Alaska has long been on my radar as somewhere I wanted to visit…but where to begin? Being the largest state it is massive, twice the size of Texas. Well my decision was made for me when my friends Joel and Ritchie, whom I had met last year on my South African trip invited me and my friends Betsy and Jeff to visit them in Juneau. Juneau is in the lower panhandle of the state. If the rest of Alaska is anything line the Juneau area it must be breathtaking. The ocean, bays, coves, passages, mountains, glaciers, bears, eagles, whales, seals and sealions, flowers, vistas, hiking trails, and native culture provided and endless array of activity and objects of curiosity. An added bonus was that the local native tribe, the Tlingit, were holding their biennial Celebration. The color and majesty of the region is addictive and I am confident I will return to experience more of it. Here are a few photos I took during my nine days there.
Yakutat dancers at Celebration
WATCH THE VIDEO link above.
The older guy making a valiant effort to keep the rhythm of the dance is the 75 year old Lieutenant Governor of Alaska, Bryan Mallott, a Tlingit elder. This group are from the town of Yakutat where he was mayor before coming to the state capital. They are his people. He is an incredible guy.
All the photos of animals are of them in the wild.