We don’t have to race off anywhere, so we had a slow start this morning. Now that we have cellular coverage again, I did my usual Sunday crossword with Daughter #1 on Zoom (we had FaceTimed with Daughter #2 last night) and then worked on catching up with my blog post backlog. Rain fell all morning, so these activities worked out perfectly with the weather. Once the rain let up, we walked into town and did the Totem Trail in the Sitka National Historical Park. Totem poles appear from between the trees as you walk the path; it’s a delightful way to explore both the area and this native tradition.
In addition to totem poles - and big slugs - another interesting thing on the walk was the large number of trees growing on nurse logs, logs that have fallen and serve as nurseries for new trees as they (the fallen trees) rot. Lots of the bigger trees had holes under their roots where the nurse logs had rotted away, and they looked like they were tiptoeing on their roots.
There are ravens all over Sitka. Everywhere you hear the chatter of these gregarious song birds. (Yes, they are really song birds.) When I lived in Anchorage, I fell in love with the sounds made by ravens and changed my iPhone ring tone to a raven call. Now as I walk around Sitka, I keep thinking my phone is ringing!
We have really enjoyed Sitka. It’s a nice place for visitors without feeling contrived or like we are displacing the citizenry. The town seems to have focused development on the needs of its residents more than most towns with a tourist presence, which I really respect. It looked to us like locals actually use the town center. I’m especially impressed that the library is right on the waterfront, with big picture windows overlooking the harbor. When we walked home from our walk with the totem poles we saw tons of kids and families fishing on the downtown beach and breakwater. It looks like a great place to live!
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