Revisiting Alaska

I have decided to repent for my lack of recent entries, and try to catch up a bit concerning the goings-on of the past few months. I once promised some more pictures of my Alaska trip back in October. That is where I shall begin, I suppose. I went with the Living Legends from BYU as the Assistant Technical Director... it was the first tour of the year, actually the first show of the year, and an experienced hand was needed. Luckily, that hand was at the end of my arm, so I got to spend half a week in Alaska. The group was there as guests of the Alaska Federation of Natives for their annual convention. It was a fantastic experience, as expected, and I had opportunities that many, many white girls from Utah never get.

AFN

One of the members of the church who served as a guide for us made arrangements to bring us something very special: Muktuk, or whale blubber and skin. The Native Alaskans are subsistence hunters, and each village has whaling rights every few years. Our host got special permission to bring us some of her village's harvest. The meat of the Bowhead Whale feeds about 10 villages. They brought us some Muktuk, which is considered the best part of the whale. The grey is skin, and the white is a small amount of the very thick blubber. I'm not a huge fan of fish, especially really "fishy" tasting fish. Also not a real sushi eater. But I consider myself lucky to have had a (very chewy and rubbery) taste of something so special.

Muktuk

Whale bones

One night while we were there, the group participated in a cultural dance evening. We were the only non-Alaskan Native dancers. The great part for me was watching the groups that performed before and after us. This was an Inuit group.


Inuit Dancers

The basement of the convention center held a market of sorts where the attendees could sell their wares. I have never in my life wished for disposable income like I did there... there were the most amazing pieces of art and handicraft... I would have loved to buy a parka, some Mukluks, or one of the seal or beaver hats. Alas, it was not to be, although I did get a pair of hand-beaded sealskin slippers, like the ones on the table here...

Shopping!


Anchorage Alaska Temple

Two days of the trip were devoted to traveling to Glennallen, performing there for one night, then traveling back to Anchorage. The trip is one of the most beautiful in the world, we are told. I cannot wait to someday make the trip in a car. In the summer. With a nice camera. And unlimited time. Unfortunately, the trip was made in a very dirty, icy bus. The windows kept icing over on the inside because it was so cold outside and so steamy warm inside... I kept scraping mine in a desperate attempt to enjoy the scenery. We drove along the Glenn Highway, the Chugach Mountain Range on the right (south), the Talkeetna Range on the left. I was so frustrated by the lighting, and the few pictures I got through the dirty windows were all taken facing into the sun. So I apologize for the poor quality... I wish I could do this drive some justice. It was, in spite of all that, breathtaking at every turn.

Berries

Matanuska Glacier

Snowfall Trees

Chugach

Beautiful!

Matanuska Glacier

Matanuska River

No Words...