We enjoyed our last breakfast aboard the Diamond Princess and boarded the waiting bus for the trip from Whittier to Anchorage. Our bus driver was very informative and interesting. We had to drive through America’s longest highway tunnel, which is also a railroad tunnel! Yes! you have to take turns, not only with traffic going the other way, but with trains! It’s very narrow, just wide enough for the trains it was originally made for, but there are occasional places of refuge in case of disaster.

Out of the tunnel, the scenery is amazing. We see inland glaciers, which if I remember correctly are called “hanging” while the ones we saw from the ship are “tidewater”. I hope that’s right!

We stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. The animals here are rescued animals that have been injured of orphaned and are not able to be returned to the wild. They have large enclosures but tend to pace the perimeters in a sad, mindless way.

The setting is a beautiful valley surrounded by majestic mountains, but it is marred by dead trees and deserted crumbling buildings. The bus driver explained that the 1964 earthquake, the largest earthquake ever recorded in North America devastated the area. It lasted nearly 3 minutes. The ground slumped 8 feet and buildings were buried by incoming tides. The unstable soil was inundated with salt water and the trees died. They call them ghost forests.

Our next stop is the Alaska Native Heritage Center which was a place I could have spent a LOT more time at! Outside there are authentic full size dwellings of each of the native cultures situated around a lovely small lake. Each one contains items that were used by the people and a member of the tribe was there to discuss what we were seeing and to answer questions.

This is a Yupik dwelling place. The day was chilly but as I stepped into this home it was noticeably warmer. The guide said that with the whole group in residence in the winter it would maintain a comfortable 60-70 degrees. There is fire pit in the center with beds around the outer edge and an escape door out the back in case a bear comes in the front! If that happened they could spear the bear through the opening at the top.

I have always felt sorry for the people that lived in the frozen North but after this trip, I think they have it down. Everything is adapted to the lifestyle and while I would not want to live that way, they seem to have it all figured out and are quite comfortable. The Tlinget people do not even have a word in their language for “hungry”!

Inside the main center are more learning spaces, a theater, a hall of cultures where native artisans were working on their art, a gallery and of course a gift shop with native art for sale and a restaurant.

Princess has us booked into the Captain Cook Hotel which is VERY nice! We enjoyed browsing the upscale boutiques and galleries before dinner. I saw wonderful art, but how well would it integrate into our lower 48 decor?

Tags: Alaska, Travel