MONDAY, SEPT 2

MONDAY, SEPT 2:

     Went on the Discovery Riverboat cruise this morning.  This is a sternwheeler riverboat, similar to the ones that plied the Chena & Tanana Rivers during the gold rush and pioneer days of early Fairbanks. 

      We were surprised that the boat was nearly filled; we more or less assumed that the biggest part of the tourist season was over. The bulk of the passengers were on some sort of tour, which are obviously still taking place – RV caravans, as well as cruise ships.  Not sure if this stop is near the end of their tour or the beginning – if the beginning, and they’re working their way towards the coast, I hope they’re prepared for some cold, windy, rainy weather. 

 

    The cruise lasted about 3 ½ hours and was very enjoyable, even though the air was cool and the skies grey and drizzly.  So I stayed inside except for when the entire boat disembarked at the Native Village and let Bill go out on deck if he wanted to take photos.  The narration on this cruise was primarily of the human history of the area, not the natural history.  The entire trip was primarily designed to be for entertainment, but was also informative and well done. 

 

The sights we saw included a bush pilot taking off from and landing on the river,

 

the family home of former Senator Frank Murkowski, where President & Mrs. Reagan stayed for 3 days back in 1984 when he met with the Pope here in Fairbanks, and  the late Susan Butcher’s (1^st female winner of the Iditarod) and husband’s home and dog kennels. 

 

 

Descendants of her dogs are still being trained for racing, and we were given another demonstration of a team of 10 pulling a 4-wheeler.  This was maybe the best one of the ones we’d seen because of the vantage point we had – you could really appreciate how fast they were going.  And it’s always fun to see them getting hitched up – there are always one or two who just can’t contain their excitement and are leaping in the air with anticipation.

 

 

A thirsty lead dog after running:

.  We learned about the value of the retired sled dogs – they stay around the puppies in the kennels and mentor them in things like in how to follow a lead dog, stepping over obstacles like logs, etc.

 

     The highlight of the trip was being let out at a re-created Athabascan village. There were a few different stops at demonstrations/talks on an aspect of 19^th-early 20^th century Athabascan village life.  Up until European contact & influence, they were essentially nomadic, following the caribou herds. 

 

 But they would establish little villages, or camps, for a few weeks at a time, after a successful moose or bear hunt, for instance, when it took that long for the women complete the hide-tanning process.  

 

 

                                                                                                              
         

 

                                         Beautiful parka made from trapped animal hides:

                                                                  

Or during the summer, they’d set up fish camps along the river, with fish wheels to catch the salmon and drying racks to dry & preserve the filets.  But the housing at these camps was basically tent-like, where they’d take the tents with them to the next camp. 

 

However, trappers did construct more permanent shelters, like log cabins, since they’d be out for maybe 100 miles at a time.

 

But the Athabascans as a whole didn’t establish permanent villages until they saw European settlers do so, and they were attracted to the idea.  That’s what the log houses of this reconstructed village depict.  

 

                                                                    

                                                   
                                                     Fur cache:

 

 

 

     One of the young women giving a talk & demonstration said that her 83-year old grandfather still lives in a log house similar to these, in a little Athabascan town along the Iditarod route.  I asked her what she valued most in her Native heritage and what she’d like to pass on to her children, and she said the hunting and fishing . . . that the process of doing that made you appreciate the food source, and how you don’t waste anything in nature.  In fact, she said that she and her father and grandfather were going out moose hunting next week.  We didn’t ask, but we assume they’ll use very modern guns . . . Natives had been trading with Europeans for guns & similar weapons almost from the first contact, as they saw immediately that they were so much more effective than either their spears or bows & arrows.  So that’s an example of this generation blending traditional & contemporary cultures.  (She’s a senior at the Univ. of Alaska here, majoring in Early Childhood Education).  

     Also had an opportunity to visit one of the trainers at Butcher’s dog kennels who had come with a couple of her dogs by boat over here to this side of the river to interact more with us & answer  questions.  Her goal is to compete in the 2015 Iditarod.   Her name is Laura.  Now that we’ve been well versed about this classic race, we’ll be in tune to what names appear in the near future.

 

                                               Tribute to Granite, Susan Butcher's lead dog (which was runt of the litter and scared of his own shadow):

                                          Laura, future Iditarod champ??, returning with dogs to training facility:

 

      When we got back to the dock, Lance Mackey, a recent 4-time Iditarod champion who also won the Yukon Quest race once in the same year (which some say is even more challenging than the Iditarod because it covers more mountainous area; it’s run between Fairbanks & Whitehorse) was making a promotional guest appearance.  Fun & interesting to see some of these local (state) heroes.

     This was a nice, relaxing trip and reasonably priced (I used our 2-for-1 book coupon), and helped round out our exposure to Alaskan Natives in different areas of the land – Southeast coastal Tlingit & Haida, interior Athabascan, & Arctic Inupiat.   Even though a lot of it was canned stuff packaged for tourists, and primarily meant for entertainment, as opposed to museum-quality educational, nevertheless, it still gave us more concrete examples of ways in which these cultures survived and flourished for centuries, and how they have tried to adapt in a relatively short time to western culture, with varying degrees of success.  

       Also fun to see more sled dogs.                                     
                                                      End of the summer flowers & veggies:

 

.       Came back & made PB & J’s for lunch, and both of us took a long nap.  Seems a while since we’ve done that – guess we needed it. 

     Grilled the last of the Valdez salmon for dinner.  Still tasted fine!