President Obama retraces some of our trip

I was delighted when I heard President Obama changed the name of this Mountain back to Denali, what it has been called by the native Alaskans for thousands of years. Denali means "the great one" or "the high one" and when you are fortunate enough to see it you understand why. The peak, at more than 20,000 feet, plays a central role in the creation story of the Koyukon Athabascans, a group that has lived in Alaska for thousands of years.

 

Today President Obama hiked to the same glacier our group hiked to, and took the same boat trip  that we did. I hope he had the same wonderful captain and guide that we had!

Our last day in Alaska

We got to the Anchorage Airport a little after 11 am. Our flight out was not until 11:45 pm so we thought we were going to spend a boring day at the Airport. It was an absolutely beautiful day and we could see Mt. Denali as clear as a bell even though it was over 150 miles away!

I found it interesting that for most of the trip all the people who were our leaders and guides were from someplace other than Alaska.  Believe it or not the state of origin that was most common was Florida.  But they all love it up here, even, especially winter and may visit their home state from time to time, but will always consider Alaska their home.   Our bus driver, a delightful gal, was the first person I encountered who answered the question, "Where are you from?" with the answer "Here, and my father, and his father, and his fathers before him. She was a member of one of the local aboriginal people who have made Alaska their home for thousands of years (earliest traces have been found 10,000 to 15,000 years ago!). In the last hours of our time in Alaska I was seeing something very important that I nearly had missed.   We found when we got to the Airport that we could leave our bags in a secured place and take a bus into  Anchorage to spend some time at a museum that is connected with the Smithsonian museum in Washington. There we began to hear the story of Alaska's first people and how they lived, and live.

Their lives remain unchanged for thousands of years, until the Russians and then the Americans began to exploit them for the animals, trees, and minerals. They brought diseases which decimated the local people and took the resources they needed to live. The solution we came up with for these people was for them to become like us. That just about did them in.    But I am very happy to hear that among the descendants of these people there is a revival of the old ways. The language and stories and resources are being reclaimed and this appears to be producing young vibrant cultures. We went from the museum to a living museum the Alaska Native Heritage Center where we saw the dwellings, and art work and heard the stories and songs that have been told and sung for centuries.  Here is a link with some information. http://www.alaskanative.net/en/main-nav/plan-your-visit/the-experience/. Make sure you watch the video. It catches the spirit. The wonderful thing was that it was young people doing this, sharing what was obviously so special and powerful to them.  Here is a map that shown where the major native groups live in this vast land.

 Most of these peoples were hunter gatherers with a deep spiritual connection to the land and it's inhabitants. They used the resources that were available to them.   This picture shows a boat built by people in the northwest where there were no trees. It is made of walrus skin, and the wood slats are made from driftwood.  The red and black boat in the background was made from one huge tree. They live in a southern coastal rain forest where trees are giants. Both vessels require great skill to make, and are whale boats.

 Many of there homes are partially underground. 

The word for house in their language is igloo and we all know what those look like. The young lady told us that they will build them out of ice if they are hunting away from home, but they prefer the style in this picture. This is much dryer.   Some of their beautiful artwork. Even with no Walmart or Sam's Club, and no two day prime deliveries and no internet, these people live and eat, and tell stories and sing songs, and have time to do beautiful work with what the land gives them.

 

 

Seward Alaska

Seward Alaska sits on the end of Resurrection Bay which was named by Russian explorers who first entered the bay on an Easter Sunday in the late 1700's. It is an open water harbor with lots of fishing and cargo, which gets transferred to the Alaskan Railroad to journey inland.   It is a pretty little town.

The small boat harbor.

  The library and museum.  

The Episcopal church, one of the oldest churches in town. It has an Ascension mural painted by one of its members who painted the Ascension with the disciples being the local people. Most interesting.

 The Iditarod dogsled race begins in Seward, which commemorates the desperate attempt the deliver diphtheria medication to Nome Alaska.

For the hearty there is a forth of July race up Marathon Mountain. It is a little over three miles long with. The record time of just over 46 minutes.  No thanks!

On Good Friday, March 27, 1964 a huge Earthquake rocked Seward. It was rated a 9.2 on the Richter scale and has been upgraded to a 9.5. The ground rocked for over 4 minutes, which must have seemed like forever. It was followed by several huge tsunami waves that destroyed everything the quake didn't.  The only visible reminders of that event are all the tsunami evacuation route signs.

  Well tonight we pack to travel to  Anchorage to begin our flight home. What a great trip this has been. Alaska is amazing and we have been blessed to have  have experienced it.  

Salmon run at Bear Creek

On our way home from our sea adventure we stopped at bear creek to see a salmon run. It is Silver Salmon and the small creek was wall to wall fish.

The commercial fisherman voluntarily contribute. 3% of their prophets which are used to improve the salmon fishing. Bear Creek is a stream with a new salmon run because of their efforts. It is encouraging to see what they are doing, not only to improve the quantity of fish, but the quality.  

Here is a link to a video of some of the salmon jumping a small falls. http://www.flickr.com/photos/95319766@N02/20526461869/play/site/aede81f315

A Trip aboard the Aialik Voyager

On Tuesday August 18th we drove to Seward to take one of the Kenai Fjords tours. Even before we boarded our boat we were enjoying a Sea Otter munching some barnacles for a snack. What a beautiful creature.        

 

Our tour was the National Park Tour. We sailed out Resurrection Bay the turned into the Aialik Glacier Bay.  We left the harbor at 11 am and returned at 4 pm. Our Captain was a young lady and what a wonderful trip she gave us. Did I mention that the sky was blue, and the sun was out?        

   

I will probably tell you more about Seward tomorrow. Now I want to share the animals and birds we saw.

First we met some shy Harbor Seals.        

 

Next we encountered some Humpback Whales. I was thrilled to get these pictures as the whale would pop up for a breath and then drive down. Totally unpredictable. The birds were often circling over where the whales were feeding so that gave us a clue.

   

As we left Resurrection Bay we went past an island with Horned Puffin. These birds raise one chick and swim to depths of 250 feet. They fly better through water than they do air.

   

We then proceeded into the Aialik Glacier which is a tide basin glacier which means it empties into the ocean. It is currently moving about 6 miles a day. We saw calving, but I did not catch any of the icefall with my camera.

   

   

   

As we headed out of the bay, our captain told us there was a humpback whale breaching in front of us. During a breach a whale will thrust more than 75% of its body out of the water. Possible reasons for breaching are communication, cleanliness or just plain fun.  This young male whale was having a ball giving us a great show.

We then approached an island to meet a group of Steller Sea Lions. Their population is declining dangerously. They hunt fish at night and haul out to rest during the day.

   

What a great day we were having but it wasn't over yet. As we headed back to Seward the Captain exclaimed that we were in for a special treat that most tours don't get. A pod of Orca was swimming with us.  They were quite a ways off but we could see them and even get a few pictures.

We returned to our harbor quite happy. We had see it all and had a perfect day. But we hadn't. I'll tell you about the salmon run we saw in another post.  What a beautiful day!        

 

Moose Pass

We had a long day's drive from Denali to Moose Pass where we will stay for the remainder of our trip.  The blog was a bit delayed as the internet was down.

 Chris and I are a bit under the weather, but hopefully on the mend.  Yesterday we went into Seward to visit the Alaska SeaLife Center. It was created with funds from the Exon Valdez oil spill which happened near Seward.  They treat injured animals and birds, have a great education program, and they closely monitor populations of seals and puffins. They have cameras focused on the nesting area and their staff monitor them 18 hours a day. 

 Tomorrow we get on a boat and enter Kenai Fjords National Park. It should be a highlight of the trip.

   

Mt. Denali

 

Mt. Denali.

Today was going to be a celebration of 50 years of marriage by taking a flight to Mt. Denali. During the night Chris developed a nasty cough and got worse in the morning, so her flight seeing was not to be. I asked a friend to take her place and this afternoon we began our flight to the interior. Weather permitting we were to land on a glacier behind Denali.  Weather permitted!  

There were eight of us besides the pilot. We saw Mt. Denali, which makes us members of the 30 percent club. Only 30 percent of visitors actually see Denali.   The flight was beautiful. 

  Beauty everywhere!

  Chris was sad to miss our 50th celebration. I told her we would be celebrating all year.     Tomorrow we have a eight hour drive to the Kenai Peninsula where our adventure continues.