My sister and I recently returned from our maiden Viking ocean cruise, through and around Alaska’s Inner Passage. And despite that we both got sick (we won’t elaborate on that part of the experience), it was a trippy trip through a constantly changing landscape, along the way gathering insights into the state’s culture and history. Even before we started getting feverish, the whole experience seemed somewhat surreal.

Shore excursions, lectures on board, visits to museums, and our own research via the ship’s very good wifi, filled our brains with details, most of which I will probably forget. One thing seared into our brain from repetition, though, was the fact that the U.S purchased Alaska from Russia in the 1867 for 7.2 million dollars, which was roughly two cents per acre.

While the scenery is spectacular, and the wildlife is abundant (though not always evident), in this installment I am going to focus on a brief report on the communities we visited during shore excursions. Each had its own interesting character and history that we dipped our toes into, making for a kaleidoscope of impressions and factoids.

Ketchikan: Our first stop, having begun in Vancouver and spending the first day “scenic cruising” our way north. In the morning we did the “included” tour to the Potlatch Totem Park, a private collection of totem poles, native structures, and for some strange reason, antique cars. They do have an impressive collection, and a totem pole carving workshop, and it was a good introduction to the art. But, our second excursion was more of the real deal: a visit to Saxman Village, a Tlingit community a few miles outside of Ketchikan. Here, our excellent young guide Herbert started right in on the short walk from the bus to the gathering place, telling us about the plants along the path, and continued being informative (with a touch of humor) throughout the visit. (He was also one of the dancers in a brief performance.) A highlight was their more authentic totem carving workshop, presided over by National Heritage Fellow Nathan Jackson, and younger carvers. For a folklorist, the afternoon was a real treat! They also had a nice gift shop.

Sitka: Second on the agenda was Sitka, where we learned more about Alaska’s Russian heritage and visited the site where the territory was turned over to the U.S. The visit began with a slightly weird but still fun dance interpretation of the town’s history from a group called Alaska Storytellers, and then we were free to wander the small downtown, explore St. Michael’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral, and climb Castle Hill to read more about the history. (Did I mention that Alaska was purchased for 7.2 million dollars which was 2 cents per acre?)

Skagway: Skagway was next in the line-up. Here we learned about the area’s role in the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, during a narrated trip up the White Pass (by bus, though for an extra cost you could do it by a historic railroad) and through the great interpretation in various buildings back in town. It’s hard to fathom the thousands of (mostly men) hoping to find their fortune in this impossibly rugged terrain, on their way to the Yukon. The only people who actually got rich were those who were selling the goods needed to make the trip. Each would-be gold prospector was required to lug approximately a ton of goods (!!) over a series of steep mountain passes to the point where they would catch a steamboat to the gold fields.

Juneau: Alaska’s capital city was the next stop. Our shore excursion took us to the excellent State Museum, and then to a private rain forest garden a few miles out of town. We didn’t explore too much of the city itself, only enough to note that the state capital (across the street from the state museum) is not exactly a paragon of beauty. (More like a big concrete box.) There was a great mural by native artist Crystal Worl depicting Elizabeth Peratrovich, kick-ass Alaskan civil rights activist, my new hero.

Valdez: Last town to be explored was Valdez. After a two-day scenic sail during which we saw mostly mountains and glaciers, it was somewhat pleasant to see a peopled place. Valdez, I learned by visiting the various museums there, had been beset by a huge earthquake in the 1964. The quake and ensuing tsumani pretty much leveled the town and left a lot of traumatized residents behind. (The oral histories on video at the museum were harrowing!) And then there was the oil spill…

Since these places are all only accessible from the outside world by water or air, at this point in my life I will probably never have the opportunity to visit them again. (As the advertisements of the cruise kept telling us, this was after all a “once in a lifetime experience.”) But I’m glad I did experience each one for a day, if just to skim the surface of their layers of history and culture. Here are some photos of the experience.