Ward and I recently took a trip to Alaska. We flew into Anchorage (via a stop in Seattle) and used our friends' house as our home base. I am chronicling our trip here.
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| One of our souvenir stops |
This was our final day in Alaska, so it was a day to do all of our last-minute things. First up were souvenirs.
Bo and B took us to downtown Anchorage for shopping. Our first stop was the Ulu Factory. Ulu knives were a new thing for me, but I learned they have been around since at least 2500 BC and were widely used by the indigenous people. Now they are one of the most popular souvenirs from Alaska. We'd stayed with the trend and bought two. We used one the other day to chop nuts, and it made the job easier than it ever has been.
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| Ulu knife with bowl-shaped cutting board |
After visiting another souvenir shop and having lunch, we headed to the Anchorage greenhouse. There, we saw a wide variety of tropical plants.
Next up was Chugach State Park, where we got a good view down into the city of Anchorage. We also watched paragliders.
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| In one direction, we looked down on Anchorage. |
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| In the other direction were the Chugach Mountains. |
Then we had to face reality, and that it was time to leave. We packed and got airplane snacks for tomorrow before heading out to dinner.
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| Ward was especially happy with our choice for dinner. |
The next morning, we left Bo, B, and Charlie at 6:30 a.m. to head for the airport. It was sad to leave our incredible hosts, but all good things must come to an end. Everything went smoothly at the airport, and a few hours later, we were back in the Lower 48, meeting our friend Caroline in Seattle.
Until next time...
The ulu knife and bowl are beautiful and functional, my favorite kind of art.
ReplyDeleteYou had a fabulous trip! Thank you for sharing your adventure.
I am excited to try out all kinds of cutting with the ulu. My knife skills aren't the best and this may help.
DeleteWhat a lovely visit to Alaska! Thank you for sharing it with us.
ReplyDeleteIt was a wonderful place to visit.
DeleteSo interesting to learn about the Ulu knife. I have suggested a similarly-styled rocker knife for some of my patients to help them cut food. I had no idea the concept had been around that long.
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting us be armchair travelers on your trip!
They have found ulu knives made out of bone and slate. The knife was handy for many things, but was especially good for scraping hides. Only one side of the blade is sharpened. The other side is the scraping side.
DeleteWhat a wonderful vacation! I loved the pictures and posts. Makes me want to take another trip to Alaska. :)
ReplyDeleteWe bought one of those ulu knives and cutting board too, and that knife is really sharp. I even use it to slice bar cookies and such. It even looks pretty sitting on the countertop.
I got an ulu knife for us and my son who likes to cook. We haven't found a good place for it, so it may stay on the countertop, too. It's pretty so that would be okay. (I generally don't like extra thing on our countertops if I can help it.)
DeleteI would love to go back to AK because there is so much more to see and do there. But there are so many other places I haven't been to, so we shall see.
My brother and his wife are up there now. He called me saturday from seward wanting directions. Ha, from when I worked there in the 70's! They didn't feel the earthquake that happened outside Sand Point yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI see Sand Point is in the Aleutians. I imagine they have a lot of earthquakes there. Mt. Spurr was threatening an eruption when we were there, but it didn't happen.
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