On our way North, we stopped at the Alaskan Heritage Center, for a bit of orientation to the cultures of the native people. The facility was amazing, well planned and operated. After a demonstration of the some of the dances that the natives would do during the winter months, I downloaded an app that lead us through a tour of the various homes that the native Alaskan people typically lived in.
The people that lived on the tundra used a unique method to making sure that they could find their dugout homes in a blizzard condition. They would use the jaw bones of a baleen whale to mark the entrance of their homes. The bones would stick up above the snow to help them remain oriented in the flat white world.
The center was amazing, and included some beautiful totem carvings that had been recreated by native people living in the region.
MacKenzie was a bit heart broken to find out that a project she had worked on in school involving the native people of Alaska was inaccurate. She had a diorama of an igloo as a form of housing, only to find out that an igloo was only used as a temporary shelter during harsh conditions. The recreated dwellings were great to see, and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the cultural center.
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