Anchorage

After our recent stop at Willow Creek for some more salmon fishing, we decided to return to Anchorage to see some of the sights we had missed on our first stay in town, before we went to Denali. Incidentally, on our previous visit to Anchorage we camped out in the parking lot behind Cabella's. They are very RV friendly and even have a dump station. It's not entirely altruistic. We used their bathroom facilities it's true, but also spent over $100 each day we were there. The cafe has terrific coffee and you get refills as long as you are in the store.

The car up on jacks is one that a friend loaned us but no sooner had we started using it and the power steering hose split. The owner arranged for a repair while we were off to Denali and now we have it for our use again. It sure makes getting around to see the sights easier.

Our trip south from Willow Creek took us through Wasilla, of Sara Palin fame, where we stopped to see the Alaska Transportation Museum.

The view was sort of misleading as we drove in. It looked like just a field of derelict vehicles in various states of decay. I thought to myself "We're going to pay to see this?". But it turned out to be terrific. It is an entirely volunteer effort supported by the entrance fees and donations. Inside the building are a series of exhibits ranging from early snow machines to aircraft to women's roles in Alaska's development. Most of the material inside the building is fully restored, except for a truck that an early pioneer hand made out of parts from an old car and a lot of lumber. The creativeness and persistence of the pioneers is very impressive and the conditions under which they made great accomplishments were daunting.

They have several planes on display at the museum and another bunch in various stages of restoration, including a DC-3 and an F-102. In addtion they have quite a bit of rolling stock from area railroads, including engines, passenger and freight cars and repair equipment. They've done a pretty good job of display and documetation with a striking number of early photographs of lumbering and mining and railroading.

From Wasilla we continued on into town and docked once again at Cabellas, but only for one night. On Friday we were determined to see some of the museums and other sights we had missed on our first stop in town. We moved the bus to an RV parking lot in town and set out on foot. Our first stop was the Anchorage Visitors Center shown in the opening picture. That is where you can find out about all of various sights and tours and timetables. Outside and down the block we saw a demonstration of native dance and story telling.

From there we went to attend a showing of AurorA, a slide presentation of views of the aurora borealis set to music. It was just terrific and I bought the DVD so I can show everybody when I get home. After that it was time to wander and get lunch. Some of us went to a native co-op that sells Qiviut hats and scarves. Qiviut is an exceptionally soft and warm yarn spun from the underfur shed by musk oxen. Some is collected from domesticated herds and some is collected from the wild by the natives. It doesn't have any lanolin in it like wool and it doesn't itch at all. It is so soft ans warm to the touch it's just amazing. It's also expensive. A neck wrap started at $200, a little too rich for me, not to mention that I wouldn't have much opportunity to wear it in North Carolina.

From there, John and I went to lunch at a place called Humpy's. The male chum salmon develop steeply arched backs in season and are called humpies. They are looked down on as dining fare although some use them for dog food.

Humpy's is right downtown and was a jumping place when we were there. We sat with a view of the grill and the cooks were certainly humping along. I had fish and chips where the fish was halibut. I was delicious. I also had their version of Manhatten clam chowder which was also very good but not like any other I'd had. We enjoyed a glass of a local brew from Midnight Sun brewery called Oosic Amber. Wonderful stuff, probably the best amber I've had.


Then it was on to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmussen, the premier museum display in Anchorage. They have several permanent exhibits on native history and Alaska development and also three traveling exhibits. We saw a very moving display detailing the 9.2 earthquake of 1964 and the damge it and the ensuing tsunami created.

Another exhibit  was entitled "Gyre" and it showcased the problem of discarded plastic garbage which collects in great ocean currents called gyres. The amount of waste and its persistence in the environment is striking and disturbing.

The third traveling exhibit was about Kobuk Valley National Park in the far north, above the arctic circle. It is a desert with sand dunes that are being studied to help understand the movement of the sand dunes on Mars.

The next morning was Saturday and we wanted to get to the Anchorage Market and Festival which is held in a parking lot in downtown Anchorage on the weekends.

It's a little bit farmer's market and a lot of crafts and food. There are over 100 vendors so there's lots to see. It's also a chance to get native made objects ranging from ulus to carvings on horn, bone and jade to polar bear claws with carved ivory fittings ($250). I got a nice heavy belt and an ulu and a coffee table book of photographs of Alaska. No claws. I talked with a young man who is making his living by making traditional knives out of obsidian and other materials using the ancient hand knapping process.

They also had presentations by local musicians and an area set aside with sidewalk chalk for the kids to draw on the pavement. They had some pretty good face painting but I missed getting pictures of it.

The market took us into the afternoon and we still had another stop for the day. That was the Alaska Native Heritage Center just north of town.

This is a sculpture depicting their creation story of how raven created the eskimo people. Not something I'd want to see on a dark night.

The Native Heritage Center is a showcase of the variety of native cultures and historical arts and crafts. It doesn't attempt to cover much of the current state of the Eskimo and how they adapt to modern culture. Eskimo is the all inclusive term referring to all of the native peoples of Alaska, much as we use the term Indian in the lower 48. The Eskimo people are grouped into five main regional divisons. Those in the far north by the arctic circle are the Inupiaq and St. Lawrence Island Yupik. The central group are the Athabascan. The western group are Yup'ik and Cup'ik. The island grouping includes the Unangax and Alutiiq. The southern groups are the Eyak, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian. There are many sub groupings and lots of different languages. This is a reflection of the vastness of the Alaska territory and the traditional difficulty of travel.

The NHC has a central building of exhibits including a permanent gallery, a theater, a stage for performances and an area for native craftepersons to show and sell.

Outside is a small lake and surrounding the lake are permanent encampments showing the five regional building and living styles. We watched a performance of native dance and also one of native sports.

We often think of totem poles when we think of the Alaskan Eskimos. Totem poles are actually found just mainly in the Haida culture in the southern area of Alaska but there were several on display at the NHC.

They are basically story poles telling of honors or lineage and are not an object of worship but rather a kind of badge of the family. The Haida are also the group that uses log construction the most with the other groups using more of a buried lodge approach. Talk about post and beam, these guys really got with it! And all before the advent of iron tools.

One of the other visions we have of the Eskimo culture is the use of kayaks constructed of willowy spars lashed with sinew and covered with rawhide and several of these were also available for inspection.

Here's a hide boat used to capture whales. How'd you like to be out on the ocean in this thing?

Of course, no picture of the Eskimo lifestyle would be complete without the traditional dogsled. Here you have the opportunity to take a ride in this sled.

Pulled by a team of these eager power units.

This is just an excellent presentation of native historical culture and we didn't really have enough time to partake of it all even though we spent almost three hours there.

The center closed at 5:00 and we returned to our local base of operations, in this case it is Centennial campgound, a facility run by the City of Anchorage. For $35 a night we get a site just barely large enough for the bus and the car and equipped only with electricity. Water is at the bath house. I suppose that's for the ease of maintenance in the cold weather. this campground is really a tenters campground that has been adapted for RVs. The sites are pretty close and the bath house is fairly crude but it works for a short stay. And it has free WiFi which allows me to construct this post. We are warned that moose and bear occasionally visit the campground and to keep all food inside. I don't know how the tenters are supposed to deal with that.

From here we are moving south down the Kenai penninsula, hopefully to do some fishing for halibut and cruise through Prince William Sound.