Heritage and Halibut

Day 57 – Thursday, August 8

Today we toured the Alaska Native Heritage Center.  It was a fabulous facility designed to educate and preserve knowledge of the various cultural groups from Alaska.  The guides were native Alaskans who gave some interesting presentations about the five major cultural groups of Alaska, and the history and traditions.

The totem poles originated from tribes in a small area of Southeast Alaska…I was surprised to learn that is the only area in Alaska where there are many trees of a size that would allow a totem pole.  In other areas, the trees are skinny, and the timber was used for fuel or tools. 

I also learned there are parts of Alaska that are closer to Russia than to the rest of the US (or, as they say, the lower 48).

 

The natives demonstrated dance and drumming, and explained the meaning of the various songs and how they are passed down through the generations.

 

 

They also demonstrated games from the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics held each year.  It features specific games the Eskimos used to do to develop strength and endurance in their young hunters and warriors.

In the toe kick, they hold one leg and kick a seal-skin ball held on a string above.  It was pretty amazing!  They also did a seal hop, a knuckle hop and a one foot high kick….very interesting to learn about and to see them in action. 

 

After our cultural heritage experience, we went downtown for shopping and sightseeing therapy.  The sun came out, so it was much more enjoyable today to see the downtown compared to yesterday.  I was able to capture the pictures of the flowers and a wonderful garden in the middle of the downtown area.  All that sunshine (and a few showers) work wonders!

The water was also much prettier today…you could see across the bay.

There was a lot of information and pictures of the 1964 Earthquake in one of the buildings downtown.  Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the event.

 

 

 

 

For lunch, we were tempted to stop for a reindeer dog,(a local favorite)  but we opted for halibut at a restaurant instead.  It was yummy!

(We have a halibut fishing trip planned next week, so we are getting our taste buds ready!)

  

 

We ended the evening with a cook-out and travel briefing for our trip tomorrow to Kenai.

 

 

 

PS.  It was a very mild shopping day…a couple of tshirts, a pair of socks and a wooden Ulu bowl.