Sitka has no highway connection anywhere. We have a 14 mile road system on an island the size of Delaware. We are not on the inside passage so a lot of ferries do not stop. When a ferry does stop it is 9 hours to Juneau or Petersburg. We are remote. Friends often ask “When are you coming back to civilization,” even other Alaskans living … Continue reading A Day in June, Sitka, Alaska
Friday night SAFV (Sitkans Against Family Violence) held a fundraiser dinner cruise aboard one of Allen Marine’s (Alaska Dream Cruises) pocket cruise ships, Chichagof Dream. I had wanted to get aboard for some time to see how they refitted her. They did a nice job. One of the highlights is the Himalayan Salt Room, kind of like a sauna, lined with salt that’s therapy for … Continue reading Chichagof Dream
The May pole dance is not what you may think of when you hear the term “pole dance.” The May Pole is a tradition from Europe. It is part of community rejoicing at the return of spring. Some people think that its origins are pagan reverence for sacred trees. In Slovakia, where Suzi and I lived for more than two years, May poles had a … Continue reading (May) Pole Dancing
Donald Trump has been president for 100 days. Around the country people are marching for “Climate, Jobs and Justice.” James Poulson from the Sentinel said this was part of the President’s “Make America Fit Again” campaign. About 100 Sitkans marched from the Crescent Harbor shelter, around the Russian Church and back down Lincoln Street to the Episcopal See House. Motorists, not expecting a parade, drove … Continue reading Make America Fit Again!
Eternal Father strong to save, who’s hand has bound the restless wave. Who bids the mighty ocean deep, its own appointed limits keep. Oh hear us when we cry to thee, for those in peril on the sea. The blessing of the fleet is one of those annual Sitka events that marks the passing of a year and re-binds me to my community. I’m not … Continue reading Blessing of the Fleet, 2017
This is the second tranche of Earth Day, 2017 pics. The event is sponsored by the Sitka Conservation Society and the Sitka Sound Science Center. To look at the first tranche and read my commentary, please click here. Continue reading Earth Day, 2017, in Support of Science and Critters.
April 22 is Earth Day. In Sitka we celebrated early with our 16th annual parade of species sponsored by the Sitka Sound Science Center and the Sitka Conservation Society. I really love this event. People dress up as their favorite species, plant, animal or mythical (in the case of mermaids, this is a seafaring community after all.) Each species is invited to talk about itself, … Continue reading Earth Day 2017
I often wonder if people in the Southern Hemisphere view Easter differently than we north of the line. Easter is so tied into rebirth, renewal and resurrection. It comes naturally in the springtime. If the days were getting shorter, leaves falling and flowers wilting I am not sure how I would view Easter, perhaps as the promise of resurrection at some time in the future. … Continue reading Resurrection in the Food Web
Today’s walk was not energetic, it was contemplative. I walked through Sitka’s Orthodox Cemetery. A couple of months ago someone suggested that I walk through the Cemetery and post some pictures. I didn’t get around to it until I met Bob Sam on my walk yesterday. During that walk through Sitka National Park I took a break, sitting on a bench. Soon Bob Sam sat … Continue reading Honoring Ancestors, Sitka’s Orthodox Cemetery
Sitka Celebrated Elizabeth Peratrovich Day with a parade and celebration at the ANB Founders’ Hall. Here are some pictures from the parade. To read the history of the holiday, scroll below the pics. February 16 is Elizabeth Peratrovich Day in Alaksa. With today’s political climate of demonizing the other, repeating this story is more important than ever. In 1945, during the debate in the Alaska Territorial … Continue reading Elizabeth Peratrovich Day, 2017
Today in Silver Bay dozens of whales were feeding, sometimes looking like synchronized swimmers, diving in tandem. The air was cold so their breaths hung in the air, crystallized mist shining in a bright sun. No matter where I moved I seemed to be shooting into the sun. As morning turned to afternoon word spread on Facebook and Twitter an we were joined by several … Continue reading The Whales are Marching Too
Here is tranche 2 of the pictures of today’s march in Sitka. Sitka is lookin’ good! Click here to look at tranche 1 of the photos. Continue reading Sitka in Solidarity, Tranche 2
I have not seen anything like it in Sitka. Estimates vary from a low of 500 to nearly 1,000 people marching respectfully. I saw people for all sorts of different causes from all walks of life, and many different persuasions. We gathered as people made signs, than we marched, well it was more like a stroll, from the Crescent Harbor Shelter, around the St. Michael’s … Continue reading Sitka In Solidarity
Last night I popped my Jeep into 4 wheel drive for the first time in 33 months. I had begun to wonder if Sitka would ever see winter again. When you live in a rain forest the snow is a relief, precipitation in a different form. precipitation that you don’t mind walking in, precipitation that brightens up the town, even cloudy days. Today is transitional, … Continue reading It’s beginning to look a lot like…ALASKA!
December 24 will not be “Just Another Saturday Night.” It is Christmas Eve, which means the Battery Exchange is back. Here is a history of the Battery Exchange. The Tradition continues live on Christmas Eve on Raven Radio, KCAW, Sitka, streaming on www.kcaw.org. — The Battery Exchange started on KAXE in Grand Rapids Minnesota on Christmas Eve, 1976. When Suzi was a girl neighborhood parents … Continue reading The Battery Exchange, 8:00 PM to Midnight, Christmas Eve, on Raven Radio
Sitka Whalefest has two wildlife cruises each year. This year we took both of them. According to Jan Straley there are 100 whales in Sitka Sound right now, bulking up for their 30 day swim to Hawaii and their mating and calving seasons. The weather Friday night was so stormy that I wondered if we would get out on the water Saturday morning, but as … Continue reading Whales and Broken Clouds
For 20 years Sitka’s Whalefest has occupied our town during the first week on November. The festival is centered on a science symposium but integrates the performing arts, visual arts, education and outdoor adventure into a package that engages the community and brings visitors from as far as Australia and New Zealand. The Symposium dove into topics ranging from harpoon heads found bowhead whales captured … Continue reading 20th Sitka Whalefest.
Here is the second batch of photos from the 2016 Stardust Ball. It was a great event with Sitka putting on the Ritz and whimsy. Enjoy. Continue reading Stardust Ball, 2016, Photo Tranche 2
This year Raven Radio’s Stardust Ball returned to the newly renovated Centennial Building. This is the first batch of photos from he ball. Enjoy Continue reading Stardust Ball, 2016, Tranche 1
Alaska Airlines has several ilk runs, flights that hop from airport to airport. They often are numbered in the 60s and 70s. Flight 62 starts in. Fairbanks at 6 AM and arrives in Seattle at around 4:30 PM stopping at Anchorage, Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan. Some flights also stop at Cordova, Yakutat, Petersburg and Wrangell. On a bumpy day they can be a pain, and slow. … Continue reading The Milk Run
We arrived in Skagway in time for its evacuation. Skagway has a year around population on 850 but in the summer the population is on the north side of 2000. Sometimes 10,000 visitors, tourists and crew, come off of up to 5 ships. We arrived the second Sunday of September. The day we arrived we were the last of 3 ferries who were taking people … Continue reading Skagway
The White Pass and Yukon Route (WP & YR) is billed as the Scenic Railway of the World. It’s a narrow gauge (3’) railroad that was built to carry gold stampeders from tidewater at Skagway to, first the White Pass Summit (Late 1898) then to Lake Bennet BC, the head of navigation for the Yukon River (1899) and finally, 110 miles to Whitehorse (1900), beyond … Continue reading White Pass & Yukon Route, STEAM !!!
The White Pass is billed as Scenic Railway of the World. I can imagine with the play of clouds as we climb the almost 3000 feet to the summit of White Pass each trip is different. With steam power the whole trip is filtered through the fine mist created by the locomotive, we were in the car directly behind old 73, giving the whole landscape … Continue reading WP & YR Scenic Railway of the World.
The White Pass and Yukon Route used to run from Skagway, Alaska at tidewater to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, 110 miles. Today it goes only as far as Carcross, YT. Most tourists only ride the train to the White Pass Summit. Some trains go tho Fraser Meadows BC, some on to Lake Bennett BC and a few to Carcross. A few lucky of us get to … Continue reading Beyond the White Pass Summit.
