Day 7 The Alaskan Heritage Center, The Ulu Factory and Downtown Anchorage

This morning we started out at the Alaska Heritage Center. It is an entire complex, sort of a mini Conner Prairie, where there are replicas of Inuit housing, canoes, animal traps, totem pole, etc. Inside the actual building is a theatre, local artist display area, gift shop, and performance/demonstration area. We saw a young guy do an athletic demonstration of some of the games that Alaskans compete in. Here is a pic of the "Strong Arm Stretch." The point is balancing your entire body on one arm while trying to reach up and touch a bird on a string. Pretty crazy. Next we saw a native dance performance complete with drumming and singing. Pretty cool.

Before going outside to see the rest of the center, we looked at the local artisan displays. Some were so beautiful. I am posting a pic of my favorite. It's an antique window frame filled with hand embroidered and dyed seal intestine. Extraordinary.

Outside we looked at all the reconstructed housing and tools of the different Inuit tribes. Very interesting. At the end was a gigantic totem pole.

I think my favorite part of the Center was the short film we watched on Whaling and what it means to the Inuit culture. They are, by most standards, a very spiritual people and their ideas about whaling and hunting in general were extremely fascinating. They believe/practice what they call "Subsistence Living" -- meaning that they hunt and provide and work the land to achieve what they need to survive. In the hunting season, they apply with the government for Subsistence Leave (very similar to FMLA benefits) that allow anyone involved in "the hunt" to leave their work and focus entirely on hunting. Isn't that unreal? The whole philosophy behind the hunting is to work in community together and share with anyone and everyone the spoils of the hunt.

Much of their equipment has been modernized. They use snow mobiles to move large supplies to the ice's edge and set up synthetic tents to stay warm while waiting for the whales to appear. Mechanical harpoons are used as well as more traditional methods. When a whale has been spotted, the hunter board their boats and sail out into the ocean to harpoon it and drag it to shore. It is hoisted onto the ice by block and tackle. Seriously. A 50 ton whale might take 12 hours to hoist onto the ice--this is with almost the entire community helping to pull.

They say a prayer while hunting and believe the actual moment of the kill is sacred. Inuits believe that if they live a community centered life, have adequate equipment to harvest and distribute the blubber and meat of the whale, and will share with whomever is in need at any time, the whale with give itself up to be killed by the tribe so that they might survive. Super interesting.

After all the touring about, we had lunch in the Center cafe. I had a Reindeer Dog. (Yes, as in Rudolph.) 80% Reindeer, 20% Beef. Odd.

Next up was The Ulu (OO-loo) Factory. The native Alaskan knife and cutting/chopping blocks are produced here. Very hip stuff. The block/board has a flat side for regular chopping of vegetables, etc. while the other side has a bowl carved in to chop things like nuts or herbs. I would post a photo, but I already packed mine and my entire family is sleeping while I am in the corner with my computer making unpacking it fairly unwise.

After all of this excitement, we headed to dinner before returning the rental car. We tried a BBQ place that my mom had read about. It had very rustic decor to say the least. The food was fairly good, but not anything too exciting. I had the BBQ Chicken/Baby Back Ribs combo and ate about 1/3 of it. It was a ridiculous portion of food. Underneath that breast and wing in the pic, is a thigh and leg. Whoa.

Finally, we returned the rental car and called our hotel for the shuttle to pick us up. My mom was interested in walking back, 10 blocks south and 7 east, but none of us were really jacked up about that. In the end, I gave in and walked back with her where we did the requisite tourist trap shopping buying the obligatory t-shirt, etc. I did buy something that will probably end up changing my life. . .

SSA, ARS, SML Tuesday, September 2nd, 8pm -- dinner and this:

This is the last sign we saw before turning to get into our hotel. Life's two necessities, obviously.

Tomorrow we take the train to Fairbanks. We have to be at the station by 7:15 and the trip starts at 8:15. It takes t-w-e-l-v-e hours. 12. Unbelievable. We should be able to get some good scenery views. Mt. McKinley might even be viewable in the distance if the weather is clear enough. I expect an amusing tale to unfold tomorrow. Get ready.