On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
The movie Insomnia is the closet I have come to Alaska. Thankfully, these totem poles are fun and interesting, and a lot less intense than that! ~WaterGirl
randy khan
15 years ago, we took a cruise to Alaska. (I’m not generally excited by the idea of cruises, but this is the way to see southern Alaska.) Our last port before the end of the cruise was Sitka, which was interesting because of the mix of U.S. and Russian culture, but also is the site of Sitka National Historical Park, which is devoted to Native Alaskan totem poles. We’d seen a little totem pole park in Ketchikan, but this was much better. And it was a lovely spot, too.
You start your visit with this building, which has a lot of the more fragile poles arrayed along the walls. The action really is outdoors, though, which is where they were meant to be in the first place.
Most of the totem poles are along a roughly circular path through the park, place among the trees. This one features a whale, but of course they all have multiple images. The poles are from the Tlingit and Haida traditions.
This is a detail from an older pole. Unlike a lot of historical parks, they do add new things periodically. The park site has some photos of the installation of a pole on it.
This is a killer whale pole. I think that’s a raven on top of it, with a frog above the raven; I’m not sure what’s at the bottom. If the figure looks like it might be someone in some kind of Russian dress, it might well be – there is a tradition of incorporating non-Native figures into the poles. There’s a famous one in Ketchikan (which has been sort of copied in other poles) with Abraham Lincoln at the top, but it wasn’t in his honor. Rather, it was kind of a complaint because they thought he had reneged on a promise he made to them.
This is a detail of the killer whale. You can see the human face in the figure. That’s pretty common in Native Alaskan art, as is the idea of people transforming into animals and vice versa.
A little bit of native wildlife. My wife and her brother were not entirely sure why I was so excited to see a banana slug, but the friend who was with us was a bit more enthusiastic.
I really could have taken many more photos of the totem poles, as they were everywhere (and I’ve omitted some of the photos I took). It’s really a fascinating art form, and one that continues to be practiced today. We actually saw two different totem pole makers on this trip, one at the park and one in Ketchikan, and it seems like it’s not just old traditionalists who were doing it.
I thought I should end with a mountain view from the park. These kinds of vistas are everywhere in this part of Alaska, and they make you feel calm and serene.
Yutsano
Oh man. I so am missing Stanley Park right now. Stupid virus.
randy khan
@Yutsano:
The Alaska trip started in Vancouver. Stanley Park was on our list for the day we had there before the cruise began, but there was so much to see that we didn’t get to it. We did see a pretty great group of totem poles in Victoria, though. (Oh, Lord, that’s almost 30 years ago now.)
And yeah, stupid virus. And stupid government. As you might guess, my wife and I travel a lot and we’re really missing it.
There go two miscreants
I enjoyed the totem pole pictures — it is a fascinating art form.
Maeve
Sitka used to be my home town, moved to Juneau a few tears ago.
Maeve
@Maeve:
Arclite
Trump is serious about the stimulus package, because he thinks its his only hope at closing the gap. I don’t think it will change the outcome of the election, but if he does, let’s get that stimulus passed. If he were really serious, he’d hold Amy Coney Barrett hostage: unless the stimulus is passed by congress and on his desk before the ACB vote, he shuts down congress until next year under Article II, Section 3. I doubt he’s organized or competent enough to play that kind of hardball, but it’s in his own interest to.
Mary G
I learn so much on Balloon Juice; thank you for sharing.
I have a young friend who’s a proud Banana Slug (it’s the mascot for UC Santa Cruz).
I well remember the fights over choosing it. It was the hippie school; originally no grades given, etc. Originally they didn’t do formal sports, but when they started and had to choose an official mascot, the Chancellor wanted something “more dignified” and tried to impose “The Sea Lions.”
An alum says:
While I was looking for that, I found a story on the same page about the Bruin mascot that is pure California. Also Bill in Glendale will like to see it:
Note: Bold mine, also I copyedited this in a few places so the late night pedants wouldn’t be distracted.
BigJimSlade
@randy khan: I imagine a totem pole entirely of GOP figures that makes you both laugh and retch and the same time.
Thanks for the pictures! It looks like the slug should be called a leopard banana slug.
randy khan
@BigJimSlade:
It’s just a little overripe.
Captain C
These are lovely photos. Thanks!
Wag
@Maeve:
Excellent!
munira
I love Sitka. I have some photos that are practically identical to these. Good memories.
cursorial
Beautiful! Went on an Alaskan cruise a few years ago, and was disappointed the itinerary didn’t include Sitka – the Russian history was really intresting. I didn’t know about the totem poles, though.
Kent
Juneau was my home town for a decade. I worked for NOAA in the downtown Federal building and lived out in North Douglas.
I was over to Sitka at least a couple dozen times for work purposes over the years. One thing about SE Alaska (or Alaska in general) is that in-state travel is pretty complicated and expensive if your employer isn’t covering the costs.
Kent
Evergreen State College in Olympia WA did the same thing. Their mascot is the geoduck, a giant clam that looks very much like an uncircumsized penis with a shell on one end: https://www.evergreen.edu/geoduck
Mary G
AOC is on Twitch playing a game and talking to more than 325,000 other people. She’s been at it a while.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mary G: One of my former neighbors was a UC Santa Cruz alum and had a “Slugs” license plate frame, the rest of her family were Bruins.
joel hanes
My family did a small-boat cruise in SE Alaska, less than 130 passengers, and it was perfectly wonderful. We could go into smaller ports, when we were in a town we didn’t so much flood it as visit. Wonderful boat-handling got us quite close to a calving glacier for an hour, and between two pods of whales, and close enough to an island cliff to watch the goats.
That was on American Cruise Lines, which I hope survives the pandemic.
John Revolta
@Mary G:”………..Hearst then had the photographer stuffed and mounted in his trophy room”
Origuy
Never been to Alaska, though I’ve been to BC several times and Yukon once. The UBC Museum of Anthropology has many totem poles as well as other First Nations art. One of my favorite sculptures anywhere is there: Raven and the First Men by Haida artist Bill Reid.
MazeDancer
Wonderful photos!
raven
See if you can find the former BJ contributor who lives in Sitka.
arrieve
Beautiful pictures. I’ve never been to Sitka, but I have been to Denali National Park. I should send some of those pictures.
Denali
Sitka is a fascinating place. I did not realize after we visited that the island is quite large with a very remote back country. The Russian part of its history is quite apparent in the architecture and culture. Thank you, Raven, for the episodes- I look forward to reading them.
thebewilderness
I loved living in Juneu, and SE Alaska is gorgeous, but I always loved Sitka best.
BigJimSlade
@randy khan: LOL – good one!
TriassicSands
It’s one of the great scultures anywhere. Anyone who hasn’t been to the Museum of Anthropology (U. of B.C.) in Vancouver should try to get there at least once.