Travel

The trip from which I have been showing photographs since August 18 was a Viking Ocean Cruise, Alaska & the Inside Passage, Vancouver, British Columbia to Seward, Alaska.

We began the cruise in Vancouver, where we boarded the Viking Orion at its berth at Canada Place.

Today participants in City Daily Photo will show photos that illustrate the September theme of "Travel." 

 Click here to see other photographers' interpretations of the "Travel" theme.

Seward Murals

 In 2011 two artists painted whales on the side of this building Seward, Alaska, as an experiment.  The mural was very popular, but it did not do well in the hostile Alaskan environment.

In 2019 the building was renovated.  The owner hired J. Leslie to paint whales again.  His mural "Return of the Whales" looks fresh seven years later.

The Ranting Raven Gallery is across the street.  It sells "unique gifts, original art, [and] local wares."  Three raven-related murals from 2014 are on the side of the gallery.

In the beginning, the world was all water.  Raven flew over and fell in love with Salmon Woman.  He asked her to marry him and she agreed, but only if raven creates land.  With the help of other sea creatures, raven obtains sand from the sea bottom and drops it to create land and islands.  Salmon Woman can now come ashore to dry her hair in the wind.

The world was dark because an evil Chief has hidden the sun, moon and stars in a box.  The raven discovers this and, disguised as the Chief's grandson, tricks him into opening the box.  Now the sun is released to light the world and the moon and stars light the night sly.

The Fog Woman story teaches respect for what you have.  Raven is greedy and takes this for granted and loses her, but not before she creates Salmon for the world.  Jennifer Headtke is the lead artist with a long list of contributing artists.

Across an alley from The Ranting Raven Gallery is an older 1999 mural, "Snapshots of the Past."  A photograph of William H. Seward is in the center of the left side.  Seward was the U.S. Secretary of State who bought Alaska in 1867 from Russia for $7.2 million, or about two cents per acre.

Linked to Monday Murals.

Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

 This is a place that takes care of orphaned and injured Alaskan wildlife.

An adult female brown bear was recently brought to the center after she was badly injured in a fight with male bears.

I'm not sure I have seen muskoxen before.

A black bear paced restlessly.

I didn't know that reindeer are simply domesticated caribou.

Alaska SeaLife Museum

Seward is the most northern port city we visited.  While there, we went to the Alaska SeaLife Museum.   It is one of 23 Coastal Ecosystem Learning Centers (CELCs) across North America.  The goal of CELCs is to educate and involve people in addressing critical environmental issues.

For visitors like me with limited time, the Center also provides an opportunity to see some of the native wildlife up close in an environment safe for them and safe for me.  These are a horned puffin (above) and a crested puffin (below).

In the lower level of the Center, I watched a seal practice swimming upside down.  On the upper level I watched the same seal pull itself out of the water. 

There was one huge sea lion.

 There were some big and ugly fish to see, too.  I think they are rockfish.

A staff member enlisted two volunteers to feed the birds.  The volunteers loved doing it.

Sled Dogs

 One of the most enjoyable excursions on this Alaska trip was visiting the home of Seavey's Iditarod Racing Team, where we got a ride with sled dogs pulling our cart.  These sled dogs have been bred to race!  When they think their handlers are getting ready to hitch them up, the baying is deafening. 

 The dogs have been specially bred for generations.  Each racing family makes different breeding decisions.  Most are specialized working mix-breeds rather than a single purebred type. Mushers breed them for speed, stamina, and work ethic rather than looks. 

A sled in an Iditarod race is pulled by 12 to 16 sled dogs.  Our cart was pulled by 12 dogs.

And they're off!  It was fascinating and fun to sit behind them and admire their strength and teamwork.

The Seavey's grandfather, father, three brothers and now grandsons have all raced in the 1,000 mile Iditarod race from Anchorage to Nome, on the Bering Sea.  There are cups and trophies all around their campus.  This is the grand prize trophy for winning the 2017 Iditarod race.

Kachemak Bay

 We stopped in Homer, Alaska, a small town on the Kenai Peninsula, on Kachemak Bay.  I took a boat ride into the bay.

The cormorants here are pelagic cormorants, but we did see one double-crested cormorant that was a long way from home.

Some of the islands are loaded with birds.

Sea otters are playful.  They love to swim on their backs.

Rocky islands were both plentiful and attractive.

This, understandably, is called Elephant Island.

We have seen bald eagles almost daily on this trip.  Generally they have been at a distance.  This eagle was on a rocky outcrop not too far away.

The naturalist was excited to see this young black bear.  It was the first black bear she had seen on this island all summer.

Salmon Hatchery

 

We visited a salmon hatchery outside Valdez, Alaska.  

A gazillion seagulls hovered around.  Between the fog and the constant motion, I couldn't get a good photo to illustrate how many there were.

A gull was ready to pounce.

A flock of gulls rested after a meal.

The salmon are so tightly packed it is hard to understand how they can maneuver.

Several sea lions thought this was a great place to pack on some pounds to survive the coming winter.