It was a quiet Sunday morning in Valdez. So quiet I wondered briefly if there had been some crazy event that took all the people and just left this mist shrouded village nestled next to a bay of gorgeous green-blue water. You could tell that there were mountains surrounding us. We drove through a beautiful canyon to get down here and over the water in the distance we could tree covered land disappearing up into the fog.
We went first to the ferry terminal, having devised a plan to perhaps ferry over to the Kenai Peninsula and get a chance to see some of the sea creatures we know are living out there while saving gas and the drive time going back over the road we had just travelled. The office was closed and no one in sight anywhere. Oh well. Cruising slowly through town we headed toward the visitor’s center, looking for signs of life. Arriving at our destination we found the Welcome to Valdez sign on the door had a closed sign in the window next to it. Hmmm… But then, what’s this? An open sign in the shop sharing the breezeway with the visitor’s center! Finally, proof we were not the last humans on earth.
Ice Age Arts turned out to be a wonderful find. It’s a small shop, with lots of windows lighting a collection of remarkably well crafted carvings and lovely ivory and jade jewelry. Brenda greeted us warmly (I think she might have been relieved to see other humans about as well) and explained that all the work in the shop is done by her family-3 generations of them. I guess 4, really, since the grandkids are starting to help paint some of the fun magnets and tree ornaments. They get their materials from all over Alaska, including the ivory which comes from a Native Group who can legally still trade in that material (unearthed on their land, not hunted). A lot of the coolest pieces were made from tusks and fossilized whale bone uncovered in earth being moved during mining operations. We spent a long time just taking in all the amazing art (and wishing we had the $$ to afford it!). They also had an amazing assortment of knives made with bone or antler handles and metal recycled from old saw blades (which have a better grade steel than what you find now). I was teasing Jim that if he actually caught some fish here maybe he could get one of those fine filleting knives. Well, we made Brenda’s day by actually buying a few gifts for our loved ones and headed out to see if any other humans had materialized out of the mist.
The next stop was the Whitney Museum, without question my favorite museum of the many we have enjoyed during this trip so far. Not big or particularly well explained, it nonetheless held some of the most incredible examples of Native Art and Artifacts of anything we have seen so far. Maxine and Jesse Whitney came up from California in 1947 when he was offered work building the Air force base in Fairbanks. Maxine made friends with another woman who was a collector of arrowheads and who eventually opened an early version of a tourist shop carrying a number of items she bought from local people. After a time Maxine came to buy the shop and began making trips out to village sites, meeting the carvers and crafters who recognized her real love of their art and culture. She sold many of the things she collected in the villages of course, but saved what she considered the best or most unusual examples of different items for her private collection. In addition, recognizing a source of income for the community, several villages also dug through their old dump areas and came up with some very old items as well-carvings, clay figures and tools. Really cool stuff! We spent quite a bit of time appreciating all that was there and were so impressed by how aesthetically even the most common tools and household items were made. And the clothes, forget about it! They had the most beautiful and intricate beading and lush fur- I couldn’t even have imagined such work. It made me think it would almost be worth living in such a cold place if I got to wear such remarkable cloths J
Slightly less appealing from the vantage of our times, but still quite impressive, was the collection of pretty much every type of Alaskan animal including two mounted polar bears that were crazy big and the largest moose ever stuffed. It was amazing to stand so close to actual critters and appreciate not only their size, but also their fur and the other adaptations that help them survive in this harsh environment. Mixed in was a truly eclectic collection of early ‘Alaskana’-sleds, rifles and fishing gear, household goods, furniture made with antlers, two huge murals painted on moose hide and many other random, but generally quite interesting items. While no one else came in while we were there, the presence of the girl at the entrance left us feeling that there might actually be more humans somewhere in this town. After soaking in all the Whitney had to offer we went out to find them….
Down to the grocery and bottle shop-where else would one be more likely to see SOMEONE? And indeed finally, folks began appearing. Whew! No more zombie fantasies. After fortifying our supplies we headed down to the docks looking for some fresh fish for our dinner. No luck there, surprisingly enough, but Jim did get a lot of information about the local silver salmon run (in full swing) and decided to try his hand at fishing the next day. We fretted for a while that night about what to do with all the fish he would likely catch (from what we’d heard and what we saw other folks pulling in right from the docks). Well, even if it was a little pricey we decided shipping it home was worth all the happy friends and family who would get to enjoy it when we got back. We’d actually had several offers for freezer space before we left so knew it would be well received. ;-)
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