Exploring Anchorage and the Alaska Native Heritage Center
The early dawn light yesterday morning as seen from my hotel room at 04:45.
The intersection of 4th Avenue and E Street at 04:50.
A corner of the lobby of the our hotel, The Historic Anchorage Hotel.
We got away on our city tour at 09:00. We had no luck finding salmon at the dam on Ship Creek, but the dock built to handle today’s 22-foot tide range (and even more at times) is interesting.
A barge loaded with plastic-wrapped lumber, bound for an unknown coastal community.
Lake Hood, the world’s largest float planebase. A couple of the boys were hard to get back on the bus after they found a Helio Courier, a fairly unusual and very impressive aircraft.
Our major stop of the day was at the Alaska Native Heritage Center, where we had an 11:00 appointment.
The first place I went was the Hall of Cultures, where artists create and sell their work – beading, carvings, dolls, jewellery and many other items.
I’ve seen lots of walrus ivory (the rough piece to the right, and the finished pieces), but the rough piece on the left has an outer layer that’s been died grey by copper in the soil it was buried in.
This is Lillian Hanaka from the village of Mary’s Igloo. I chatted with her a bit, and added one of her wonderful dolls to my collection 🙂
A longhouse as built by the coastal peoples of what is now Southeast Alaska – the Eyak, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian.
Every one of the interpreters that I listened and/or talked to was excellent.
One of the 4 totem poles inside the longhouse.
Beautifully crafted kayaks and a dwelling called a ciqlluaq at the Unangax and Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) site.
Another kayak was under construction. On the artist’s work table was a feather-light wooden sunshade hat.
An historic engraving showing an Alutiiq hunter wearing a sunshade.
This interpreter explained the use of plants to cure almost any malady he was asked about. Pancreatic cancer stumped him, but he gave detailed recipes for headaches (willow bark), arthritis (devil’s club) and a few others.
Back to the theatre for a dance presentation. A still photo does not do these dances justice so I’ve also posted a 3-minute video of another of the dance groups at Youtube.
Back in Anchorage, everyone had the afternoon free to explore on their own. There’s lots to see. The flowers at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts were very popular.
Among the places I went was the Trooper Museum. I hadn’t been to it since they moved into larger premises – it’s very impressive, and I took a lot of photos so I can re-do an article about the fairly new museum that I posted back in 1999.
I’m always trying to add to the quality of the photos I have of specific places – I’m finally happy that I have a good image of Alaska Railroad locomotive #1.
I suggested that we have our final group dinner at Phyllis’ Seafood Cafe 3 blocks from our hotel – they’ve been excellent in the past.
Unfortunately, I was hugely underwhelmed by both the food and service, and won’t be going back even by myself much less with a group. I had great company, though 🙂
It’s now 04:35 – in 5 hours I’ll be driving south on the Seward Highway, taking the group to the Celebrity Millennium for their 7-night Alaska cruise. I won’t get today’s sights and activities posted until after I get back to Whitehorse. Cathy has taken Monday off work and we’ll be taking the dogs to Skagway to meet any members of the group who aren’t out on excursions.
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