Alaska Cruise - Day 5

Today we sailed into Sitka, which was probably my favorite stop in Alaska. It was a quaint little town and we all loved it! As we were getting closer to the town, there were all these little islands scattered throughout the water. Most of these islands had a house on them, and some had a very nice yacht also. We decided that would be the life... live on a private island with only a yacht to get around town! We also decided we should ask the owners of one of these houses if we can kick them out for a while one summer so we can stay there for a family reunion. Maybe they could pay our way to Alaska too?! My grandpa told us that the scenery here in Sitka reminded him of his mission in Finland.

(Little private islands outside of Sitka. Notice the huge volcano in the background?)

Sitka didn't have a big pier like the other cities did, so our ship stopped further out in the ocean and we were shuttled ("tendered") back and forth from the ship to land on little tender boats.

(Mom and Dad on the tender)

Once we got to Sitka, we all kind of went our separate ways. Sam and Rhea went dry-suit snorkeling, Paula went on an ocean raft to see the volcano coastline, and my parents and I went on a walking tour around the city. We eventually met up with Grandpa and Phyllis, who were doing the same.

First we went to Castle Hill, which was the site of the transfer of Alaska to the USA. There is actually no castle or anything on the hill, just a bunch of plaques to read and a really good view of the ocean and of the city!

(Dad on steps to Castle Hill)

(View of the city from Castle Hill)

Next we stopped at the Saint Michael's Cathedral. There is a lot of Russian influence and history in Alaska, but we definitely noticed it a lot more in Sitka. This church has a big collection of Russian Orthodox art and other religious artifacts. It was interesting to see some of the artwork there and how it was so different from religious artwork I am used to seeing.

(Mom in front of the Cathedral)

(Some of the ornate artwork inside of the church)

Next we stopped at the Grandfather Frost Russian Christmas Store. This store was FULL of the Russian Matryoshka dolls (you know... those stacking dolls). I've never seen so many in one place! But they were all so pretty and painted so intricately. This was one of the souvenirs I bought for myself on this trip and I love the one I picked out! We were in this store forever because my mom was trying to pick out dolls for my sisters. Finally, the girl behind the counter started laughing and said to us "wow... you guys have been here for over an hour!" I guess that was our cue to leave!

(So many dolls!!)

Next we walked through town to the Sitka National Historical Park. On our way there we saw a really pretty golden eagle up in the tree off the street. At the park we saw tons of totem poles and the site of a battle between the Indian clan and the Russians. We saw two bald eagles high up in the trees, and we were amazed at all the different bird sounds we heard while walking. It was so cool! I was kind of joking around, but my mom and I both thought that this area really reminded us of the movie "Twilight." There were some really neat trees and vegetation, and we were pretty much expecting some vampires and werewolves to jump out at us any time!

(Mom and I at the visitors' center)

(One of the bald eagles we saw)

(We are standing next to a HUGE totem pole here. For those Twilight fans, this valley was exactly as I pictured the valley scene in the book when I read it... without the totem pole! I'm really not obsessed with that book, but all the scenery here really did remind me of Twilight!)

Our next stop was at the Sheldon Jackson Museum. This had a huge collection of native Indian culture items. We were only here for a couple of minutes because we had to make our show to see the New Archangel Russian Dancers!

(This woman was was weaving all this pieces. Some were so pretty, but I didn't have $400 to fork out to buy one!!)

(Mom even got her picture taken with Sarah Palin!)

(These weren't professional dancers, but they did a really good job. It was fun to watch them!)

(Actually, this should read Leaving Sitka... This picture is funny too because we always give my dad a hard time for not ever wearing shorts (his legs are really white!). Well he made sure to point out that he was pretty much the only man in Sitka wearing shorts that day and he was proud of the fact! Lookin' good Dad!)

We spent about 8 hours in Sitka, but it wasn't enough time to see everything we wanted to see! It would be really fun to go back there someday! Once we were back on the ship, we had dinner and celebrated Sam and Rhea's anniversary!!

(The waiters even sang the Happy Birthday song but switched out the words to "Happy Anniversary." They was pretty funny singing in their broken English!)

One of the highlights of the whole trip for me was going to the Joel Mason show that night. He does a really great impersonation of Elton John and the show was so funny! He was an awesome performer!

Paula thought that the show was going to be packed, so we got there really early. We ended up sitting on the front row and my dad was lucky enough to be right in Joel Mason's line of vision! He ended up getting teased in front of the entire audience during the whole show. What makes it funny is that my dad doesn't ever usually want to sit on the front row at shows like this, but he was a good sport and took the beating! Here is a video of some of the teasing... but the sound is not very clear. The person you can hear laughing hysterically is my mom. In this video, Joel Mason had just finished making fun of my dad for being an auditor, and saying he could've lied about his job to be something awesome. So he turns to a woman in the audience, saying that if he lied and said he was a firefighter or something, she would think he's really sexy. Well, this woman happened to be my aunt Paula, and he couldn't believe they were siblings! So of course that was really funny! Then you'll notice Joel pinching his fingers together towards my dad. He did this many times during the show, basically telling my dad to close his legs because it was making him uncomfortable the way my dad was sitting! He was just sitting normally, how guys sit with their legs crossed. But every time Joel looked over, he would motion for my dad to close his legs!! Then Joel says "What's your last name Greg?" My dad says "Dahl," and Joel's response is "Dahl? Again... you could've lied. That was your opportunity right there! You could've said RAMBO!!"

My dad was famous after this show! A couple of times later on in the week, people came up to him and said "Are you Greg?" One lady saw him in a gift shop and just started laughing. I don't think he loved the attention, but we all thought it was hilarious!