Day 9 - Learning Native Cultures & Visiting Traditional Houses at Alaska Native Heritage Centre, Anchorage, Alaska

Day 2 of Our Vacation in Anchorage, Alaska, USA
            A Visit to the Alasks Native Heritage Centre, Anchorage

Alaska Native Heritage Centre, Anchorage, Alaska

Colourful flags flying high on the grounds of the Centre

We slept in a little on the second day of our vacation in Anchorage. Because we bought groceries at the local supermarket, we had a proper nutritious first meal of the day with fruits, fruit juice, whole wheat toasts and all that. It was a relaxing start of the day.











Our first visit was to the Alaska Native Heritage Centre, about a half hour drive from the Anchorage Airport, where we were staying.

The Native Heritage Centre,  much bigger than I expected, offered a few interesting programs to visitors.

Demonstrations & performances are held in the Main Hall, Native Heritage Centre

After paying the admission fee, we were given a map of the Centre including a detail schedule of the programs happening during the day.

This was very helpful as we could decide ahead on which activities we wanted to see during our visit.

We watched a native games demonstration.

We could have spend the whole day at the Alaska Native Heritage Centre. But we had only 1/2 day, therefore, we chose to watch three programs in the Main Hall and and an outdoor tour on site.


1. The first demonstration we saw was the native games at the Gathering Place, the main hall in the building.

There were two gentlemen demonstrating and explaining the native games and what they were doing.

A native ball kicking game demonstration

These games have been passed on orally from generation to generation in the indigenous community.  Native people would practice very hard and go to competition to show off their athletic abilities and skills.

A native gentleman explaining the games to us as he performed

The native gentleman explained” During these game competitions, participants were not competing against each other but against themselves for their best records.

Native games demand athletic skills & abilities.

Therefore, there was no name calling or cursing your mama’s name against the other competitors.”

I really like that! No beating up on the referees because your child didn't make the cut. 

2.  The second show we watched was by two native teenagers explaining the major different native groups living in Alaska and their customs:

- Athabascan
- Yup'Ik & Cup'Ik,Inupiaq & St. Lawrence Island Yupik
- Unangax & Alutiiq ( Sugpiaq)
- Eyak, Tlingit, Haids & Tsimshian

Native dances involve mostly  hand gestures and upper body movements 

3. The third program we watched was a group of dancers and their instructor who explained the dances and the meaning of their dance movement and hand gestures.

The hand gestures tell the meaning of the song and story

When we first watched the dancing, it seemed to us that the dancers were doing repetitious movement with the feathers and fur pieces in their hands.

After the explanation, we learned about the various hand movements and the dances meant more to us.

Due to limited space in native homes, male dancers sit while performing 

One of the things I noticed was that though their were a lot of hand movements, the dancers hardly moved their feet at all.


In one dance, the male teenage dancer was sitting. We were curious and asked that question.

Most of these dances were done inside native gathering places or homes which could be small and crowded. The dancers had little room to move therefore, they had to limit their movements to their upper bodies only.

Men sometimes had to sit so that they would not block the audience’s view of the dancers behind them.

The Centre allowed time for visitors to interact with staff members

We had ample time to chat with the dancers afterwards and asked questions.

Many of the traditional native houses were built underground. 

4. The highlight of our visit was the outdoor tour of the Village Sites.

A traditional Athabascan house at the Alaska Native Heritage Centre , Anchorage

There were six life sized native houses on the Village Sites.

















Visiting these traditional dwellings was like being transported back in time in history.

The Native Heritage Centre guide was knowledgeable & humorous.  

At each site, our guide shared with us the stories of their people.


She did an excellent job explaining to us about the specific tribe's relationship to the land and how they had adapted over the centuries living in the harsh extreme northern environment.







Our guide was around senior highschool / first year college age, but she was very knowledgeable and articulated.

A proud native Alaskan, our guide was a confident and a great story teller!














We appreciated her great sense of humor and interesting stories about the life and customs of the different indigenous tribes living in the Alaska region.












Alaska is a land of many native people.

We saw all six traditional native dwellings at the Native Heritage Centre representing the eleven major cultural groups in Southeast Alaska.













Many of these traditional houses were built underground to keep the inhabitants warm.

We saw a traditional native house with a very tiny opening as entrance.

The most interesting experience of this tour was going through the front door of an underground  native house with a tiny opening.

We had to couch down in order to fit into the door opening

The opening was so tiny that we had to couch down to get through. The opening was purposely made as small as possible so that bears would not be able to get inside the homes.






When building the homes, native people would take the biggest person of the household and use his/ her measurement to determine the size of the door opening.

We had a great time at the Alaska Native Heritage Centre. It is a must see when you are visiting Anchorage.

The tour of the Village Site was an interesting and educational tour indeed!

It was my husband's birthday today. J. picked the Brewhouse Restaurant, a popular local and tourist place in downtown Anchorage.   He treated us to a dinner there to celebrate his birthday. The restaurant was busy and we waited for almost 30 minutes before our turn for dinner. The dinner was good and it was wonderful celebrating a special occasion with our son!

R.T.
Alaska Native Heritage Centre
Anchorage, Alaska

Day 8 - A Beautiful Coach Ride to Anchorage from Seward, Alaska

Day 8 – Debarkation Day – A Scenic Coach Ride from Seward to Anchorage, Alaska

Farewell  to Our Cruise Ship which gave us 7 glorious days in Alaska!

It was only 5:30am when the sun shone bright and the Alaskan sunlight streamed through the windows and into our cabin. Our cruise ship has docked and reached Seward, Alaska.

Our Alaskan cruise ended at Seward, Alaska

We were given some pink luggage tags the day before and had our luggage all packed and looked after by the Westerdam crew. Breakfast was quick this morning as we needed to disembark the curise ship at 8:30am. We were right on time.

The cruise director and representatives of the crew from the cruise ship lined up on the gangway sending us off. It was a nice touch.

We boarded a bus from Seward to Anchorage

We booked our bus with the cruise ship taking us from Seward to Anchorage. The coach passed by a little town called Moose Past where the inhabitants of this town make their living renting out cottages and working for the summer season tourism industry. There is a hatchery, and a school in this little Alaskan town.

                    The scenery from Seward to the Anchorage was awesome and surreal.

We came face to face with these mountain ranges since the beginning of time. The majestic mountains were literally only feet away from us. We passed by lakes, ponds and mountains that have been craved out by glaciers and the force of nature was evident and visible to us.









Our coach went by Upper Summit Lake and I took a few pictures.  It has a lodge right by the lake catering to kayakers and fishermen.

All along the way, I saw the biggest and highest mountains I had ever seen and the dense deep green forests of long trees all around us.

Fire weeds, one of the first plants to grow after a forest fire, were everywhere along the highway.

Travelling on the highway into Seward, we were at 1000 feet above sea level.

I was surprised at how busy the highway was on both directions.

















With never ending mountains and green forests and without much signs of human habitation, the scenery is unparalleled, peaceful, captivating. I felt humbled, small in God’s magnificent creation.

I wish my camera could capture what we saw in front of us as it could only take in a tiny fraction of the entire landscape in front of us.

We were debating whether we should take the train or coach into Anchorage from Seaward, I am happy with the coach route which allowed us the opportunity to see the rugged terrain of this region and to admire the natural beauty.  

We booked a 5 day stay in Anchorage and looked forward to exploring this northern city!

R.T.
En route to Anchorage
Alaska, USA

Day 7 Cruise - Learning to Play a Board Game On An Alaska Cruise

Day 7 - Alaska Cruise Today was a sailing day without any stop at any port of call.

However, there were quite a number of programs and activities planned for guests on the ship.

I got up and did the stretch and release class at 7:30am. There were only about 10 people taking part.

It felt great stretching my legs and arms. I always take advantage of the free and good programs while we were cruising.. 

We travelled with other bigger cruise ships before, but we enjoyed the smaller cruise ship too.

I was happy to hear our son telling us that this was beyond his expectation and he would be willing to go another one. Spending time with our family is getting more important for us as we grow older. We have got to treasure every opportunity.

We also went to the Coffee Chat with the Chief engineer and environment officer who answered a few  questions that we had about operating a cruise ship regarding its waster management and ensuring safety for crews and guests on board.

Deck 10 - Exploration Deck on the Westerdam Cruise Ship

The best part of the day was spending time at the Exploration Deck – Deck 10, relaxing and doing something with our loved ones.












There were quite a few things to see and do on the Exploration Deck.

Tracking our course on the Exploration Deck

We could track our course and learn about our ship.



















Guests could sip drinks, and enjoy the scenery passing before their eyes.

















We could just relax, talk and watch the world go by.

There were books and board games available for guests. J. taught us how to play a board game called Catan.

 I have a few regrets in my life. As a working mom while my children were growing up, my full time career took up a lot of my time and I didn’t have a lot of time playing board games with them. Our children have always enjoyed board games even when they were about only 4 or 5 years old. Therefore, I try to play catch up now spending time in my senior years with them as much as possible. We are grateful that our own children, though busy with their lives, do find time to spend part of their vacations with us.

I am not a person who enjoy board games but I enjoyed playing this game, trying to build up my settlement and learning to trade with other game players. J. also invited another young man who seemed eager to learn to join in our games.  We had planned to attend the other entertainment offered on board today at 2 and 3p.m.

Instead we stayed at the Exploration Café and the four of us played together for the most of the afternoon. 

After the board game, we had a nice Mexican snack by the poolside.  We spent an enjoyable afternoon with our son!

We are thankful and grateful to God for our grown children everyday!

R.T.
Aboard the Westerdam
Alaska, USA 

Bravo to Glacier Bay National Park of Alaska For Giving the Native People a Voice

Day 6 - Alaska Cruise

We were on the Westerdam cruise ship sailing from Vancouver to Alaska. On this leg of the cruise, our ship, sailed into the Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, early in the morning. ( Holland America and the Princess are the only two cruise ship companies permitted to sail into the Glacier Bay National Park while the other bigger cruise ships do not have this privilege. We were unaware of this until we started the cruise.)

The two rangers from the Glacier Bay National Park came on board, pirate style, and spent a whole day on our cruise ship explaining to us about their exhibits and giving us valuable information..

We attended a presentation given by Mimi, a cultural representative from the National Park.

Mimi came on the stage with a drum, singing and drumming ready to tell her story.

The Tlingit people living among the glaciers have always respected the land and elements.  The land and the people were living as one, never thought that they were above the land or animals because they were human being.  For thousand of years, their people have been living on this land.  Water is  life and sacred to them as  water brings life to everything.

Mimi's grandfather knew every part of the land and water. As for her grandmother, their wasn’t one plant she did not know. The bears could teach you the way of life. God gave us everything people needed.The trees, plants could be used as medicine.

The indigenous people consider animals as part of the family. They respect the animals, therefore they eat and use every part of it so that the people could show respect for the animals' lives.  Animals gave their lives so that  people could live. Therefore,  give thanks for it.

For the second half of her story, Mimi  spoke with care. If she misspoke any word, she apologized for it.

We were told that the indigenous people have been welcoming visitors to their land, feeding them and keeping them warm.

The native people gave the visitors everything they were thankful for. However,  the missionaries and the visitors tried to break the natives by taking their kids away from them and putting them in government schools.

                                                           
The indigenous people were speaking Tlingit but they came out feeling ashamed of it.

Mimi reminded he audience: Take care of what you have and take care of the next generation. The elders, the highest priority, as they gave us the wisdom. Always take care of what you have, also the next generation.

Mimi spoke with passion, about their way of life coming from the heart, from ancestors who did not know them.

Mimi's niece helped to bright the Tlingit language into the school curriculum.

Now, in Alaska, students have to take 4 years of the Tlingit language before they can graduate from high
school.

She wanted to sing a song to honour those who went away for the Vietnam war but didn’t come home

We all stood and waved our hands in the air as she sang and drummed a special song to honour the  veterans who never had an opportunity to return to America.

It was a moving and important presentation from the indigenous people's perspective. Koodo to the Glacier National Park for giving them a voice to express their feelings and passing on the history to the next generation.

R.T.
Day 6
On the Westerdam Alaskan Cruise Ship