Time in Wrangell is passing much faster than I want it to. While fishing on Wednesday, Capt. John Yeager (Timber Wolf Charters) told us that Wrangell had been dropped by many of the major cruiselines. I started asking questions of the locals. They got dropped, not because they didn't have sites to visits or cool things to see and do. Not because the town was too small. But get this... The town refused to let the cruiselines open the "made in china" gift shops and jewelry stores that they own in every other major cruise town. So the cruiselines bailed out. I had always assumed that the lure of good money for cheap goods persuaded townspeople to open those cheesy shops. Not the case at all. It's actually a pretty good marketing scheme. The cruiseline recommends a really good jewelry store, and the tourists don't think for themselves when they get there, at least not enough to realize that it's not a good deal. They also tell their cruisers that they are doing "everything there is to do in this town" when that is so far from the truth. Much of what the cruisers are doing is owned and run by cruise employees (charter boats, kayak tours, wildlife tours, you name it). So not only are the cruisers paying more for the cruise than they probably should, they're not doing as much as an independent traveler, and their lining the pockets of the cruiseline with every souvenir and activity. In light of this new knowledge, I have to thank my mom and dad for doing it on their own back in 1995, and for encouraging me to do the same in 2004. This wouldn't have been the same trip from the deck of a cruiseship.
Ok, off my soapbox. Since they don't have the cruise tourists, Wrangell has maintained its identity as a genuinely sincere small town. Not to say that it doesn't have its fair share of "bad element," but people here are truly glad to see a new face, say hello, strike up a conversation in the middle of the street (thanks to our future politician and hand-shaker Josh), and even give a group of strangers a ride to their hiking destination with a full tour and historical explanation of the town included...no charge!
After fishing on Wednesday, we flipflopped Thursday and Saturday, sort of. Instead of throwing ourselves into a trail, we decided to spend most of the day walking around town. We walked the mile to the petroglyph beach (petro=rock, glyph=carving). And I always thought petro meant oil?!? The carvings were in the slate-like rocks. They were incredibly cool and easy to pick out, except for Alex who admitted he just didn't have "the eye" for finding them. I found 23 of the 40, and we are told that many of them have been rubbed clean by centuries of sand and water. The speculation is that the carvings were made by the people who lived on the island 10,000 years ago, even before the native Tlingits. The petroglyphs have several different explanations: welcome to the fish, peace offering to the seas, tribal or family markings, territorial boundary markers, and others. Here are a couple of examples.
Last night we went to the Totem Bar on Front Street. Even though downtown Wrangell is smaller than downtown Skagway, Wrangell has 2 grocery stores instead of 1, and 4+ bars instead of just 2. The Totem Bar on Thursday night has karaoke, so you can imagine how that went. One round of "Friends in Low Places" (Jen took pictures), where Leigh and I spent more time with our fingers in our guy-side ears than we did singing. And one shot at "American Pie," a marathon song with a local named Tom Robinson who offered a speedboat ride up the Stikine River to Chief Shakes Island for a tour and a soak in the hot spring tubs. Right, Tom. We'll think about it. By the time we finished the song, it was 10:15pm, and the bar had cleared out. I hope that's just a coincidence. When we got back to the hostel, we watched the movie Iron Will. (We had watched Balto earlier in the evening. Just can't get enough of the Ididarod!)
Tonight we are going with Nancy, our hostel host, and her friend Teddi, the town's drug rehab counselor, to a Ranger-produced potluck and presentation on what makes Alaska unique, complete with trivia competition. The potluck is being held at Nemo Point (nemo means nobody), which I'm told is beautiful and a must-see in Wrangell. We'll let you know tomorrow.
Ok, off my soapbox. Since they don't have the cruise tourists, Wrangell has maintained its identity as a genuinely sincere small town. Not to say that it doesn't have its fair share of "bad element," but people here are truly glad to see a new face, say hello, strike up a conversation in the middle of the street (thanks to our future politician and hand-shaker Josh), and even give a group of strangers a ride to their hiking destination with a full tour and historical explanation of the town included...no charge!
After fishing on Wednesday, we flipflopped Thursday and Saturday, sort of. Instead of throwing ourselves into a trail, we decided to spend most of the day walking around town. We walked the mile to the petroglyph beach (petro=rock, glyph=carving). And I always thought petro meant oil?!? The carvings were in the slate-like rocks. They were incredibly cool and easy to pick out, except for Alex who admitted he just didn't have "the eye" for finding them. I found 23 of the 40, and we are told that many of them have been rubbed clean by centuries of sand and water. The speculation is that the carvings were made by the people who lived on the island 10,000 years ago, even before the native Tlingits. The petroglyphs have several different explanations: welcome to the fish, peace offering to the seas, tribal or family markings, territorial boundary markers, and others. Here are a couple of examples.
Last night we went to the Totem Bar on Front Street. Even though downtown Wrangell is smaller than downtown Skagway, Wrangell has 2 grocery stores instead of 1, and 4+ bars instead of just 2. The Totem Bar on Thursday night has karaoke, so you can imagine how that went. One round of "Friends in Low Places" (Jen took pictures), where Leigh and I spent more time with our fingers in our guy-side ears than we did singing. And one shot at "American Pie," a marathon song with a local named Tom Robinson who offered a speedboat ride up the Stikine River to Chief Shakes Island for a tour and a soak in the hot spring tubs. Right, Tom. We'll think about it. By the time we finished the song, it was 10:15pm, and the bar had cleared out. I hope that's just a coincidence. When we got back to the hostel, we watched the movie Iron Will. (We had watched Balto earlier in the evening. Just can't get enough of the Ididarod!)
Tonight we are going with Nancy, our hostel host, and her friend Teddi, the town's drug rehab counselor, to a Ranger-produced potluck and presentation on what makes Alaska unique, complete with trivia competition. The potluck is being held at Nemo Point (nemo means nobody), which I'm told is beautiful and a must-see in Wrangell. We'll let you know tomorrow.
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