Along the Inside Passage

The double eagle is on a Russian cannon atop Castle Hill in Sitka. It dates from the time Russia controlled this land. The ceremony concluding the sale of Alaska to the US is reinacted here on Caastle Hill each year. The original USArmy, the 9th Infantry, returned to Sitka 100 years later on the statehood year to participate again in ceremonies marking that momentous event.

As we work our way south down through the Alexander Archipeligo (named after Tzar Alexander of Russia) we are reminded of how much this land was influenced by the Russian-American Period. Place names, churches, family names... so many are Russian. Demetrioff is a very common family name here, and the Eastern Orthodox Church is alive and active in most communities along the Inside Passage. The town in the above picture is Sitka, grown a lot since 1965!

We have turned the corner of our trip and are on the homeward bound leg. This is a good thing as I am seeing a doctor today (we are in Wrangell, named after a Russian, what else?) to check on my arm. I suspect they will want to cast it, an event I hope to avoid!

Tomorrow we are on our penultimate ferry journey down to Ketchikan, and we will go through The Narrows, a water passage even more narrow than the one in the picture above! I hope to find internet again before we drop into Camp Pendleton for the Clan Donnachaidh Picnic.