Juneau - state museum & eats

I haven't seen many sunsets on this trip, what with sunsets happening after midnight during June & July, & then being in cloudy coastal areas in August. These pics were taken from my hotel balcony last evening. 

The Alaska State Museum

This visit was a good way to review so much of what I've seen all around Alaska during the summer. 

                                                                                            Tlingit harpoon hooks

Russian Orthodox vestment

mining locomotive

                                             a sandhill crane (one of my obsessions)

a late lunch

misc

I often make a note or two during the day of an item to include here, & then sometimes forget to include it. Here are a few of those items.

- Much of the land in southeast Alaska is rising due to a phenomenon called glacial rebound. The enormous depth of the glaciers kept the earth here weighed down, so the earth rose as the glaciers receded. The ground here is still rising a bit each year.

- Just before hibernating in the fall, bears eat dirt & moss to plug up their system, so that they don't poo in their den over the winter. First thing in the spring, they eat skunk cabbage, especially the roots, to get things moving again. 

- When I was about to get off the ferry in Ketchikan, news spread of a cat who'd just gotten loose on the ferry. I'd have bet a lot that it was holed up & wouldn't be found, as the car deck is a noisy, hectic place. When I got back on the same ferry 11 days later & asked about the cat, it turned out that they had coaxed the cat out. 😊

- When we were about to go into the totem pole carving shed in Saxman, the guide encouraged us to ask any question we had with one exception: no questions about buying a pole or how much one might cost, as they are part of the cultural heritage & not for sale.