This morning, I went to Sitka National Park and got a great tour from one of the rangers. Early in the 20th century, totem poles were collected from abandoned Haida and Tlingit villages and put here in the park. They are just wonderful to see in the wet, drippy forest.
I stopped by the science center to checkout the cool critters.
This is a crab.
They have one of the few full orca skeletons in the world. Note the tiny vestigial pelvis towards the tail end.
I looked around in the local book shop to warm up and got a kick out of the sign.
Sitka was the capital of Russian Alaska so there is a unique combination of Russian, Tlingit, and American culture here. I climbed the hill to where first the Tlingit and then the Russians built fortifications. This is where the transfer of ownership from Russia to the US tool place. There are mountains behind the clouds, I'm told.
There were a couple of old Russian cannons.
The Russian Eagle is still visible on them.
I stopped by St. Michael's Orthodox church.
Father Michael was in the middle of prayer but invited me to stay and look around.
Afterwards, I had a pint of local beer at The Pub.
Finally, I went to one of the last concerts of the Sitka Music Festival.
The festival is several weeks of chamber music concerts. An excellent quartet of Julliard grads played a Beethoven quintet, an interesting modern piece by an Australian composer whose name escapes me, and an early Dvorak work. The acoustics of the building were fantastic as was the view of the foggy bay through the big windows behind the performers. It's amazing to hear music of this caliber in such a small, out of the way place. What an amazing day! I love Sitka!!
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Location:Sitka, Alaska
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