Showing posts with label Anchorage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anchorage. Show all posts
Alaska Native Heritage Center
Friday, 27 August
Our bags are packed; online check-in is completed and boarding passes are printed. In other words, we’re all set to head back home tomorrow. And, if we’re honest with ourselves, we’re ready to go home.
I’m the vacation planner in our household. Usually, I leave the last day of any trip as a slow, go with the flow kind of day. I didn’t do that this time and that proved to be a mistake. I think our two weeks of being on the go non-stop caught up to us today. We should have just taken it easy; instead we went to a place that proved to be just a bit overwhelming. I’m 
The forecasters were right on the money when they said to expect rain. The wet stuff fell throughout the day, see-sawing between light mists, drizzles, and downpours. After breakfast at the Downtown Deli and Cafe, we drove to the Alaska Native Heritage Center (ANHC) whose stated mission is “Sharing, perpetuating and preserving the unique Alaska Native cultures, languages, traditions and values through celebration and education.” (Click the image above to visit the ANHC website.)
Layout of the ANHC.
[scanned from the brochure]
The ANHC was nearly deserted when we arrived. We were greeted by a friendly Athabascan woman who encouraged us to hustle over to the Gathering Place, to watch the performance that was about to start. The first part of the show was a series of Yup’ik dances. The performers consisted of a drummer/singer and three dancers that told the story with the movements of their arms, bodies and sometimes facial expressions. Next came a story teller (who seemed less than prepared to be on stage), and a demonstration of native games designed to improve power, balance, and focus. Though it was all interesting, I somehow got the sense that it was the “B Team” that was on hand to entertain visitors today.
The dancers use fans (tegumiaks) as extensions of their hands.
(I’ll post Mui’s video footage of the performance when he finishes editing it. In the meantime, click here if you’d like to see the “Funny Seal” dance.)
After the show, we decided to take advantage of what looked to be clearing weather and went outside to tour the traditional village sites set up around a small lake. We were wrong about the weather, but that didn’t stop us from visiting the five village sites that represent the 11 native cultures of Alaska. (Rather than clumsily summarize what the native guide at each site told us, I’m going to link back to the ANHC site; click those links if you’d like more information about a specific group.)
Athabascan Village site …
Log Cabin and Cache
in colder areas, the cabins are sunk 2-5 feet (½-1½ m) into the ground,
but in areas with milder climate, the cabins are built above ground.
our guide tells us about the items in the cabin, including the
moose heart bladder and the birch bark basket hanging on the wall.
beautiful beadwork turns footwear into pieces of art.
Yup’ik & Cup’ik Village site …
The Qasgiq is both the men's house as well as the community center.
the post and beam driftwood structure is covered with grass and sod.
bearded seal or walrus intestine provides a removable
skylight window.
we learn about the features of a traditional drum.
male dancers use fans made out of feathers or wood.
Inupiaq & St Lawrence Island Yupik Village site …
this is the tourist entrance; and
… this is the traditional entrance into a Qargi.
to trap the cold outside, The entrance into a winter house is a long
tunnel built below the level of the living area.
(the long black articles on either side are baleen)
The arch is made from the lower jawbone of a bowhead whale.
(for perspective, i’m 5’2” (~1½ m) tall)
Unangax & Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) Village site …
The Ulax/Ciqlluaq (Long House) is a semi-subterranean structure
large enough to house four or more families.
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Left: The traditional entrance is down a notched ladder through
the smoke hole.
right: an elaborate dance mask.
Excavations on the Aleutian Chain show that the Unangax (Aleuts)
hunted a variety of whales, including the gray whale.
Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, & Tsimshian Village site …
Clan House (L) and Carving Shed (R)
this clan house is the only one in the world where totem poles from
the four cultures can be found in one place.
(they were carved on site and erected just days before we visited)
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Eyak (L) and Tlingit (R) totem poles
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Haida (L) and Tsimshian (R) totem poles
If the rain was a factor in our enjoyment of the village sites, the crowds were a factor in our enjoyment of the museum itself. By the time we had completed our tour of the village sites, three busloads of visitors had descended on the ANHC. After a quick peek at the items on display, we escaped to the deserted theater where we watched an interesting documentary on the construction of traditional kayaks.
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Left: Heehaaye (tanana athabascan: medium or speaking spirit)
right: Beaded moose hide vest & spiral headdress (deg Xit’an athabascan)
Beaded Moose Hide Cape (deg Xit’an athabascan)
After the documentary was over, we decided not to brave the crowds in the museum. Instead, we headed back to the hotel to get our packing out of the way. That done, we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the room … for me that meant blogging; for Mui, it meant surfing the news channels. By the time we headed out for our 7:00p dinner reservation (made through Open Table once again), our mood had improved considerably and we were raring to go.
This time we went somewhere new for us — Sack’s Cafe (recommended by our waiter at Glacier Brewhouse; he didn’t steer us wrong). The contemporary American restaurant had the right combination of casual and chic dining atmosphere for our last night in town. (Located on G Street, between 3rd and 4th West.)
Sack's Cafe
The food was as good as advertised — grilled king salmon for me (served with a deconstructed spring roll, Asian vegetables, soy maple glaze, jasmine rice, wasabi aioli, chili oil); pan seared, panko-crusted halibut for Mui (served with black beans, rice, lime and coconut croquette, asparagus, harissa and warm tomatillo salsa). The portions were reasonable enough that we decided not to split dessert — mango sorbet for me and a fresh berry brûlée for Mui.
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Grilled king salmon (L) and pan-seared halibut (R) for dinner.
And that wraps our day. I had hoped to get to bed early, but the street noise tonight has kept me up (even with the ear plugs). Wish I had Mui’s talent to doze off even in the face of such noise pollution. At least I got this post written!
Anchorage: Murals & More
Thursday, 26 August: Part IV
It was 5:00p by the time we were back in Anchorage. Our plan was to go directly to the hotel to rest up a bit, but when we lucked into a parking spot near Resolution Park (300 L St) we couldn’t resist making a short detour. From the platform overlooking Knik Arm and Cook Inlet, we checked out the haze-veiled views for a while and reminisced about how we’d been able to see the tip of Mt McKinley from here in 2001. Not so lucky this time; but we did see “Sleeping Lady” on the far side of the inlet.
Mt Susitna (Sleeping Lady) from Resolution Park.
[filter processed using Photoshop]
Why Sleeping Lady? Well, the shape of the mountain does resemble a woman lying down, her hair streaming out behind her, doesn’t it? There’s even a folk story to back up the name; here’s one version I came across on our previous visit to Alaska:
This folk story begins by introducing a clan of peace-loving giants who lived in the Cook Inlet area many years ago. Among these giants were a young man (Nekatla) and woman (Susitna) who were soon to be married. Before they could exchange their wedding vows, however, a band of warriors moved into the area. These warriors were so threatening that the peace-loving giants had to go to war to protect their home and their way of life. The men gathered together and went off to fight the invading warriors, while the women and children stayed behind and waited for the men to return.
Growing weary, Susitna fell asleep while waiting for Nekatla’s return. When word came to the village that Nekatla had fallen, the women could not bring themselves to wake Susitna. Instead, they wove a blanket of grass and wildflowers to cover her sleeping form. As years passed, Susitna became frozen in time, lying with her hair spread behind her and her hands across her chest, each season covering her with a blanket of different color.
It’s said that should the world ever be at peace, Nekatla will return to awaken his “Sleeping Lady.”
Mui’s parking luck held after we left the park and we managed to snag one of the three spots in front of the hotel when we stopped to drop off our stuff in the room. Feeding the meter for the 15 minutes we needed to pay for until 6:00p, we went for a meandering walk around town to while away the spare hour we had before our dinner reservation (made last night using the online booking site, Open Table).
We checked out some painted murals …
Murals signed “ziggy.”
Mural for tea lovers.
Detail from the Wyland Whaling Wall.
… (here’s one from 2001) …
history in the making
… stopped to look at the historic photo murals adorning the façade of the now-defunct 4th Avenue Theater …
… did some window shopping (no; didn't buy anything) …
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Left: Stylish …
Right: If you’re in any doubt as to where you are …… chuckled at some of the items on display in front of the stores …
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... and rested for a bit on a bench in the warm “evening” sunshine.
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Left: Reading up on Anchorage.
right: dc and tromso (norway) are an ocean apart from the east coast,
but they’re almost equidistant from Anchorage!
Eventually, we arrived at the Glacier Brewhouse, a restaurant that was just as bustling tonight as it was in 2001. (On 5th Avenue, between G and H streets.) Though we were 15 minutes early for our reservation, we were seated immediately. Ordering a couple of ice-cold house “blonds” (no jokes please, you know what I mean), we perused the menu, which was filled with numerous tasty-sounding dishes. In the end, we both ordered Caesar salads to start, and followed up with fresh-caught, grilled king salmon served on a bed of mashed potatoes. We wrapped up our meal with a bread pudding in a delicious sauce laced with Yukon Jack — hmm, hmm, good!
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A tasty meal brings our day to a close.
We weren’t quite ready to call it a day when we left the restaurant, so we took the long way back to the hotel, stopping to smell the flowers along the way.
Anchorage bills itself as the “Hanging Basket Capital” of the world.
Tomorrow is the last day of our trip. Forecasters are calling for a cool day with overcast and rain. It would be nice if they are wrong, but so be it if they are not. We really can’t complain since Alaska’s infamously fickle weather has been good to us for most of our trip; not many can say that.
Anchorage: Getting Reacquainted
Wednesday, 25 August: Part III
Crawling through the afternoon rush hour, we made our way to the 26-room Historic Anchorage Hotel where we had reservations for the rest of our visit to Alaska. As luck would have it, we found a parking spot in front of the hotel (free 6:00p to 9:00a). But we were out of luck as far as the location of our room was concerned. Having arrived rather late (6:30p or so), we had no option but to accept a room overlooking E Street, which I had read could be quite noisy at night. Here’s hoping things stay quiet while we’re here!
On the National Register of Historic Places, this building was built in 1936
as an annex to the Anchorage Hotel. Having survived the 1964 earthquake,
it remains on its original site.
Where Ghosts Are More than Just Stories
(click here for the today show story in which the historic
anchorage hotel was one of THE featured haunted PROPERTIES)
Our “cozy” top floor room overlooks E Street.
By the time we were settled into our room, it was well past 7:30p — time to get a bite to eat. We didn’t feel like wandering far, so we walked over to a nearby restaurant that we remembered from our 2001 trip — Orso. On that occasion, we walked into this restaurant around 10:00p and had a great meal. My lasting memory, though, is leaving the restaurant an hour later (the sun was still shining bright) and greeting passersby with a cheery “good morning” instead of the more appropriate good night … boy was our body clocks messed up on that trip!
Orso was chock-a-block with patrons and there was a long line of people waiting outside. We lucked out and found a table on the bar side of the establishment. Ordering off the same menu offered in the restaurant, we enjoyed a meal that started out with hummus and olive oil for dipping (compliments of the chef) and a couple of ice cold local brews. We continued with a couple of Caesar salads; split the seafood skewer special of the day; and wrapped it all up with an “Oatmeal Stout Carrot Cake” made with Glacier Brewhouse Oatmeal Stout, baby sweet carrots, dried apricots, pecans, and mascarpone filling. Yummmmmmmm!
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No photo of the dessert? What can I say; it was so good that i didn’t
think to take my camera out until it was too late!
After dinner, we wandered around downtown a bit to get reacquainted with the city and get our bearings. After the dessert we had just eaten, the opportunity for exercise was quite welcome, too!
The sod-roofed log cabin visitor center is a familiar landmark.
(Near the door is a huge jade boulder weighing over 5,000 pounds [2,250 kg];
jade is the state gem)
maybe i should get one of these in honor of our katmai bear trip.
It was approaching 10:00p when we returned to the room, ready for a good night’s rest. Here’s hoping that the ghost that wanders the halls in her wedding dress doesn’t pay us a visit tonight!
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