This morning we arose in Anchorage (here's the view from our ninth floor room at the Marriott):
..gathered in the lobby to confirm paperwork (which only took three minutes) and boarded good old #131 at 8:45a. Don Stohrer, one of our number, scored this bear claw back scratcher:
..and put it to good use.
This morning James (our driver) had done some reconoitering and offered to take us somewhere special on our way out of Anchorage.
We drove up to a fish ladder on the river -- and the king salmon had begun their run upriver to spawn. There were hundreds of these great fish working their way slowly up the river:
Upstream from our vantage point, fishermen were trying to hook 'em:
There's no limit on catch-and-release but they are limited to a taking only a single fish per day. While we were there one of the fishermen got lucky:
These are mostly 30 pound salmon (or more).
Back on the bus for a drive to the Alaska Native Heritage Museum:
This is a terrific place, funded privately. The people working there are young folks (all under 25 years of age) who learned the stories, crafts, dances and songs from their elders. All the Eskimo and Indian cultures in Alaska were represented. It was fascinating! This young man make string figures (you know, a 2-3 foot loop of string -- like we all learned "Jacob's Ladder"). He can make 55 different figures and says his father knows 75 or more and his grandfather more than a hundred. Internationally the String Figure Foundation (something like that) has documented more than 9,000 different string figures world wide. Amazing.
There was a song/dance demonstration, folks making crafts on site and more:
Even some of the "lower 48" people got into the act
The grounds abounded with flowers; here are a few pictures of daisies near the entrance:
All in all it was a fascinating way to spend two hours on our way to Seward to board our cruise ship.
The drive south to Seward had some of the most beautiful landscape of the trip:
We had a rest stop at a place where orphaned and damaged animals were healed and later released. Those who could not make their way in the wild were kept and cared for forever. This is a private individual's contribution to Alaskan wildlife.
This one taken by Tim & Cathy Beyer
This one taken by Tim & Cathy Beyer
We arrived at dockside at about 3:30p and were the first passengers to board the Summit:
Here are a few views of the land-side of the ship and departure photos:
Tonight and tomorrow we sail along the Hubbard Glacier...
