We made it!
We're in Alaska. Ah.
Right now we're on a ferry en route to Juneau from Ketchikan, in southeast Alaska. We actually spent the first couple days of our trip in Metlakatla, on Annette Island about an hour by boat from Ketchikan. It's a reservation where Josh's mom grew up. She was one of 11 kids, so you can imagine how many relatives he has on the island.
The weather has been absolutely perfect. A little cloudy, but no complaints here. We were able to borrow cars or ride with people and check out a bunch of different parts of the island--beach, rainforest, an old airstrip in the middle of nowhere. Within town, though, pretty much everything is within walking distance. We spent a lot of time with various relatives--mostly at his grandma's house, which was sort of the center of activity (at least for his family). A number of uncles and cousins are carvers and two of them were working on totem poles while we were there. So cool! I got a paddle from his cousin Kelly. Also super cool. And all of the relatives are really nice and friendly--he has tons of cousins his age, so it was fun to hang out.
We happened to be in Metlakatla right before their big celebration, and during a big reunion so we were able to see some native dancing. Awesome. We even got video! I'll figure out how to get it up on YouTube as soon as we get home.
Metlakatla is so peaceful--a true small town where people leave their doors unlocked and when a store is closed you can call the owner at home. Unfortunately there aren't many jobs there, but people are excited about a new road being built to make it easier to get between Metlakatla and Ketchikan.
The ferry we're on is really nice. There's a cafeteria, a bar, showers and even informational talks. Very cool. So far we've seen seals and a couple of whales. Hoping to see more on the way! Tonight we stop off at Petersburg, another small town, and then we'll board a different ferry for the rest of our trip to Juneau. (With a cabin so we can sleep.)
I'm working on posting photos to Flickr, but the connection here is pretty slow.
Right now we're on a ferry en route to Juneau from Ketchikan, in southeast Alaska. We actually spent the first couple days of our trip in Metlakatla, on Annette Island about an hour by boat from Ketchikan. It's a reservation where Josh's mom grew up. She was one of 11 kids, so you can imagine how many relatives he has on the island.
The weather has been absolutely perfect. A little cloudy, but no complaints here. We were able to borrow cars or ride with people and check out a bunch of different parts of the island--beach, rainforest, an old airstrip in the middle of nowhere. Within town, though, pretty much everything is within walking distance. We spent a lot of time with various relatives--mostly at his grandma's house, which was sort of the center of activity (at least for his family). A number of uncles and cousins are carvers and two of them were working on totem poles while we were there. So cool! I got a paddle from his cousin Kelly. Also super cool. And all of the relatives are really nice and friendly--he has tons of cousins his age, so it was fun to hang out.
We happened to be in Metlakatla right before their big celebration, and during a big reunion so we were able to see some native dancing. Awesome. We even got video! I'll figure out how to get it up on YouTube as soon as we get home.
Metlakatla is so peaceful--a true small town where people leave their doors unlocked and when a store is closed you can call the owner at home. Unfortunately there aren't many jobs there, but people are excited about a new road being built to make it easier to get between Metlakatla and Ketchikan.
The ferry we're on is really nice. There's a cafeteria, a bar, showers and even informational talks. Very cool. So far we've seen seals and a couple of whales. Hoping to see more on the way! Tonight we stop off at Petersburg, another small town, and then we'll board a different ferry for the rest of our trip to Juneau. (With a cabin so we can sleep.)
I'm working on posting photos to Flickr, but the connection here is pretty slow.
posted by Mer @ 8/02/2007 02:05:00 PM
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