1. NATURE
In the Martian Observatory, Y2080Astronomer: Attention students! You will now see the famous Face of Earth, the one every Martian sees when the spaceship approaches our great neighbor. About 70 years ago, just before the Contact the Earthlings on the territory called Alaska got aware of the Global Warming threat. They thus carved a face of their most wealthy individual, a certain Bill Gates into the ice surface of their famous Hubbard Glacier. Mr. Gates got so worried about his image melting that he spearheaded the crusade for the new environment through which our wise neighbors had turned their efforts to creative work and sustainable economy. As a result they now enjoy pristine air and marvelous Nature while occupying themselves with arts and drinking beer.
Any questions?
Student: Only one. What’s beer?
There is nothing motherish in the Alaskan nature. Inner Passage can be calm but when we were going through it we encountered a storm and a fog. That fog is the primary Alaskan feature because even on a clear day the surrounding mountains are covered with it and the wall of trees close to the water makes it feel as if you are in the swamp. John Carpenter should shoot his ‘The Fog’ there. They told us that the two main types of trees were Alaskan Spruce and Hemlock. We saw those growing together, So when the ship approaches the Hubbard Glacier and the Russell Fiord that grayish- greenish wall seems to close on you up to the entrance to the White Silence which is not silent at all.
The white-blue surface changes all the time and huge icebergs fall down into the sea with a sound of thunder. The Glacier itself is an enormous river of ice retreating through millions of years and leaving a perfectly clean territory covered by scratches but otherwise pristine. Then the moss comes in and following it - small plants and trees. You can see how a powerful forest covers the territory and life comes in: deer, wolves, foxen, whales, seals and fish. When we were standing there in front of the Glacier with all our 90000 tons of water capacity, waving our binoculars and drinking hot chocolate we listened to Dr. Wolfe, the naturalist, his voice sounding from the upper deck exactly like the sound of the Glacier. A boat maneuvered closer to the wall among the small icebergs and while looking at it we could imagine the power of the natural force, the one that could either keep us alive through water supply or create a tsunami which could destroy us. Such blue ice I have seen before only at the skating- rings of my childhood. It sparkled. The interesting thing was that the trees were not covered with icicles and so great was the contrast that all of that seemed surreal.
The Mendenhall Glacier, the one responsible for the Mendenhall valley near Juneau is smaller but it has a waterfall. From the Photo Point you can see the streams converging onto a flow and then it roars down like a liquid fire. The Mendenhall Glacier is also clearer. It is a homely glacier; it does not intimidate. Tour helicopters buzz over it like dragonflies. Everyone wants to have a picture and put it on the wall. The Mendenhall valley enjoys less rain than downtown Juneau which is very strange. ‘Man cannot get used to the cold.’- said Roald Amundsen who was the first to reach the South Pole. The climate is mild here though; there is not much snow due to the warm currents from the Sea of Japan. So when winter comes there are 18 hours of the foggy darkness; something I can readily associate with. If you pass the Gastineau channel at night you might be lucky and see one of the Gastineau girls that would be mermaids, ladies in the water, the ones who like to come out and challenge M. Night Shamalayan. It is good that both kinds of bears, Sitka grizzlies and Juneau black bears go to sleep in winter or you might make a fatal mistake and what seemed to you a Gastineau girl would appear pretty hairy.
We went on the whale-watching tour. Humpbacked whales come here to feed before they migrate to Hawaii. The ecologically designed water jet ship took us to the place where they fed and we saw those tails. Those tails are the only things you see in most cases. Many tails were covered with scars and the guide explained that those were the powerful males. The scars were from the battles. Whales were in abundance, very playful and it was so delightful to see them. After that they brought us to the Orca Lodge, a mansion on the island where we had lunch of real Alaskan grilled salmon and drank their famous Alaskan beer. Alaskans import hops. In the crispy air beer tastes perfect and you do not feel heavy headed. Alaskans brew two kinds of beer: light and amber.
One of the most interesting plants was a beard moss. It grows on the dead trees and resembles a long beard. It is extremely sensitive to the pollution of air and serves as a natural indicator for the natives on whether their air is clean enough. I was wondering, maybe we should bring it to Washington DC, although I am afraid the closer to the Capitol Building the tougher it would be to keep it alive. A natural indicator, huh? Another famous plant is the Devil’s Club. This one is a distant relative of Jing Tzen, only spiky and ugly. Natives make a sap from it and it helps from arthritis and other diseases. That sap can be ordered on-line. I do not think that there are any home-grown vegetables in Alaska. But there is a lot of berries. What I remember clearly are skunk berries, the ones that smell bad but are very tasty. And huckleberries! Huck Finn was named for a berry, really! What a discovery! Bears like the berries too. Alaska bears are everywhere and they are not very friendly. If you hunt or fish and you meet a bear it is recommended not to argue with him. Recently a bear went through the automatic doors into the one and only grocery supermarket in Juneau and helped himself to the Deli. I am suspicious about that though. In the grocery stores of my native CT I tried several times to help myself to the Deli with dire consequences. The bear, I assume has better taste. But who knows, maybe they had salmon Deli there?
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