Totem Poles and Lumberjacks

Alaska!  After a full year of planning, we had made it to the 49th State.  With uncharacteristically warm and dry weather, we joke that we never got to see it in its true glory (wet, windy and cold) but I am ok with that.  The sunshine was brilliant and the fresh air refreshing.

Our first port of call was Ketchikan.  Known as the Salmon capital of the World,  you would think that our first stop and meal would be for some of the freshest salmon you could get.  And you would be wrong.  The girls and I do not eat salmon, or the states other seafood so we took advantage of the fact that is has a lesser-known distinction (but an important one nonetheless - the totem pole on page 25 of the U.S. Passport is from right here in Whale Park just outside of the center of downtown Ketchikan.

It was pretty interesting to see it up close.  The detail is amazing.

We didn't get a chance to linger for very long because our first tour was about to begin and we had to make sure we caught the bus on time.  Where were we headed?  To see more totem poles, of course, since Ketchikan is the totem capital of the world.  And the Saxman Totem park has the largest collection of standing poles in one location.  The totem poles are mostly replicas today as the original ones were left behind to rot when the Tlingit natives abandoned their villages and started moving to the big city for work because the fur trade had hit a downturn.  And, sadly, with the economic downturn, it also meant that there was little time for creating new totems.  The trade, that once symbolized cultural and economic wealth, almost died out completely.  

In 1938, the Civilian Conservation Corps created the park and brought in Alaskan Natives to retrain them the art of totem carving.  With the help of Charlie Brown (not that Charlie Brown) the workers managed to salvage and recarve many of the poles that they found in the surrounding villages.  And the ones they could not save,  were recarved from new wood in exacting detail.  It was truly a sight to behold.

After the totem poles, we drove over to our second part of this day's tour -

The show is exactly what you think it would be; a bunch of young men completing acts of strength and agility for an hour.  They wear spiked boots, chainmail socks and try not to lose a limb while throwing double-sided axes, speed cutting with a chainsaw or freefalling from dizzying heights after climbing a tree.  And it was so. much. fun!  The girls were laughing out loud at the corny jokes (yep, the show is scripted but the acts are all live) and cheering on our team.  Sadly, we lost in the log rolling event but no matter, we had a great time watching these guys work!

Thanks for showing us a great time Ketchikan but we had to get back to the boat because we needed our beauty sleep.  We had some whales to watch in the morning!