Anchorage

 On to Anchorage

We exited from Denali on the west side. Suddenly we were surrounded on 3 sides by snow covered jagged peaks. In front of us and beside us--almost like there was no escape. Enormous puffey cumulous clouds and blue sky finished off this spectacular scene. With the Nanana river beside us, we headed the 3 hours to Anchorage.  

After an hour or so the river led us on a route through the mountains and before we new it we were in deciduous flatlands with a number of streams and rivers. 

Once in Anchorage we were again surrounded with snow covered peaks. 

2 beautiful sunny days and visits to the cultural centre and museum were real hits. 

The cultural Center focused on the 6 tribes of Alaska. The the wall map of Alaska  is enormous, making BC or Texas look small. Being separated by such long distances, and different climates, the indigenous people are very distinct in their languages, housing construction, food and social arrangements. Over 200 village/towns exist today that will never see road links. Bush pilots are essential and in some cases uce roads. 

The center of the cultural center itself was a spacious, beautiful building with many outside exhibits and small lake at the center.  

For an hour we watched as young First Nation Alaskans showed us some of the events in their Artic olympics, where competitors also come from Russia, Geenland, and Canada to compete. We were surprised that over 4 million people live in the northern Artic region. 

Here is an example of one event. They see how high they can spring up and kick a ball. 

Outside, one exhibit was scaled down versions of the homes of various tribes. 

The First Nations people of the Alutien islands built community homes underground as large as football fields to protect them from the incessant winds and cold humidity of this treeless isolated region. 

Other tribes had housing that ranged from smaller underground shelters for one clan to individual log homes. Housing forms varied depending on access to timber and weather conditions. 

One tribe was the Haida group who lived in south west Alaska. This region is more mild than most of Alaska and like our Haida Guia had their lands blessed with enormous trees because of the annual rainfall that reached 20 FEET or more. Like our Haida they built enormous long houses adorned with art and pole carvings. 

Even though we saw this ridiculous roadside iglo house, apparently igloos are a Canadian thing.