Day 22, Friday, August 14th
Day two in Anchorage. Woke up to another rainy day…. After breakfast, first on the agenda for the day was an amazingly place, The Alaskan Native Heritage Center. This was created in cooperation by the different Native peoples in Alaska and it is wonderful.
Day two in Anchorage. Woke up to another rainy day…. After breakfast, first on the agenda for the day was an amazingly place, The Alaskan Native Heritage Center. This was created in cooperation by the different Native peoples in Alaska and it is wonderful.Some of the leaders from the various different Indian Nations in Alaska were concerned that so many of their young people were now living in the city and had no connection with their heritage, art, stories and traditional way of life. With some HUGE amount of effort and cooperation (as well as we suspect about a million meetings) this center was opened ten years ago, both as a place to teacher Native Young people about their culture and a place for tourists to come and also learn. 
As well as giving many young people good jobs doing interpretation and teaching, especially during the summer. One of the really special people we met was a young Athabascan man who had worked for the center for five years. (The Athabascan people live in central and eastern Alaska as well as parts of the Yukon, British Columbia, and Alberta.) His name was Harold Wilson, and he was a very gifted communicator, being able to describe things some vividly and helping people to understand his experience in growing up in a very isolated village and then moving to the large city to go to school. He generously told us so many about his life, as well as what it is like now being a supervisor at the center.
What a special place. One of the really neat things was going around a lake where they had built traditional homes for the various groups. Inside the example of a living shelter in each area there would be someone from that group to talk about the home, the clothing and cultural patterns and celebrations. AND it as all hands on so that you could touch and feel the clothing, the animal fur, and the fine carvings. In our cultural explorer role, these were excellent for us, and we had the chance to have some great conversations, ask a bunch of questions and hear some great stories. An Eskimo man told the story of how he killed his first whale when he was only 4 and 1/2 years old. He told this tale with great gusto! A special treat for Patti was being able to buy a “story stick” used by young Yupik Eskimo native girls to drew pictures in the dirt to go along with stories they were telling. “A traditional entertainment for girls and young women was to recite for each other the myths, legends, and stories that make up the oral tradition of Yupik culture. The story knife was used to scrape a smooth surface in dirt or mud or sand and then to draw lines, figures, and symbols in the surface to illustrate the story being told. A particularly fine story knife, such as one made of ivory, would be passed down from mother to daughter for many generations.” Patti is looking forward to exploring what she will do with her beautifully carved story knife or stick. We invite you to take a look at the Center’s website at: http://www.alaskanative.net/
For lunch we happened upon Big Al’s Soup and Sandwich shop. Al and his wife had relocated here from Las Vegas three years ago. We enjoyed hearing their experiences as happy Alaskan transplants. And Al Loves cooking up his reindeer hotdogs right there on a grill on the street.
Next we went to the Anchorage Museum, the local art and cultural museum. We enjoyed looking at some great Alaskan landscape paintings, as well as some additional displays of Native traditional homes, clothing and culture. We also saw a stuffed musk ox. We now seem to find some form of them nearly everywhere we go on this trip. 
We also got a kick out of the old photo of a softball game being played in snowshoes.
We especially enjoyed watching a movie at the museum called Deadly Ascent, which focused on the health impact of climbing Mt. McKinley. Having just seen the mountain this week, it was much more immediate to think about climbing it. And this movie didn’t change our minds that it was a REALLY difficult dangerous climb. Many people die doing it. No thanks!
A bit later, as we were walking through the really tourist part of town, Patti was drawn to a man at a table in front of a dog sled (her new hobby, learning about dog sledding…not doing it!) She went over to see what was up and caught the end of hearing the guy say that he was in the first Iditarod race in 1973. His name was Rod Perry, and he had written a book about the early Iditarod pioneers. It stuck Patti that if he had been in the early race, maybe he would know the story of getting the dog team to the top of Denali. Well, not only did he know both of the dogsled racers who climbed it, but three of his personal dogs went most of the way with these dog mushers. This led to some highly spirited conversations about the early 70s and days of the dog sledding resurgence, some gossip, and some terrific personal and historical stories. When he found out that Patti was a professional storyteller, he was delighted and confessed that it is only in the past several years that he has come to understand that who he REALLY is, is a storyteller. As it turns out, when we later pieced things together from his book and from the Internet, this guy is a huge player in the Alaska dog sledding and political scene. AND he was a delight to talk with, so generous and really funny. We bought a copy of his book and then got our photo taken with him and his sled (Patti is now getting quite a collection of her at the back of sleds!) What a delightful serendipitous meeting. We have been having so many of those magical conversations with people. What blessings come with you are looking for the interesting people in your day.
A quick trip to Costco puts us in good shape to continue on with our journey. Two full weeks more to go. Let the adventures continue.
As well as giving many young people good jobs doing interpretation and teaching, especially during the summer. One of the really special people we met was a young Athabascan man who had worked for the center for five years. (The Athabascan people live in central and eastern Alaska as well as parts of the Yukon, British Columbia, and Alberta.) His name was Harold Wilson, and he was a very gifted communicator, being able to describe things some vividly and helping people to understand his experience in growing up in a very isolated village and then moving to the large city to go to school. He generously told us so many about his life, as well as what it is like now being a supervisor at the center.
What a special place. One of the really neat things was going around a lake where they had built traditional homes for the various groups. Inside the example of a living shelter in each area there would be someone from that group to talk about the home, the clothing and cultural patterns and celebrations. AND it as all hands on so that you could touch and feel the clothing, the animal fur, and the fine carvings. In our cultural explorer role, these were excellent for us, and we had the chance to have some great conversations, ask a bunch of questions and hear some great stories. An Eskimo man told the story of how he killed his first whale when he was only 4 and 1/2 years old. He told this tale with great gusto! A special treat for Patti was being able to buy a “story stick” used by young Yupik Eskimo native girls to drew pictures in the dirt to go along with stories they were telling. “A traditional entertainment for girls and young women was to recite for each other the myths, legends, and stories that make up the oral tradition of Yupik culture. The story knife was used to scrape a smooth surface in dirt or mud or sand and then to draw lines, figures, and symbols in the surface to illustrate the story being told. A particularly fine story knife, such as one made of ivory, would be passed down from mother to daughter for many generations.” Patti is looking forward to exploring what she will do with her beautifully carved story knife or stick. We invite you to take a look at the Center’s website at: http://www.alaskanative.net/
For lunch we happened upon Big Al’s Soup and Sandwich shop. Al and his wife had relocated here from Las Vegas three years ago. We enjoyed hearing their experiences as happy Alaskan transplants. And Al Loves cooking up his reindeer hotdogs right there on a grill on the street.
Next we went to the Anchorage Museum, the local art and cultural museum. We enjoyed looking at some great Alaskan landscape paintings, as well as some additional displays of Native traditional homes, clothing and culture. We also saw a stuffed musk ox. We now seem to find some form of them nearly everywhere we go on this trip. 
We also got a kick out of the old photo of a softball game being played in snowshoes.We especially enjoyed watching a movie at the museum called Deadly Ascent, which focused on the health impact of climbing Mt. McKinley. Having just seen the mountain this week, it was much more immediate to think about climbing it. And this movie didn’t change our minds that it was a REALLY difficult dangerous climb. Many people die doing it. No thanks!
A bit later, as we were walking through the really tourist part of town, Patti was drawn to a man at a table in front of a dog sled (her new hobby, learning about dog sledding…not doing it!) She went over to see what was up and caught the end of hearing the guy say that he was in the first Iditarod race in 1973. His name was Rod Perry, and he had written a book about the early Iditarod pioneers. It stuck Patti that if he had been in the early race, maybe he would know the story of getting the dog team to the top of Denali. Well, not only did he know both of the dogsled racers who climbed it, but three of his personal dogs went most of the way with these dog mushers. This led to some highly spirited conversations about the early 70s and days of the dog sledding resurgence, some gossip, and some terrific personal and historical stories. When he found out that Patti was a professional storyteller, he was delighted and confessed that it is only in the past several years that he has come to understand that who he REALLY is, is a storyteller. As it turns out, when we later pieced things together from his book and from the Internet, this guy is a huge player in the Alaska dog sledding and political scene. AND he was a delight to talk with, so generous and really funny. We bought a copy of his book and then got our photo taken with him and his sled (Patti is now getting quite a collection of her at the back of sleds!) What a delightful serendipitous meeting. We have been having so many of those magical conversations with people. What blessings come with you are looking for the interesting people in your day.A quick trip to Costco puts us in good shape to continue on with our journey. Two full weeks more to go. Let the adventures continue.
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