Anchorage

Denali to Anchorage

August 4, 2013

We had a showery, cloudy day for our drive to Anchorage. The drive was easy except for the construction areas which nicely recoated the Suzuki with glacial silt mud. Fortunately there was a carwash across from the campground to give it a bath.

 

Anchorage

August 5, 2013

This morning we went over to the Alaska Native Cultural Center. Each of the native cultural groups in Alaska is represented here. We started our visit with about an hour orientation. The first was on Native Alaskan Sports. These are quite different from our sports and center on power, balance, and focus, the skills that are needed for survival. All were done indoors during the long winter months. The first was to sit on the floor in a pike position, lift yourself off the floor on your hands, then flip up into a handstand to touch a ball suspended directly over your head, then return to your original position without losing control! The current record is around 8 feet. The second game is a variation using only a single hand to launch yourself to touch the ball. You still have to return to the original position without losing control. The record here is 10 feet.  Another involved essentially a standing broad jump. The trick is you must land on a stick and roll it backwards, then jump off and land on your feet. Picture jumping from ice flow to ice flow across open water! These sports were originally done only by the men, but now both men and women compete in Annual Arctic Native Games with athletes from Alaska to Greenland. The women’s records are only slight less than the men’s.

 

Around the lake on the grounds are reproductions of the dwelling used by the various cultures. The cultures for the arctic coastal areas used earth covered dwellings. Only the southeast coast groups used open log construction buildings. There were artisans representing each of the cultural groups selling various crafts and of course a gift shop. This was my downfall as I saw this beautiful small basket with a lid. It was woven from whale baleen and has a handle shaped like a walrus carved from a walrus tusk. Yes, I bought it, thanks to “plastic” money.

 

Southeast Coastal Village examples

 

Arctic Coastal Kayaks

After our adventures at the cultural center we drove downtown with another couple from our group and found this nice restaurant on “L” St. for lunch. The name is Simon and Seafort’s and just happens to be the same place we had dinner on our last night here 24 years ago with Vern and Mary Lou Kamps. I even think we sat at the same table by the window overlooking Cook Inlet. They no longer serve that monster size bouillabaisse Donna had back then and fed Vern and ML from leftovers for several days afterwards. But the food and ambiance is outstanding.

Anchorage

Tonight the entire Caravan went out to a dinner and a show at Wildberry Theater and Sourdough Barbeque. On the way we saw that the old motel and campground we stayed at 24 years ago still exists and is open for business! It looks exactly the same except they enclosed the doors to the motel rooms!