The Russians have landed

So a Russian tall ship came to town. It was crewed by about 160 young Russian guys along with four Russian ladies....and we thought Alaska had interesting gender ratios. The majority of the crew couldn't speak much English which made for all kinds of fun charades as John and I wandered around the boat. Despite the many "crew only" signs, one of the crew supervisors took us below deck. (I have to admit, it looked virtually identical to the coach class quarters of a cruise ship.)

Although the ship itself was beautiful, I found the smoking and computer/cell phone usage of the young Russkies to be the most interesting part of our adventure. When I saw their outstretched arms holding nondescript laptops out the porthole windows, it felt like old English fiction come to life. Instead of prisoners reaching from below ground for food, they sought out electronic waves of home.

They stood in small blue uniformed huddles smoking one cigarette after another as if in a race. I kept waiting for the director of a Hollywood movie to call her American actors back to the set. Off to the port side, a handful fished with line that looked like it had been confiscated from the ocean. With a cigarette dangling from their lips, they pulled the line up the 50 or so feet along the ship's keel and deposited some of the oddest sea-life I've ever seen into metal buckets.

Reading on sun-baked rocks

Wally, the tugboat captain

I went on a bike adventure to find the end of the road. I ended up at a shooting range where I met Wally, the tugboat captain.

Wally is a competitive target shooter and makes most of his own guns and all his own ammo. He taught me to shoot an AK-47; my first time ever touching a gun.

This is the gorgeous estuary at the Starrigavan Campground...nearly the end of the road.

Generations of Alaskan natives (Tlingit people) fishing for subsistence

View from the road home

Paul from Norfolk came to stay with us at the hostel. We had wonderful in-house concerts for a whole week!

Welcome to Sitka

I couldn't get far enough away with my telephoto, but it's still a beautiful sign. It is all made out of metal.

I'm still working on the perfect eagle shot.

Just another beautiful Sitka day...

The mighty kayaker

Sitka's one bridge connecting Japonski Island to town. On Japonski, one can find the airport, Mt. Edgecumbe High School, and the University of Alaska Southeast campus.

Cloud shadows

Like it? It's for sale -- $1 million.

Mt. Edgecumbe, our local volcano. The clouds form around the crater imitating a volcanic eruption like that almost every day.

Sitka Sunset

That is the hostel, to the right. Sunsets like this are not common in Sitka and so upon seeing this one, I ran out the door to take dozens of photos over the next hour trying to capture the mind-blowing colors.

To the right is the hatchery portion of the Sitka Sound Science Center. I work there in the mornings now re-articulating a juvenile Orca skeleton.

Totem poles are found throughout the National Totem Park, just down the street from the hostel where I live. The Tlingit tribe still has a strong presence in Sitka and these totem poles are made by a famous local carver. The park is a beautiful example of southeast Alaska rainforest habitat. It is covered in bald eagles and ravens and recently, there have been multiple bear sightings. The salmon started running upstream this week to go spawn. The new food supply draws the bears down into town to feed alongside the eagles.

Nila, another hosteler friend. Nila joined us from Kansas and was very grateful for the cool, wet days.

The sky was on fire.

Hiking Indian River

That is my friend and hiking companion, Jutta. She was visiting from Germany.

Indian River Falls, a good 5 mile hike in.

The Great Duck Race, a.k.a. Sitka's Rotary Club Annual Fundraiser

Buy a ticket from the duck lady and this is where you'll end up.

Look at 'em go! I thought it was oddly beautiful.

Traffic jam

The Tortoise and the Hare

The finish line!

That kid was standing in 45 degree water for more than 10 minutes in plain old tennis shoes and socks. I don't think he even noticed. When I commented on this to a local standing nearby, they said, "We don't grow weak ones up here."

These ducks are confused -- they're trying to spawn and the photographer is missing the whole thing!

I was only four numbers away (out of a couple thousand) from winning two Alaskan Airlines round trip tickets, but hey, I learned of another way to become a millionaire -- rent out rubber ducks by the thousands to municipalities and everybody wins. Who knew?