and the surrounding scene.

   

Captain Rob said the people in that small boat
on the left were breaking the rules of
the Marine Mammal Protection Act by being
too close to the whales.

Humpback whale tail and mountains

Whale spouts

These whale were working cooperatively
on getting dinner ready.
The birds follow along for a treat.

Dorsal fins and spouting

In Icy Strait Point we noticed pine trees with cute little pine cones -the Lodgepole Pine.  The tiny cones are actually male pollen.   The white flowers are spirea - a bush we have in our own garden here at home.

Pine tree with teensy "cones", and
white spirea flowers

This is my one photo of fireweed flowers, which are ubiquitous in Southeast Alaska.  Alas, we only saw the big fields of its striking bright color from afar.  Anya told us of a famous Alaskan saying: "When fireweed turns to cotton, summer is soon forgotten."

All rights reserved for photos and text.  This means just look, don't copy.

Posts in this series:

Alaska: rocks, fjords, and water 

Alaska: culture and commerce

Seattle: West Coast whirlwind

Noticing Nature - Stinkbug and Wetlands in Winter

Well-built walkway through the wetlands
in our local county park.

The endeavor: noticing one thing in nature each day. And attempting to be grateful.

February 26th through March 6th

On Wednesday Feb 26th, nature presented itself in the form of a malfunctioning furnace.  As the morning wore on, I noticed that I was feeling colder and colder.  The thermostat was set on 69oF but the temp was 64oF.  After some vain attempts to ask the Common Household Husband if he had turned off the heat for some reason (no reply from the CHH), I called the furnace company.  Within an hour repairperson Dan showed up.  He claimed that the deteriorating body of a stink bug inside the furnace had prevented the igniter from igniting.    So stinkbug is our featured item in noticing nature for Wednesday.

Thank you, repairperson Dan.

On Thursday, on the way home from shopping at a small locally-owned grocer, I decided on a whim to stop off in the county park for a nature walk.  The county has built a raised wooden walkway through a wetlands area.  It was more wet than land on Thursday.  To get to the raised walkway, I had to splash through numerous puddles and swampy places.  I was grateful that whoever built that walkway did a good job.  I thought, it was sound government and non-corrupt workers and business who brought us that walkway.   Sound government keeps us all from sinking into the muck.  I was so glad for a chance to consider all the living creatures I could not see but who make the wetlands area alive and worthwhile.  As I turned to walk back to my car, a huge heron / egret flew past.  Magnificent!  HeronEgret is the nature feature for Thursday. (Nope, no photo of HeronEgret)

Puddle.  
See below for a few more photos 
of our little wetlands.

Friday.  Hmm.  I was very busy not buying anything.  Did I even go outside?

Sat, Sun - we had out of town visitors - Older daughter and her husband!  A quick but wonderful visit.  The Common Household Son made it home from his business trip in time to join us.  And we had a lengthy fun facetime with Younger Daughter.  I cooked Chicken on Sheet Pan 3 ways (I only did one way), Sheet-pan Veggie Shawarma, and oven-roasted potato wedges.  I had delicious berries on my waffle Sunday morning at the waffle place.  Food is our featured nature item for the weekend.

On Monday, after spending close to an hour outside rallying for Ukraine, my frozen toes were a reminder of nature.   It is extraordinary good fortune that we were able to quickly get back in the car and restore toes to life.  The prospects for Ukraine, however, are uncertain.  Likewise, our own country.

Tuesday.  It was quite warm today. I went out to get the mail after sunset, without having to put on outerwear as if I was going searching for Ernest Shackleton.  The sky was still a beautiful dark blue and I noticed the “evening star” e.g. planet.  At the apex of the sky was the faithful crescent moon, along with some stars twinkling through the bare tree branches.  

Wednesday was when I realized I had forgotten to take my meds for 3 straight days. I NOTICED the nature of heartburn, for sure.  But this is proof that this drug works.  This particular med is to me a miracle and I am thankful for it.  I am counting as nature the way such chemicals work in the human body.

Thursday March 6th.  It snowed a bit today and was blustery.  The furnace is still working fine.  Yay!I didn’t go out until evening, when it was time to go to a Dem committee meeting.  I was grateful that the meeting was packed.  I hope these people stick around for the hard work.

* * * * * * * * * *

I wrote this on March 6th, back when it was still actual winter, but the rapid advance of fascism has made me too busy to post it until now.

History of this spot.

Three benches sunken into the wet.
This seems like a pointless place to put benches.
Who wants to sit there?!

The rushing creek.

Flora encroaches on the walkway,
near the end of it.

Lots of standing water. 
I mean, it is wetlands.

Poster of tiny life forms.