Sitka, Alaska

The long, eventless ferry ride to Sitka took most of yet another grey, rainy day. The locals bring food and sleeping bags in order to make themselves at home. There is a little snack and coffee area with big fat hot dogs, very expensive yogurt and decent coffee. The lady at the register says expectant mothers take the ferry into Juneau for prenatal care so she gets to know the children before they are born and watch them grow as they travel back and forth for whatever brings the family into town.

Sitka has about 8,000 people according to the driver of the bus we took, part of a government subsidized system with three lines and buses that are always on time. Its history is amazing. First there were the Tlinket, the native Americans that had the land the Russians thought they needed. The Russians did not treat them well and, in one notable battle in 1804, a gutsy Tlinket went into the fray weilding a blacksmith's hammer very effectively. The Tlinket retreated, slipped into the woods leaving everything behind and later resettled nearby but the Russians kept their big guns pointed at their village for years afterward. In the end, white man's diseases did what their guns couldn't, insuring Russian dominance over the area. More recently somebody got the big idea of placing a statue of the Russian commander on the hill where the original Tlinket stockade, and later, the Russian fort were located. The natives were highly offended. The statue was heavily cloaked up to the event and, when it was unveiled, they found that someone had been working away at trying to saw the good commander's head off. Evidently it was a bigger challenge than expected so they settled for sawing off his nose. What a great story!

We hiked the trails at the totem park, the only location Ive seen with a collection of totems. I somehow expected to see them everywhere. They are a record of tribal lineage and a form of storytelling that seems to have disappeared.

Tlinkit totems.

Next we went to the Fortress Of the Bears, a rehabilitation project where the bears are kept in circular enclosures that were once the huge vats of a paper mill. The bears were very cute, showing off for all they were worth in hopes of getting food handouts that we weren't allowed to give them. There were also a few small enclosures of small farm animals. The explanation is that children here can identify all salmon species by the age of five and see so many bears they are unimpressed but, since this area is not agricultural, they never see farm animals. As for the bear that are supposed to be so common here, I haven't seen one yet.

St. Michael's Cathedral is the town's only Russian Orthodox church, a centerpiece in this small town. It burned down in the 1960s, taking a whole block with it. The story is that the townspeople formed a human chain into the burning church and passed the icon paintings out, saving them all. Not so the church that was later rebuilt as it was before the fire. It has several bells in the belltower. A local woman told us the priest, father, whatever he is titled, tries to play them on occasion but, according to her, he needs more practice.

Sitka natives are an amazing bunch if their history gives an accurate portrayal. They, mostly the Native Americans, are slow talking in a way that is beginning to sound as distinctive as a deep southern accent. The local people seem to be pretty matter-of-fact, feet-on-the-ground people, helpful if asked but not outwardly friendly. Those I've passed on the street and greeted are not quick to reply in kind. I am not used to this.