MONDAY, JULY 1

MONDAY, JULY 1:

     It started raining last night as we went to bed, and continued all day.  So we’re doubly glad we seized the day yesterday to be active outside.  Just stayed in and read, researched future stops, napped.  

      Went to the Sheldon Jackson Museum the last of the day – almost forgot that it was a good rainy day venue.  Everything that I had read about it set high expectations, and it lived up to them.  An extremely nice collection of Alaskan Native artifacts – everything from canoes and kayaks to clothing to baskets to ceremonial masks.  As I’ve written before, Sheldon Jackson was very interested in the Native culture, and all around Alaska and Western Canada, not just Southeast.  The museum docent showed us a map, in which some 20 different “tribes,” or people groups, were shown living in what’s now Alaska and western Canada.   Jackson had artifacts from almost all of them.  So you were able to see how the end products of different groups differed, according to what native resources were available to them.  For instance, the Tlingits down here made canoes out of huge cedar logs; further north, they made them out of birch bark; and further north still, above the Arctic Circle, where there are virtually no trees, they constructed them from seal skins. Another example of their great technologic uses of their native resources is the warm clothing the northern Natives (Inupiaq and Yupik - what we used to call Eskimos) made.  For their inner layer, of course, they would fur, for warmth.  But for their outer layer, to stay dry, they would use large animal gut, clean & dry & cut it, stitch large pieces together to fashion a tunic.  This would be their waterproof outer layer.  Sometimes they would insert grass in the seams – if they did receive any moisture, the grass would wick it away. Voila - the original Gore-Tex!

     We only spent an hour there, because we arrived so late, but gave us a great overview of some of the backgrounds of different Native peoples that we’ll encounter later on, and how they differed from the Tlingits here that we’ve been immersed in for these last few weeks.  Sitka is very fortunate to have this fine museum - the oldest in Alaska (founded 1887)!

 

     Tomorrow morning, very early (5:00 a.m.), we sail for Juneau – a 9 ½  hour trip. According to the weather forecast, it’s supposed to continue cool and rainy – so we’ll no doubt spend most of our time inside, as opposed to when we came here, and spent almost all of the daylight hours up on the top deck.  Also predicted to be rainy in Juneau for the next few days . . . but the weather in this entire area can change on a dime, we’ve learned.

     Really enjoyed our time here – so much history and intertwining of cultures – gives the town an almost European flavor.  Very unique.  Not to mention the spectacular mountain scenery all around.

     Our newest granddaughter, Elise (sp?) Liberty was born this morning to Rachel & Eric.  (The middle name because she was due on July 4!).  That makes 7 grandkids for us J