Every other year, there is a huge celebration that goes in Juneau called, well, "Celebration." (Creative name, huh.) During it, all the Alaskan natives--mostly those in clans of the Tlingit tribe--of the area gather together for a dance, art, and culture festival. Some come into Juneau by ferry, but one group decided to go above-and-beyond by canoeing 200 miles to the capital city.
Eric and I had seen them canoeing while driving around for work, and one of the guides we work with told Eric that the canoeing group were planning on landing on Douglas Island. This was happening conveniently after we got off work, so we went down to "Sandy Beach" where many, many, MANY people had gathered. Traffic was as insane...or as insane as it can get in a city of 32,000 people. Lucky for us, it's less than a mile away and within walking distance.
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| Sandy Beach |
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Near Sandy Beach. Not really sure what this is
(an old pier?), but it looks cool. |
The canoers decided to take their sweet time getting to Sandy Beach on Douglas Island. They were supposed to have arrived when we arrived at the beach, but we sat around for a few hours before they did. While we waited, we entertained ourselves with everyone's favorite pastime (admit it), people watching.
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| A cute dog some kids were playing fetch with. |
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| Tlingits singing and drumming. |
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| Someone carrying a Tlingit depiction of an orca(?). |
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Now announcing the latest summer trend for 2014...
wolf pelts! |
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| Finally arriving! |
They took their sweet time getting to the area everyone was waiting at, but they took even longer to land. Feeling hungry and satisfied with the amount of culture we had for one day, we trekked back home and gorged on Eric's favorite dish, nachos--which has nothing to do with Tlingits, Alaska, or Celebration 2014...but delicious nonetheless.
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| Meh cutie-patootie. |
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