Waking to Glaciers, August 24

It was like Christmas this morning!  The Captain said we would be arriving at the Glacier around 6 am.  We set that alarm for 4, peeking out at half hour intervals to see if we had arrived!  I took a million photos!  As we were leaving, we saw seals on a floating ice chunk.

The Margerie Glacier (the pretty one) was 250 feet high. Another 150 feet of that is below water, and it is a mile wide.  In 1966 the dirty Glacier, the Grand Pacific, had retreated almost to the Canadian border, 3-4 miles away.  The Canadians were thrilled, thinking they would have a new port but it has since grown.  Margarie moves FORWARD 6-8 feet per day!  Take THAT, Global Warming fans!

Matt had an excellent post-return idea: he said to wait for hot weather (okay, for us that means 2011!!) and throw a glacier-themed party to show off your photos. You can have little ice cubes shaped like ice bergs or ships!

Tom had found a stone on his mother's grave that he had kept and he left it at the John Hopkins Glacier.  The John Hopkins Glacier is growing and it seemed the appropriate place to show respect for her memory.

There are researchers who live in tents on Johns Hopkins who study the sea otter and harbor seals.  Ships can't come within five miles, because of breeding.  As of July 15, a ship this size or smaller can go into the bay for Johns Hopkins.  Big ships can come in after Sept 1 and it is closed for entry in April.  We were five miles away when we saw the glacier and yet it looked immense!  I can't imagine what it would be like to be at the face. It is 250 feet wide at the base and 12-14 miles long.

We watched a brown bear feeding on a whale carcass that had washed up.  After one bear had his fill, he wandered off a short distance, dug a hole, flopped on his side and went to sleep!

 

Add more eagles, puffin and goat to the critter list!  The Naturalists are listing the birds and animals we've seen and marking it on our travel map. We saw a young eagle.These are a recent addition to the area so for years the eagles here nested on the rocks, and are still seen doing that despite the presence of trees now.  The one we saw, though, was in a tree.  The puffins were floating on the water, and I saw a mountain goat on the hillside.  Most of those are beyond the ability of my lens, but it doesn't matter. I can see them with my eyes and through binoculars and the point is, I saw them.

There was an earthquake in this bay, Tidal Inlet, in 1898 that created a tidal wave and destruction when the side of the mountain came down.  One on the other side created a tidal wave 1700 feet high!  Scientists have studied this area and say it is going to come down again.  I surely don't want to be on a cruise ship in the area when that occurs!

Huna Cultural Interpreter, August 23

The day we explored Icy Strait and Bartlet Cove, a National Park Ranger and a Huna Cultural Interpreter came aboard. The Park Ranger greeted us with "Hut ya aye", which means "I'm doing great in Tlingit. This is the customary greeting as they don't have a word for "hello".  Instead of goodbye, they say "till we meet again." The Ranger was a young woman whose tall, thin exterior housed a wandering soul.  There are 20 Park Ranger/Naturalists in Glacier Bay and she has worked in multiple parks. She has been here three years, seasonally and spends three months of the year working in other National Parks and 3 months traveling abroad. She did mention that the odds in Alaska are 3 men to every woman; however, the odds are good... but the goods are odd!

Consider that only 100 years ago Glacier Bay Park was under ice; it encompasses over 3 million acres in size, roughly the size of the State of Connecticut.  As we made our way into Glacier Bay, we saw sea lions and were joined by otters during dinner.  You could see them floating along on their backs. They are very large!

 

Alice was the Huna interpreter.  She was wonderful. She spoke of their "water way of life".  They had a saying "when the tide is out, the table is set".  The Tlingit did not use surnames; they used descriptive names or the place where something happened.  The Tlingit also had the first tour boats in Alaska!

The white man couldn't put them on a reservation because the villages were too remote to control, so they used a different tactic: assimilation.  Children were sent to boarding schools, and they lost their names. The Huna have lost their home many times.  First they lost their town to the glacier and moved to Huna. In June 14, 1944 they lost the town to fire. This time they put up modular homes so they didn't have to move again. There are 900 people living there now, with 6 churches and a K-6 public school. There is a huge festival in Fairbanks, a reunion and celebration and will next be held in June, 2011.

You are supposed to marry the opposite moiety. There is a moiety such as Raven or Eagle and underneath that are the clans, and the the houses. Young people are still told to marry the opposite clan. If you marry the same moiety, you lose status. You don't know who close the line is.  However, if you marry outside they adopt you in to the opposite clan and you don't lose status!  They haven't used a Shaman for some time.  When the government took singing and dancing, they took the Shaman and the practice has not returned.

The first born goes to live with the mother's brother to take instruction.  Alice went to live with her grandmother for three years. It was quite interesting to listen to Alice talk about a culture that still retains many of the aspects of its history.

Alaska Trivia Quiz

We didn't have anything going on this afternoon, so they handed out a quiz that kept people busy for awhile.  It was pretty funny because groups would work together, hovering secretively over their resources.  I found alot of the answers in my notes and also on the map of Alaska in our booklets. However, there were some I just couldn't find in the resource books. At first I thought this was a rumor, but apparently it was true that the family group from the LaCrosse, Wisconsin area actually took resource books and sat on them and/or hid them so others could not use them.  They won the contest.  I think that is just sad and so contrary to every other experience I had on this trip.  How desperate is that, to cheat on a quiz?  If you ever read this, I hope you know what a pathetic bunch of losers you are. You ruined a fun experience for many people. Grow up . Or at least move to a state that honors your small minded self-centeredness.  You don't belong in Wisconsin.

1.  What is Alaska's largest private sector employer?
      A. FISHING

2.  What day is Alaska Day?
      A.  OCTOBER 18

3.  The U.S. Flag was raised for the first time in what city after the sale of the Alaska territory?
      A.  SITKA

4.  How much of Alaska lies within the Artic Circle?
     A.  1/3

5.  How many of the highest peaks in the U.S. are in Alaska (out of 20)?   
     A.  17

6.  What is the record high temperature in Alaska history?
     A.  100 F in 1915

7.  What is the record low in temperature in Alaska history?
     A.  -80 F in 1971

8.  What is the largest national forest in the U.S.?
     A.  TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST

9.  What would you be eating if you were served "muktuk" for dinner?
     A.  WHALE BLUBBER

10.  How many volcanos are in Alaska?
      A.  MORE THAN 70 ACTIVE

11.  How many national parks in Alaska?
       A.  15

12.  What is the State Motto?
       A.  NORTH TO THE FUTURE
13.  What is the state bird?
       A.  WILLOW PTARMIGAN

14.  What is the state flower?
       A.  FORGET-ME-NOT

15.  What is the state fish?
       A.  KING SALMON

16.  What is the state tree?
      A.  SITKA SPRUCE

17.  What is the state gem?
       A.  JADE

18.  What is the state mineral?
       A.  GOLD

19.  What is the state fossil?
       A.  WOOLY MAMMOTH

20.  What is the state insect?
       A.  FOUR SPOT SKIMMER DRAGON FLY

21.  What is the state sport?
       A.  DOG MUSHING

22.  When was Alaska purchased?
       A.  1867 (March 30)

23.  By whom?
      A.  UNITED STATES

24.  For how much?
      A.  $7,200,000

25.  It was known by America as?
      A.  SEWARD'S FOLLY

26.  There have been four major rushes in Alaska's history; what are they?
      A.  Fur, Gold, Oil, and Timber

27.  On what day did the big 1964 earthquake occur?
      A. March 27, Good Friday

28.  How many times could Rhode Island fit into the State of Alaska?
      A.  479

Whales

Despite the rain, if someone sees a whale, we're running like Pavlov's dogs, with cameras!  There was another joyful breaching over and over, but the whale was too far out by the time I noticed.  I have lens envy.

Roy

We had lunch with Roy, a retired photography teacher and portrait photographer.  He had made the most beautiful slide show of the photos he had taken on this cruise, set to music. His photographs were so lovely that I asked him jokingly if he was on the same trip we were!

I asked what equipment he uses and carries, since obviously he knows what he is doing!  I need to get a stabilizing vest harness, a monopod and a shooting rest.  Roy uses a MacBook Pro with a 13 inch screen for working on his photos and has an Epson portable hard drive for storage.  He carries a macro lens , 11o mm, dedicated; an 18-120 zoom and a 120-400 zoom.  He uses Lightbox and Iphoto, part of the Ilife series.  He told me about something called ice, where he can drag the focus of the histogram to the center and pop the color.  He also said that on a regular TV screen you only see 80% of the colors and he uses an NEC EIZO Hp monitor with 16 mil colors.  NIK software and Sharpener Pro is also good, and he reminded me to work on duplicate images.

Roy was one of many extremely talented photographers on this trip who were willing to teach and share with others.

Deer

from The Tlingit, an introduction to their Culture and History.
by Wallace M. Olson

...there were killings and counter-killings.  If they reached a point where both sides wanted peace, they could organize a "deer ceremony".  Deer were considered the most peaceful of all animals.  A few men on each side were selected as "deer".  In a mock battle, the "deer" were captured by their opposites and held prisoner.  After four days, the "deer" were set free and there was a feast to celebrate the peace treaty.  By holding the men as hostages and not killing them, both sides indicated that they really wanted a truce.

In researching the concept of "deer" as hostages, a Tlingit anthropologist found the practice was observed by other Northwest Coast people as well.  When the first Europeans arrived in the area, they reported that whenever Tlingit approached a ship they put their arms out to the side and called for "deer."  They wanted to exchange hostages to insure peace during the time they were trading.

Rainy Day for a DIB, August 23

We actually discovered we were a day ahead!  I thought we had to pack tonight but found a day reprieve! Today is raining and overcast.  The clouds look like steam rising from the mountains.  I saw more mudslide scars and am recognizing them in the landscape, a trail of light green in the dark around it.

We had another DIB op today.  The "D" stands for the inventor's name and the rest is "inflatable boat".  I referred to them as zodiacs, but I believe that is the name of a particular type, as well. Many people canceled from the earlier list due to the weather.  Tom and I had appropriate rain gear, so it was no problem.  The water was choppy but that was fun! You know, I had purchased dramamine for this trip, unsure if I would have a problem on the water but I never needed it.  In fact, I rather enjoyed it when I felt a little chop! 

The group before us saw a brown bear and Tom's group also saw a brown bear and a sea otter.  We only saw eagles.  It was raining and there was spray, in addition to the instability of the platform, so taking photographs was difficult. I put a baggie around my camera but by the end the lens was too fogged. It was fun, just for the scenery. One group said their guide picked up a starfish and it was eating a mussel! I saw a starfish (red) yesterday when we were kayaking and I wish I could have gotten closer for a photo, but we hurried past.  Tom's little Nikon coolpix has been very handy on this trip.

Tom tries to kill me in a Sea Kayak

Sitka is also a temperate rain forest, receiving 90 inches of rain annually. The change agent is wind.  Our kayaking guide was from Maryland and is 24 years old. Typical of other Alaskans we have met, he holds at least three jobs!  Alaskans are Northern Jamaicans!

I don't know why I thought sea kayaking would be a good idea. Tom and I tried canoeing together once, and it ended with me crossing my arms and sitting in the bow of the boat after tiring of having Tom alternate and overpower my strokes. We looked like a drunken snake on the water.  Apparently I had some vision that being in a two person kayak in the sea would be easier?

The Kayak tour guides complimented us on our gear and said Cruise West people are always properly prepared. We wore our rain gear, as had been suggested.

We had a brief safety speech which immediately set off bells and whistles for me. First, getting in the darned thing requires a contortionist.  You have to balance on the back of the seat, extend your legs and then lift your butt over the seat back while at the same time keeping the spray skirt clear, and slide in.  Don't bend your knees or you will be left with a knee to your chest and no way to free yourself. Eventually heavy equipment will arrive and between that and a tub of butter, will pop you out.

But I digress. The safety briefing magnified my anxiety.  You are instructed to pull the skirt taut around the lips of the kayak around you.  If you capsize, the guide told us, pull the web handle at the front of the skirt.  Okay, I can do this! But then he adds, "... and if that doesn't work..." WHAT?? What do you mean "if that doesn't work?!"  If I am abruptly flipped into icy water I want to know that my life saving maneuver will work!  So the guide continues, "if the handle pull doesn't free you, grasp the skirt with both hands and pull up."  But wait! As Ron Popeil says: there's more! If that doesn't work, and you are by this time upside down in the water, push yourself out and the difference of your weight in the water will pop you free.  After all that and the guide, David, had the balls to add "don't panic."  To which I say, "not very likely!"

One funny moment occurred when David was adjusting Tom's spray skirt and Tom said "I can't say I've ever had a man look under my skirt before!"  That was to be the last time I laughed for the next several hours of my life.

So, off we went into the water and I was immediately terrified.  I absolutely hated the feeling of being secured to a vessel that could flip over.  The skirt also made it impossible to twist around and see what your partner, or anyone else, was doing. I could only look forward. And forward of me was nothing but water.  I didn't like it one bit. I started out advising Tom of rocks and ships and such but each time he said, "I know, I see it" and ultimately I gave up and decided to allow him to guide us to certain death.

Shortly after we began, an older couple began to struggle and the man lost his pedals for the rudder so David towed hem for the remainder of the trip. That meant that for the entire trip, they were far behind and we did not have the benefit of hearing the narrative.  It also meant his statement that if the other safety mechanisms didn't work he would be near enough to see we were in trouble was a flat out lie.  That was extremely worrisome to me. I like to know where we are going, where we are supposed to be. Is being out here in this open channel with a large boat approaching a good thing?

Tom was having his own struggles with rudder pedals out of sync.  He claims now that he was not intentionally torturing me.  Shortly after shoving off, he saw a sea lion and when he mentioned it later, I thought it was sitting on a rock. He said it was big as a black bear and he didn't point it out for fearing of frightening me.  That was probably a good decision, as I was in DefComIII at that moment. However, when he later clarified that it was in the water and had popped its head up for a look-see, I was very glad he hadn't told me!

I was sure I was going to die, sure we would roll over and be trapped and no one would know.  And I especially did not like that Tom and I repeatedly ended up way out in open water, away from the others, who were hugging the shore.  I wanted to be with them!! Tom told me we were being swept out to sea.  Every time I saw a boat approaching the fright would rise up in me again.

I think it would have been pleasant if the guide would have been with us, or if Tom ever steered us to the shoreline. As it was, I was never sure if we were in a safe place.  With each stroke I said "I hate this, I hate this" and my only goal was to survive.  What I hated was the absolute loss of control. I couldn't steer and I didn't know if where we were was a good place and I didn't know where we were going.  On the way back, I repeatedly asked where we were going, what to aim toward as a goal. Tom was frustrated and said "the same way we came."  The problem was that on the way out I was so single mindedly focused on Point A to Point B that I didn't have a big picture of what "the same way " was.

I did relax a little on the way back and we floated awhile as we drank our water and at the cookies they provided.  I also took a few photos, including the traditional "front of kayak" view.  I even enjoyed the wake. A little.

That ended with having to race the boats across the channel.  The time of day our sea kayaking tour was had scheduled was badly timed for the return of the fishing vessels.

In hindsight, I would be willing to try a single kayak in the future. Just not in a shipping lane in the ocean!

Sitka, August 22

We saw several boats with seine circle nets out, and a fleet heading out with their seine boats, and 440 hp engines, towing behind.  The housing of Sitka appears to be built long and narrow, extending only a couple blocks. Most are on the water or, if not, built up high enough to see the water.  I did see the Sitka mobile home park!  There is a big boat moored here, the "Blue Moon" out of George Town, carrying a British flag.  I saw several landslide scars and wonder if they worry about being swept away?

We ate breakfast with a couple from Australia and the woman was wearing a sweater of possum and merino! It was very soft, like cashmere.  They use possum fur in garments there. I don't recall ever seeing it used here, or people proudly saying "feel my possum sweater!"  Maybe possum is the great overlooked resource!

Sitka is incredible! We got a later start to the day, debarking at 10.  Every time you leave the ship you have to move your room number over and upon return you must show your photo ID to re board the ship, and move your number back.  Jokingly, I mentioned TSA's fascination with my suitcases and so KC teases me every time I board!  I'm getting paranoid, thinking I must be on their watch list or something! I was checked both directions on my flight to Germany, and on two legs of my journey here!  Next time, I am going to lay out some giant, stinky underwear on top for them to sort through! Take that!

Arriving in Sitka was interesting, watching the fishing vessels unloading.  The first thing we did was to watch a Native dance presentation.  They were very good and I was happy that there were no warnings against taking photos or video. However, at the end they announced that we were asked not to publish them on the internet!  The last dance invited people from the audience to go down to the floor and participate with the dancers.  Well, I couldn't pass that by! It was great fun!  Tom stayed in his seat, preferring to be the photographer.  I did learn a valuable new phrase in Tlingit:  it is pronounced "E shawn" and you drop your voice on the shawn part.  It means "poor baby".

The historic walk was filled so we opted to stay in town and wander around. Sitka is a nice place to shop. There are many little shops, not kitschy, and they are locally owned.  There were more places to visit than we had time for.  We shopped and then had lunch at Victoria's, which, we were told, is where the fishermen go when they come in to eat.  We had the halibut fish n chips dinner for $18.95.  Nothing is cheap here, though you would expect the fish would be. On the other hand, maybe they recognize that the way to earn a living is to pay what their product is truly worth. 

I walked up the hill to the Russian Cemetery while Tom scooted back to the ship with our bags.  The Russian cemetery was eerie. It was up the hill where the street dead-ends but with no formal entrance, just a sign listing cemetery rules and a Russian cross leaning against it. I didn't go far as we didn't have time.  The graves were old and covered in moss, untended. I felt like an interloper.

August 21

Oh my gosh!  The humpbacks were going crazy!  They were blowing and breaching and tail flipping!  There was quite a large group of them and everyone was on deck, taking pictures!  One blew out of his spout and made a noise so close to the ship that it startled me!  Such a sight!  It's funny, though, because initially we were thrilled to see a tail flip from half a mile away but now we're jaded and demand they breach next to the ship!

Dinner was incredible!  I tried the salmon soup and it was surprisingly delicious!  The dungeness crab was so fresh, apparently picked up when we stopped in Petersberg.  Remember that I am not--or was not-- a fish lover.  The fish I've eaten on this trip has been so incredibly fresh and delicious that I've been converted!  I'm not sure that means I'm ready to embrace the Friday Fish Fry, but at least I'm open to a good piece of halibut.

...the dining room was evacuated in favor of watching seven or eight black bears on the short, fishing salmon from a small stream inlet.  It was too dark and too far away for my camera.

We were so blessed to have two wonderful naturalists on board for the duration of the voyage.  They added another dimension of knowledge.  (from the Cruise West booklet)  Janine Kuehn moved to Alaska when she was 14 years old and earned an undergraduate degree in biochemistry. She used her scientific education as an employee with the U.S. Forest Service collecting field data and spending time in the Colville National Forest in Eastern Washington.  After earning a Masters degree in Natural Resources from the University of Idaho, she returned to eastern Washington to investigate the environmental impacts of dam removal on riverine ecosystems.

JD Trebec worked as a naturalist while attending Texas A&M and New Mexico State University for his undergrad and graduate degrees in Geography. He served as an interpretive ranger for the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, a guide for the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, AZ (hey! I've been there!) and his passion is ethnobotany-- the study of the relationships between people and plants and the traditional use of plants. 

The naturalists on-board and the guides throughout the trip were all extremely knowledgable and contributed hugely to the flavor.  This is what I was searching for when I knew I did not want the Big-Box, Floating City cruise.  They were very inspirational, as well, and all so in love with what they do.  If they weren't, they did a convincing job of faking it!

JD gave the evening talk on August 21.  I learned that black bears are found in all states but Hawaii.  Frederick Sound separates the north and south regions.  In the south, red cedar is dominant and so is the black bear.  In the north, it is yellow cedar and brown bears.  The island of AnAn, where we saw the bears, has the highest density in the world!

There is one brown bear per acre on the Admiralty Islands (ABC Islands) which we are circumnavigating now.  Brown bears run off the smaller black bear where they exist.  Look for the large hump on the shoulders of the brown bear.  Grizzly bears are the same animal but are called brown bears on the coast.  The bears on the coast are well fed with salmon, while the interior bears struggle to find food and to the joke was that Grizzlys are scrawny, hungry brown bears with a bad attitude!  They spend alot of time digging, so they have a scoop face with a stop, like a labrador and a hump; black bears have a roman nose.  Brown bears live in more open areas. 

Salmon have to change entirely when they head out to the ocean.  Who knew? Certainly not me!  They have to change from a freshwater fish to a saltwater fish, which is called smoltification. In the ocean they absorb Nitrogen 15 while they eat.  They find their way back not only to their own stream, but the same place they were hatched, and then transform themselves again!  Once they reach the home stream, they do not eat again. Their only goal is to breed and spawn. Well, if you're going to breed, you want to look as attractive as possible, so the males develop a hump back, a hook nose and jagged teeth! Clearly, it's a salmon thang! Their bodies are starting to fall apart, with no fuel coming in and everything being expended to their final quest. Pacific salmon breed only once.  But as the bears, eagles, and seals eat the salmon and discard them or expel them in scat, the Nitrogen 15 is being redeposited.  Salmon need cold, clear water shaded by trees in order to spawn... and the trees are fed by Nitrogen 15.  It's the circle of life, Simba!

Remember the salmon names by thinking of your hand:

Chum-   sounds like thumb
Sockeye-     you can sock someone in the eye with index finger
King-  the middle finger is the biggest, the King
Silver- you might wear a silver ring
Pink- pinky finger
<-----------------------------------------------------------
But then it gets more complicated! Salmon have two names!  This is how to remember their nicknames:

Chum-  who is man's best friend? a DOG
Sockeye-  if you sock someone in the eye it turns RED
King- is called the CHINOOK because a King can have quite an attitude and be a schnook
Silver-  the lone ranger says COHO silver, away!
Pink- if you bend your pinky over it has a hump... HUMPIES
----------------------------------------------------------------------------->

Salmon are Anadromous, meaning they have the ability to live in the two environments, salt and fresh water.
Aelvin are eggs and fry or parr are the baby fish.

The average farmed salmon steak is nearly 10x higher in PCBs than the wild ones because the pellets they are fed accumulate those toxins.  The feedlots destroy sea beds, spread sickness to the wild population such as sea lice, as they pass through that area.  Farm fish have a grey colored meat so it is DYED pink to make it look palatable.  Alaska salmon, on the other hand, is a sustainable resource.

FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS EAT FARM FISH!!!!

lesson with Sean O'Connor

We were invited to bring our cameras to the on-board photographer, Sean O'Connor, to review so that he could give us critiques or suggestions.  He pronounced my photos as having "good composition." He pointed out that I should look for the flashing white or black areas in my photo and consider it a "hole in the frame.'  Also, watch for camera shake.  Since I don't have a tripod or monopod, providing a stable platform needs to be a consideration.  

 Sean liked one particular photograph of what he called a "foss helibore" , which means "wind twisted wood."  I just knew I liked the way it looked!  Those helibores are exposed to the wind, often above the tree line.  Sean suggested that I should leave a 30% outside edge for cropping, so that I don't lose important parts of the image.  Instead, I filled the frame with exactly the photo I wanted to see, with no border.

In the areas we walked in with many trees, where everything is green, underexposre by approximately 2/3 stop using the +/- button.  Moving the wheel to the right is under-exposed, and to the left, over-exposed.  3 turns on the wheel is 1 stop.  For the aperature and shutter, under-expose "hotter" colors.

Later in the trip, I spoke with several other guests regarding their opinion of Sean and the photography option.  One gentleman was very generous and said that he did not view this as an instructional cruise (which had been my opinion) but that there would be many photographers on board, with whom he could compare notes on technique and equipment.  The advertisement for the water portion of the trip was billed as a "photography cruise" and said that a Pentax representative would be on board for seminars and instruction, and that we could use that equipment or our own.  This was not the case. 

Another man was much more critical.  He was a more experienced photographer than myself, and was very unhappy over what he felt was a representation of what was promised.  He felt that Sean was unprepared for this type of instruction and did not satisfy even the most basic rules in presentation, which is to ensure your audio-visual equipment works!  The seminars did not address the needs of the group and were instead a self-promotion:  hire me, see my projects, buy the equipment I'm promoting.  He made sure to tell of his dissatisfaction in his review of the trip.

In my opinion, it did not deliver the promised product.  Tom noted that while there were a number of folks with the mega-lens, etc, there were also quite a few SLR folks.  He thought it would have been more helpful to offer different seminars geared to those needs.  For the SLR folks, how to frame a photo and work with basic exposures, etc would have been helpful.  We never did receive information on photo storage and other programs which was promised.  Sean was very disorganized in his presentation, from the AV failure to a simple lack of focus in his speaking.  He clearly has an artistic skill and is excited about his projects, but seeing them did not improve my photography skills.

Being the total auto-focus geek I am, I did learn to step outside the "green zone", however, and that was a good thing for me.  I learned a couple new tricks and tried them out with success, so it was not a total failure; it just could have been much better.

BridgeTour, 8/21

We were offered the chance to get a tour of the Bridge. I wasn't sure I was terribly interested but I hated not to take advantage of anything that was offered, so I went.  I'm glad I did. I learned that the mates are also Captains-- they all have a Captain's license.  Beth was a coastal researcher, K.C. came from NOAH, Louis ran fishing boats and the absent one worked tall ships. K.C. has captained yachts and owns a ship in San Francisco. The ships have AIS and can identify and call out to them by radio to determine which side to pass on. They said it is much more difficult with fishing vessles without AIS as they all have huge sodium lights that create night blindness and it makes it hard to determine their distance.

At night a deckhand is on the bridge with binoculars, looking for logs, etc, as all the computer screes take the Captain's night vision.  They work 4 hour shifts.  Beth said she works midnight-4 and was the one who took us through the Wrangell Narrows at night.  I had gotten up to see "Christmas Tree Lane' but it was so foggy I could barely see one marker light at a time, but I saw how carefully and slowly we were moving and how narrow it really was.  They have no steering wheel; there is a joystick!  Beth said that Captain Louis sits behind directs them, or cracks jokes!  While not really a breath-taking event for anyone who doesn't own a boat, it was still interesting to see the view from the Bridge.

Walking with Dinosaurs, 8/21

We participated in another Rain Forest walk, this time along the Ohmer Creek Trail.  The rainforest is on such a grand scale, you can imagine Dinosaurs walking there.  With the giant skunk cabbage leaves and overturned trees with root systems larger than a car, everything green with moss, you think that if you were still and listened carefully you might catch a glimpse of a prehistoric beast moving through the forest.  We nibbled on a variety of berries.  I'm beginning to recognize the edible from the poisonous without assistance, but still wait to be told something is safe before popping it in my mouth.  Except the blueberries. Those I eat whereever I find them!

Ohmer Creek is a temperate rain forest.  We followed a wooden boardwalk across the muskeg.  Muskeg is the spaghum moss and is very absorbent. We also saw an interesting plant called  "sun dew", with lovely pink flowers, down in the peat and the muskeg.  This deceptive little darling acts like a venus fly trap!  People in this area pick them and put them in their kitchens because the plant eats fruit flies!

As always, I dawdle along, photographing and listing the plants I see so that I can look them up later.  On this walk we saw: deer heart (false lily of the valley), skunk cabbage, splash cup fungus, devil's club, elderberry, huckleberry, blueberry, watermelon berry (twisted stalk), bunch berry, dogwood, and currant.

On our drive to the rainforest walk, we saw a Sitka deer and a porcupine alongside the road. Our driver came there to work in the cannery.  There were 7 men to 1 woman and that sounded pretty good until she learned that quantity didn't equal quality!!  She was just about to leave when she met her husband, a local boy. 

There is an area of the highway they call the Big Dipper, where each year's graduating class paints their names on the road.  They can still use studded tires there, too, so the names get worn off.  Petersburg gets around 90 inches of snow and about 110 inches of rain annually, so there ends up being alot of slush!  All the kids in the town learn to swim since they are surrounded by water, and they have a large pool facility. They have never had an accidental drowning.

The Petersburg industry is fishing.  The town has approximately 1000 people.  The big cruise ships can't go there, as they can't fit through the Wrangell Narrows. There is no mill in Petersburg and the one in Wrangell closed, so you have to send wood out to be planed.  Residents can harvest a certain amount of wood for firewood or building. Selective logging is done, taking trees here and there, but no clear-cutting.  They don't have to plant, as the trees re-seed themselves. Homes outside the town are served with electricity but not water; those people must collect it or have it delivered.  The water wagon seems to be a symbol of life in many parts of Alaska. 

For kids who go to school in Petersburg, gym is alternated with "wet" and "dry" months, meaning one month you work in the pool and the next you do land sports.  Those who play sports have to travel 8 hours to Juneau, stay in the homes of their competitors, then ferry 8 hours back! The road in Petersburg is 38 miles long and dead-ends.  The only way in is boat or plane.

Sons of Norway, August 8/21

Oh, I so wish I had videotaped this!  We visited the Sons of Norway Hall as our first stop of the day and were greeted by children in traditional Norwegian costume.  After we were seated, pairs of children were dispatched to visit with our tables and we had the most adorable little blond girl and her cousin. This group celebrates Norway's freedom from Sweden and their Independence Day is in May.  In the early days, no Swedes were allowed in the Hall! Now the dancing is open to all the children there.  We were served lefse, almond puff and scorpa and I bought a Norwegian cookbook so perhaps I can surprise my father someday with a recipe or two.

Traveler Truths

There is no such thing as bad weather---only bad clothes.

There are no problems, only opportunities.

Reading List

Stickeen-  John Muir

Ordinary Wolves-  Seth Kantner

John Muir Life and Work, edited by Sally M. Miller

Wilderness Medicines- Eleanor G. Viereck

The Tlingit- An Introduction to Their Culture and History- Wallace M Olson

Syd Wright, August 20

We had the most amazing presentation this evening. I am so sorry that this man is dead and can no longer address the Cruise West groups as he did in the past.  I can only imagine how fascinating he was in person.  We watched a videotape, created in a Cruise West lounge similar to the one we were in (Spirit of 98) and it seemed he was there in the room.  So much so that when the videotape image asked a question, people in our room answered!

We purchased a copy of the video that was shown, "Syd Wright's Alaska: A Tribute to His Memory".  A portion of the proceeds are donated to the Syd Wright Memorial Fund, providing scholarship assistance to the youth of Petersburg.  Cruise West is a principal supporter and I highly recommend this video. 

Syd was so captivating to listen to!  He told stories that had people chuckling out loud, and sitting on the edge of their seats as he related Tlingit history and facts of the Alaska fishing industry.  His overwhelming admiration for those who shaped the state was evident.  He said "We are here by virtue of the meeting of two dynamic individuals: Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir."

Well, we Wisconsinites can be proud to claim that John Muir grew up in Portage, Wisconsin.  The founding of the Department of Natural Resources and the Conservation Congress was based on the philosophy of John Muir and Aldo Leopold, with the intention of protecting the natural resources from political influence. I believe we have strayed from that notion and need to move back toward the place where we understand " the value of wilderness beyond extractive resources."

Syd spoke of fishing for sustainability.  The fishermen of Alaska seem to understand this.  Management creates impediments to efficiency to maintain sustainability.  If you allowed fishermen to be as efficient as they could, they would strip the resources.  So you make rules and set limits.  For example, there are a limited number of certificates for gill netting.  It costs approximately $35,000 for a limited entry certificate and it is held in perpetuity until you sell your certificate.

Shrimp are managed by poundage because they are hermaphroditic!  All of them start out as males but after 2-3 years, become females! who knew?  Syd interspersed such information with a touch of humor. It was from him that I learned that the Norwegians were clever fellows who invented the toilet seat; but the Germans cut the hole in it!

He spoke fondly of the Tlingit culture.  Tlingit art is anthropomorphic.  Humans give feminine characteristics to the things we admire most.  For the Tlingit, one of those things is Mother Cedar.  The bentwood box is made from a cut of cedar, scored in four places, steamed so the corners bend up into the box shape, and secured. The box is waterproof.  Yellow cedar is very important to the culture and Syd told the story of the Creation of the Cedar Tree.  Three maidens were tricked by Raven and were turned into cedars; cedars are like women...graceful, they smell good and they are useful around the house!

The last battle of the Civil War was fought in Alaska because of whaling!  The Confederates decided that if they could sink the whaling fleet, they would take down the oil industry.  They sank over 30 ships.  On his way down the coast to take San Francisco, the Captain saw a newspaper that said the Civil War had been over for 9 months at the time he sank the ships! 

When the lights came up at the end of the evening, I was disappointed that Syd was not really in the room but I am quite certain I felt him there.

The Book Faeries

Every evening while we are eating dinner and attending lectures, the "book faeries" come to our rooms and leave itineraries and guide sheets for the next day. Our rooms are never locked; we're in and out of them all day long and can run in a minute from one end of the boat to the other, so there is really no need. Each evening we return to our rooms to find information about what we will see and do the following day, pages to add to the leather binder from Cruise West.

The people of Alaska

A striking difference in this state is the depth of knowledge about, and the pride in their state by those who live here.  We have not yet encountered one person who doesn't love this state.  If I asked a kid in Wisconsin what they think about our state, my question would likely be met with something like "I can't wait to get the heck out of here."  In Alaska, they might go away but they know they are coming back.  And so many others have moved there from elsewhere, speaking reverently of their desire to live in Alaska.  To be in a country where the people take such pride in their being is the best advertising I can think of.  The people we have met also know details about the state.. history, culture and wildlife.  True, we also hear that alcoholism is a big problem and perhaps those people have a different outlook, but the folks we encountered, working three jobs in order to stay here and loving it, are all very self reliant people who work hard for what they have.  I admire that.

Not Seeing the Forest for the Bears

In the evenings, we gather in the lounge before dinner and recap the day.  People are encouraged to share their thoughts about the experience of the day.  On the day we visited AnAn, one gentlemen said you can be so focused on the "big events"... the "tours" that you don't see the forest for the bears!  They stayed in town and strolled around instead and chatted up the residents. One woman that they met winters in Minnesota! Apparently when you live in Alaska, Minnesota is the sun belt!  Another gentleman grows roses that he proudly shares with visitors.  You can take pleasure in your surroundings and slow down from the frantic pace of trying to fit in every optional tour, and simply enjoy life around you.  Sometimes those small things are obscured.

The Boy at the Dock

When we exited at the dock, there was a young boy sitting at a table and advertising garnets for sale.  Our guide had told us that the mine was the first one to be owned by two women, who later sold it to the Boyscouts to be used by children to further their education.  This garnet mine has since been sold to a church for the same purpose.  Only the children can dig garnets there.  We were advised that it wasn't uncommon for the children to peddle their gems to pay for their college education, or to buy their first boat.

Lionel had a hand written sign introducing himself and informing us that he is saving for college.  I had seen garnets for sale in shops in Juneau and thought they looked fake, perched on a piece of rock!  And here was the same product. I asked, half joking, if he super-glued them onto the rocks, imagining this might be a form of Alaskan jackalope!  But no, this is the way they emerge.  I selected a $10 sample as a remembrance of this trip, and to honor this young entrepreneur.

the Bears of AnAn

I would highly suggested you pre-book this optional tour; there are only 60 permits issued per day to allow people on AnAn and you don't want to miss it.  I suggest sitting in the front of the boat if you want to be able to hear the Captain. We brought mosquito head nets but there were no bugs to be seen; apparently early in the season they are terrible so it's better to be prepared.

Our jet boat Captain, Brenda Schwartz is an artist. Her watercolor renditions of ships on navigational charts are used by Cruise West and hang in a gallery in Juneau. She and her husband are Stikine River Jet Boat Association members and she owns her own boat. Her husband takes out commercial fishing charters, staying true to the fact that everyone in Alaska seems to wear multiple "hats". I immediately decided she was special, as she owns a German Shepherd and even hunts ducks with him! I have a photo of my old patrol dog, Eros, concealed in corn on a goose hunt. Step back, labradors!

The sun peeked through and I learned the local term for it here is "cloud failure!" Wrangell is famous for shrimp and crab.  We passed the buoys for shrimp pots and Brenda said everyone keeps a few pots to stock up for winter.  Since her husband has a sport fisherman charter, they use his leftovers as bait. I noticed bare swaths on the hillsides and was told that they can clear-cut because the rain forest reclaims and re-seeds.  In fact, if you leave your truck parked long enough it will have a tree growing out of it! Wrangell is an island and therefore the only access is boat or plane. All the businesses there are owned by residents, not cruise lines!

We saw Blake Island, named for the Russian explorer.  It is made of marble and apparently for sale. Any buyers?  I also noticed a power line, seemingly out in the middle of nowhere. As it turns out, in one of the fjords there is a hydro-electric plant producing clean energy because they have alot of water to use.

As we continued on the river we passed some surf scoters on the water.  There were many auklets--- parakeet, cassin's and marbled-- because they require trees that over hang the water.  They don't fledge, they fall out of the nest into the water and continue their development there!  Once we arrived on AnAn, the white heads of eagles were everywhere in the trees.  I've never seen so many eagles in one place!

Brenda commented that Cruise West passengers are more experienced travelers.  They are generally dressed appropriately and have realistic expectations.  I appreciated hearing that and saw evidence of this over and over throughout our trip, compared with passengers of other groups that we encountered.  AnAn reminded me of the Denali experience. It is not a zoo. You must be grateful for whatever opportunities come your way and understand that the wildlife appears (or not) on their own schedule.  There is plenty to appreciate in the splendor of your surroundings. Shut up and listen.

AnAn means "the place to sit and listen."  Brenda told the story of escorting a blind woman to AnAn and wondering how she would appreciate the area, but the woman had so much to take in with her other senses that is sometimes lost when we only "see" with our eyes.  There is an abundance of smells and sounds.  The wet, organic smell, gulls calling and eagles shrieking in quite a girlish voice... decaying fish and splashes of the successful ones moving upstream.  It sounds like the rain forest that it is.

It was incredible to see the salmon trying to get up stream. The wildlife managers had blown tiers out of the rock in an attempt to help the fish but found they were genetically altering them because the weaker fish were reproducing.  They blocked it off again.

The locals have taken friends to see the bears there for years, but once professional photographers put the word out, people flocked to it and the forest service/wardens had to make rules.  Why? Because people are idiots around wild animals.  We had to make certain we weren't bringing in any food products. Tom needed a pat-down.  He claimed he had nothing until I asked "gum? you have no gum" and he produced two packs that had to be left behind.  They do not want the bears looking to the human visitors as a food resource.

Once we arrived at AnAn, Brenda added a rifle to her arsenal.  She had a mega-can of bear spray on her waist and loaded the rifle when we hit shore. We received another bear safety talk. She talked as we proceeded along the boardwalk, partly to announce to the bears that humans were here.  Someone raised the question of bear bells.  I'm not sure if that came at this point in the trip, or earlier, but it begged the joke about how to tell grizzly poop... by the bear bells. I had seen hikers with bells and was told that they aren't a good idea as bears are curious and the bells are more apt to bring them in to see what that odd noise is; they know what a human voice is and tend to avoid that in most cases.

We observed from a raised deck and also signed up for short time in the "blind", which put us even nearer to the bears.  We could poke our cameras out through zippered openings and I watched as a black bear fished for salmon. He would duck his head under the water, biting at fish. Finally, he would come up with one, shaking his head, the fish slapping the sides of his head. And then he feasted.  Another bear wandered past the observation deck, mere feet from it and without acknowledging the row of paparazzi. During the time we were there, the bears appeared individually and while it wasn't a bear party, I was able to watch a handful of them climbing on the rocks and gathering dinner from the stream.  It was a view previously only known via a television set.

Hearing Nature

You have only to listen.  The glaciers and whales spoke today.

At the glaciers, we heard the loud cracks as they were about to calve. Glaciers are very talkative!  They grumble and creak like old men.

At dinner, I spotted whales and suddenly everyone evacuated to take photos!  Of course, the staff are used to that, and sent up dessert.  I didn't get any National Geographic shots, but the humpbacks were very close.  I heard one of them screech!  It was so incredible to watch them spout and then flip their fukes up as they dove.

The Orcas were a surprise to the staff. Orcas do what is called a "spy hop" where they poke their head up and look around.They apparently are not usually found that far up the fjord. By the way, rock cut by glaciers is a fjord; otherwise, it's just a gully!  The ones we saw today were huge walls of granite.

We had a photography lesson tonight in the lounge.  Sean O'Connor is the guest photographer. His company is called Freesolo Photography.  He travels to all kinds of crazy places. He explained some photography basics and framing composition.  It was probably far too simplistic for most of the people there.  I think most were advanced of my skill level.  His slide show didn't work and so most of the presentation was about his personal photography projects.  I was still basking in the success of my venture into "S" land,  so it was still interesting to me but I noted that he did not seem very organized in his presentation.

When Tom and I returned to our room there was a plate of chocolate bark with golden raisins on a plate that read "Happy Anniversary" written in chocolate, and a can of whipped cream wrapped in a white linen napkin.  That was so sweet, and so special!  Tom had told them that this was our anniversary trip.

The Lounge

I'm in the lounge now, finishing some cards.  They said to treat it like our living room. My mother would probably tell you that in order to accurately capture that, there should be a trail of debris behind me filled with my latest projects. What a cool living room-- you can step outside and see the water, write cards to the hum of the engine.  Coffee and tea are always available, and in the afternoon they bring out fruit and fresh cookies. There is a nice library filled with books about Tlingit culture, plants and animals we will see and the places we visit.  You can also leave a book and take a book from popular selections, if you happened to finish a paperback during your travel. The postcards showing the Spirit of Endeavor-- along with postage!-- are free, so everyone is getting one!

DIB excursion

After a lunch involving an "Inside Passage Burger" which was stuffed with brie cheese and spicy scallion paste, with tiramisu for dessert, I made a DIB excursion with my camera.  The DIB is an inflatable boat and we had the choice of going out with the photographer on board or the naturalist.  There were so many of us who wanted the photography option that Tom graciously volunteered for the other.  We were grouped according to name of different species; I was one of the Brown Bears and Tom was... a puffin!  He made the most of it, though, and apparently created a little Puffin greeting. Later it morphed into  "we are the Puffins! mighty, mighty puffins!" and surprisingly, another cruise-mate recognized the old high school cheer and joined in. Not surprisingly, however, we received some odd looks.

This cruise was billed as a photography cruise, and there was supposed to be a Pentax representative on board to give seminars and allow us to use his equipment.  I'm not sure what happened to that, but we have a young photographer and his wife.  No Pentax and no equipment to use, but he is giving us pointers.  I think I was at the pre-dummy level! He had to show me how to set the ISO!  There are some very serious photographers here with monster lenses. And then there is me.  Miss Auto Focus.  Actually, moving away from the "green zone"(auto focus) and venturing into "S" and "A" settings were the challenge.  It was a big revelation to me and I got some cool pictures! 

We weren't out long.  We went to a waterfall and along the rock wall, and to a floating piece of ice. I'm not sure what qualifies as an iceberg.  It doesn't seem to have a size requirement.

Elsa's Helpful Hints

There is a lady on this cruise, traveling with her son, who has been all over the world.  She has advice for any traveling situation and shared these hints with me.  Some of them are not geared to this particular trip, but they're interesting, nonetheless;

1. shower caps can be used to shelter your camera AND they make good casserole covers, or containers for muddy shoes
2. If two people are traveling together, each should pack half of the others stuff so if one bag gets lost, at least you each have half of your stuff
3. always have your camera with you, even at breakfast. You never know when that perfect shot will appear
4. bring a collapsible cooler.  you can use it to keep sandwich fixings during the trip, and on the way home can use it to store breakables
5. carry $1000 in cash, just in case you need to leave ASAP in an emergency; credit cards don't carry weight everywhere-- cash does
6. if you have extra room in your suitcase, pack bubble wrap! It will keep clothes from slipping around, you can wrap things in it for the trip home, and it's cheap enough that you can just leave it behind if you don't need it.
7. only bring 1 nightgown and 1 extra large t-shirt for sleepwear. You can wear the t-shirt when you rinse out the gown, and you have an extra shirt if you need it
8. buy Purex packs and cut off the dryer sheet portion, cut the other part in half.  Place sheet in a baggie with hot water, agitate it with your clothing and let it set, then rinse.
9. if you spill dressing on your clothing use shampoo to wash it out. shampoo is used for things with an oily base
10. a reusable canvas or fabric bag from a place that you travel to can make an excellent hostess gift and they can use it for other things
11. if you put straps around your suitcases, put your name on the strap-- other people have straps, too!
12. put your name and address inside all your bags
13. if you do high altitude tours ask your doctor for high altitude pills
14. carry your medication with you because you don't know if the medication by that name is exactly the same in other places you travel to, or whether it is "cut" with other ingredients
15. there is a yellow tag you can purchase from Magellan that has written on it in different languages: "this is my itinerary", and you attach your itinerary so if a bag is lost, it doesn't get sent back home but can meet up with you
16. Photocopy all important documents, both front and back, and have them accessible to someone at home in case yours are lost or stolen
17. before you leave the house, take a photograph of your luggage. it beats the general "red soft-side" description
18. leave a "permission to treat" form with the person caring for your pets, in case of emergency.
19. wear cotton on the plane, no polyester.  Polyester will melt onto your body in case of fire.
20. if you go to a country like Africa, bring a unisex gift for the children. You can go to Walmart and buy bags of rings, etc, after Halloween with spiders and cool stuff that kids like.  Do NOT give candy; they don't have good dental care so giving them sugar is careless
21. if you go to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe (and don't we all??) bring old T-shirts or shoes. The people there will trade them for handcrafted knick knacks.
22. bring old clothes and just leave them behind instead of packing them back home. who is going to see you and care?
23. if they take you to a school tour, carry a canvas bag with pencils and cheap books, things appropriate for young school children.
24. okay, this one is mine, but I just had to add that my Mary Kay roll-up travel bag is working so well for this trip!

Orca!

We saw orca! Not terribly close but you could see them blow and then duck beneath the surface as they hugged the shoreline!

Tracy Arm, August 19

(from the Cruise West adventure update) "We will enter Tracy Arm, a steep-walled fjord more than 25 miles long with a shapr 90 degree bend forming an elbow to the arm. Headed by two active tidewater glaciers, Tracy Arm is not only know for it's sheer cliffs, averaging 2,500 feet but also for its rich Tlingit history and significant geological features."

I woke up at 5:30 to see high cliffs and aqua water.  Shortly after that, around 6 or 6:30, the Captain announced that we were at the Wedding Cake Falls.  Or at least, that's what I thought he said. Later I heard it called Bridal Veil Falls, so it's possibly my mind translated it differently!  Either way, it was tiered all the way down the mountain.

A light breakfast was served in the lounge.  I'm not sure if anyone pried themselves away from the view to go to the dining room downstairs.  At the moment it is only 9:15 but it feels so much later because we were thrust into the day so dramatically.

We moved up Tracy Arm to the Sawyer Glacier, south arm.  It is a mile wide. We can see the 350 feet above the water line but there is 900 feet hidden below.  It has created a gorge. We were a mile from it and could still see the glacier calving!  It's amazing to consider the size when you think that I can take a photo a mile away and see the details! Sea lions were lounging about.  The naturalist called them "sausages on ice" because the whales snack on them. At first, in the distance, they looked like logs and debris on the ice.

The water appears more gray next to the glacier, due to the silt.  Moving out the 27 miles back down Tracy Arm, the water is aqua again. The iceberg pieces that calve off are brilliant blue because they have been compressed with no air in the layers; their composition is such that all colors except blue are absorbed.  Blue is reflected, so that's what we see.  Once it is exposed to the air it starts to become white.  The pieces of ice are potentially thousands of years old, or hundreds at least! When they melt enough they become lop-sided and tip over in the water and you see the blue part that has not been exposed yet. We have to travel slowly through the iceberg pieces.

Tracy Arm is a trip back in time.  The glacier that moved through was a mile high and you can see the striations on the rock face.  There is little vegetation, moss and lichen.  And no shoreline. If there are trees, they are alder and Sitka spruce, made possible by the succession from nitrogen fixing vegetation that created soil.

Menu for our First Dinner, August 18

This may seem odd, but I just have to write about our first meal on-board. If this is any indication, we are in for a treat. Heck, I am eating things I not only have never heard of, but can't pronounce! Not only that, but there are so many choices.  House bread and a specialty bread.  Soup and a house salad or specialty salad. Something like five main course options including vegetarian.  And there are wines suggested to compliment each one, which you can purchase by the glass in most cases, or by the bottle. This was my selection:

Fresh baked house bread

Fresh spinach salad, topped with aged gorgonzola cheese, brioche croutons and toasted oregon hazelnuts. Served with a Northwest blackberry vinagrette.

Capelli d/Angeli.  Angel hair pasta tossed in a light garlic olive oil with dungeness crab, asparagus tips and artichoke hearts, fresh herbs and sweet peppers.

I forgot to write what we ate for dessert!  I'm sure it was an elegant end, served as beautifully as the rest.
Although we had multiple courses, the portions were not so large that you would stuff yourself on one.

While we were eating, the humpbacked whales made an appearance! At first, I had difficulty making out the water spouts and Andrea, who works for Cruise West in Juneau and was taking the cruise so she was more familiar with the options (but had previously worked on the ship), patiently pointed them out.  Finally I could spot them myself and they were everywhere! They  first gave you a hint by blowing water through the spout, and when you zero in they dive and flip their tails as a final salute.

And one more addition to my "It's a Small World" list is the fact that the gal in charge of the dining room, Britany Duncan, is from APPLETON!!  She graduated from high school and went off to culinary arts school.  I know her father and her uncles!

Underway, August 18

We boarded and got underway.  Our ship looks like a life-boat next to the floating cities!  The Spirit of Endeavor can carry 102 passengers and we have 97.  Amazingly everyone fits in the dining room at one time! The hillsides look like velvet.

Our stateroom is incredible!  It opens directly to the outside and we can see the water from our two windows! There is plenty of room; two beds, a desk, a decent sized bathroom and enough storage for us to be able to put all our stuff away and stow the suitcases under the beds.  It isn't the size of a hotel room, but considering the time we'll be inside, it is cozy and perfectly wonderful. It is just so awesome to walk out our door and be right on the rail.

I have no internet connection out here, so although I can keep a journal, I can't keep the blog I intended. Drat!

Cedar House, August 18

We were transported to watch a play called Cedar House  at the Perseverance Theater. It was written and by Ishmael Hope and actors were Ishmael and Frank Katasse.  The play is based on stories related by Robert Zuboff, Tlingit stories of the Raven.  The stories are interesting and beginning to be more familiar to me in their context, although I admit they often don't neatly wrap up at the end like I am used to in our bedtime stories and tales, and I am left to wonder " is that IT?"  The moral of the story isn't made as a summary.  I especially enjoyed their dance.  My mind wanders, and I think it could easily be transposed to a gangster rap concert sans crotch grab. The movements seem more akin to that, to tribal dances, than to, say, a polka.   Dancing is universal.

They took questions afterwards and a man in the audience asked if they minded non-Natives adopting Native art forms.  Ishmael said that culture isn't race, it's what we learn; you don't water each other down, you thicken the soup. 

Mendenhall Glacier

The Mendenhall Glacier is the first glacier we've been somewhat close to. It is part of the Tongass National Forest. We really didn't have much time and opted to take a walk along the boardwalk where there was the potential to see bears feeding on salmon.  We then raced up to the visitors center where we watched a short film about the glacier and viewed some exhibits.  There was a blue, or glacier colored black bear on display that was killed by a car in 1998.  It noted that the unique Glacier Bear or blue morph is occasionally found in the St. Elias and Coast mountains of northern SE Alaska.  However, I recall reading in the Museum of the North in Fairbanks that the color came about by genetic isolation.  However it occurred, it is an interesting blue recessive-looking color.  There was also an Alexander Archipelago Wolf on display and it is supposed to be a subspecies of the gray or timber wolf.  The information said it is typically smaller and darker than wolves elsewhere in the state and is found in Southeast Alaska. There are reportedly about 900 of those wolves.  Their color reminded me of the very dark sable German Shepherds.

I have to say the best part of the visit was the guided tour by our bus driver! He told us that when the McDonald's went in it was a huge deal.  One pilot took orders back to Skagway where he was met by a marching band!  Alaska was the last state that allows McDonald's (Vermont does not) to have one in their State capitol.  You can't burn firewood in Juneau.  That seems odd, as I think of Alaska as just the sort of place where you would have a wood stove fire.  However, because Juneau is in a valley, the EPA said they were creating too much pollution. You can only have a pellet stove.

Lichen is algae + fungus, that "like" each other. Lichen lives on air, so if you see lichen growing you know the air is very clean.

There are only 48 miles of road in Juneau.  You have to fly in or travel by water.  We were warned that folks there don't know how to drive well because of the limited roadways, but we've found them to be very polite drivers, even stopping in the roadway to motion you across.  Perhaps they've been cautioned that killing tourists is bad for business.  There is no land available for purchase which is why the homes we saw advertised as so high priced.  Many people just live on their boats.

They have very strict rules about handling garbage, after having to kill so many bears.  You must use certain containers, cannot put the garbage out early and must clean out the cans to eliminate odors. It has apparently worked.

Our driver told a funny story about calling a business one day and the phone rang and rang and rang. Finally a person answered and said they were closed for holiday. "What holiday" he asked.  The answer was "the sun is shining and the Governor called a Holiday!"  Apparently, seeing the sun is so unusual there that the Governor has the option to make 3 days per year a holiday.  On average there are 5 sunny days per month.  We were told that, in Juneau, when you can see the blue sky peeking through it is called a "sucker hole"!

There was a cute poster hanging at the front of the bus and the caption was "How to Pass for a Local." One of the tips was to wear rubber boots, but I couldn't read the rest.  We were told that everyone wears rubber boots. Even the girls who dress up to go out to the bar wear rubber boots!  We saw women in skirts, apparently on their way to work, wearing rubber boots. And not cute ones, either; just the plain old green rubber boots.  It's a Juneau thang.

Alaska State Museum, Juneau

With the limited time we have in museums, I try to pick out a few interesting facts at each.  Here are my highlights from this visit:

• I saw a Prisoner of War tag on display and on the back it reads (in German, Italian and Japanese) "...each prisoner of war will be tagged (loop cord around neck) . Prisoners of war will be warned not to mutilate, destroy or lose their tags.  NO TAG- NO FOOD.  On the front you were to list the date of capture, place and unit making the capture.
• Governor John G. Brady was a neglected street urchin (according to the display!) in New York, was adopted and introduced to books and discipline.  He graduated Yale, attended Union Theological Seminary and started a Presbyterian mission for Native boys in Sitka.  As a former educator, Brady felt the establishment of educational institutions in Alaska was vital to provide intellectual stimulation for residents and help attract developers.  Brady is a big reason why education is accessible in Alaska.
• In the mouths of bowhead, humpback and other baleen whales, baleen plates filter plankton and small fish from seawater for the whales to eat.  Northern Eskimos, the "Inupiat" cut the baleen into strips and wove it into fishnets and lines.  They also shaped small dishes and drinking cups from this flexible material.  I thought the baskets (very expensive in museum shops) were made from grass until I read this!
• The samovar was a welcome reminder of home to those stationed at frontier outposts of Russian America.  Burning charcoal placed inside, heated water for the beverage of choice,which was traditionally tea.
• On March 30, 1867, Russia sold Alaska for $7,200,000.00 to the United States. It was previously referred to as Russian America.  The United States didn't pay up until almost a year later due to staunch opposition and preoccupation of the House of Representatives with impeachment proceedings against President Andrew Johnson.
• The actual receipt of purchase is on display in the museum.  During the Clinton administration there was a challenge to the purchase launched by Russia, and they had to locate the receipt in the archives!
• In 1927, 13 year old Benny Benson was awarded 1st Place for his design of a territorial flag for Alaska.  The American Legion sponsored the contest for Alaska school children. Benny was the son of a Swedish fisherman and an Aleut-Russian mother.

Waking up in Juneau, August 18

We're eating breakfast at the Paradise Bakery, another location recommended by our guide yesterday. We made certain to tell the gal there that we were there on that suggestion. Prices are high here, as they seem to be everywhere in Alaska. Tom had coffee and a breakfast sandwich and I had a strawberry-rhubarb scone, fresh out of the oven, and coffee for a grand total of $16.  I got a kick out of the coffee pots; one says "Go Fast" and other " Pretend".  Truth in advertising!

It is raining, as predicted.  The cafe is really cute. Very eclectic, with unusual artwork and a western/cowboy theme running in the background. An old bicycle built for two hangs on one wall.

*****Uh-oh! Flight canceled due to weather! Will try to pick it up on the back end of the tour.  Instead, we're going to walk around town and visit the Mendenhall Glacier later today.  A globe-trotting woman who is part of our tour group, spoke very authoritatively on the fact that we did not want the helicopter tour in windy weather. She said people have gotten socked in up there for two weeks, and there is even a tent on top for that purpose! She cautioned against thinking I would find cheaper things in the villages since many shops are owned by the cruise lines but I will continue with my scouting mission.