Spirit Houses, Dogs and Musk Ox

Today we ventured to the Mat-Su Valley, the towns of Ekluta, Wasilla and Palmer. Our first stop was the Ekluta Historical Park, an Athabascan community of Spirit Houses. It is a burial ground and Greek Orthodox place of worship. The knowledgeable tour guide gave us a history of the Greek Orthodox Church in Alaska and how it compliments Native American burial beliefs. The houses are burial sites and although sacred ground, we were encouraged to walk among the houses and note the decorative designs and special objects left on the houses for remembrance of loved ones.  It was one of our most interesting places to visit.

We drove to the headquarters of the Iditarod in Wasilla. On Sunday we had walked the ceremonial start of the race in Anchorage and were excited to see where the real start began on the 1000 mile journey to Nome. To get into the spirit of the race, a sled dog ride was the perfect introduction. After the ride, Sue and I joined Gracie to view a film on this historic race. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race is an annual long distance race run in early March. The sled dogs are true athletes!

After lunch was a stop at the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer. This was a natural progression from watching Native women knit the soft wool at a co op in Anchorage to seeing the animals who donated the fur up close and personal. It was a little disappointing to find the animals far off in a distant field a 20 minute walk away. Gracie and I remembered when the musk ox could be seen clearly from the visitors cabin. It turns out that the musk ox were moved to a distant field because of unruly visitors! We opted to watch from the visitors center, read the displays and looked longingly at the luxurious quivet hats, scarves and gloves on sale.

After a full day it was homeward bound for us to plan an early evening of bear and moose watching at a campsite in Eagle River. More about that in the next post!