Wednesday, May 9, 2012

 
 Helloooo from Macy! Like Moody said, we're a little behind schedule but I'm going to talk to you about what we did yesterday. We woke up early to head to Kenai, Alaska to learn a little bit about homesteading in Alaska. This was one of my favorite events because I have studied archaeology for the past two spring terms so it was really interesting to see the old cabins and artifacts from the earliest European and Asian settlers. But, alas, I'm getting ahead of myself. Our first stop was at a Russian church which our host, John said was one of the most photographed places in Alaska, so of course we had to stop long enough to take a few shots!
     After we traveled to Soldonta to see the Historical Society and Museum. This was my first outdoor museum, and it was incredible to see some of the earliest Alaskan homes. The Historical Society has collected old cabins from along the Kenai River. One of the cabins was a trapping cabin and it was filled with old tools that trappers would have used to clean and stretch the hides of animals that they had gathered throughout the winter. Many of these one-room trapping cabins would have been built along a single man's trap line. Another cabin was set up to look like a fisherman's cabin, so that we could see the typical equipment and netting used for fishing and processing. The picture on the post is actually a building that was used by fox farmers back in the day. This is was a "kitchen" would look like. The farmers would use this building to cook food for the foxes that lived in pens around the farm. The "roost" on the top of the building is where the farmers would observe the foxes to make sure that mating was going according to plan and also to watch mothers to make sure that they were raising their pups sufficiently. The Society also had some small  wooden fox dens so that we could see where the foxes were housed. Other buildings included an outhouse, an outdoor freezer, and the terminal of the old airport that used to be located in Soldonta.
     In Kenai we saw some cabins from Homesteaders. There were many funny stories about bachelors living in very small and poorly constructed cabins until they got married and the women demanded larger and more women friendly cabins. One of the men specifically tailored his cabin to provide his wife with everything she could possibly want including one of the very first Maytag washing machines! It was really awesome to be able to walk in the cabins and see how people lived. After, we went to a visitor center where we all did a scavenger hunt and found clues hidden in the paintings throughout the museum. It was supposed to be an independent project but we all ended up working together anyway! Our last stop in Kenai was at a movie theater where half of our group went to see the AVENGERS! GREAT GREAT MOVIE! Dr. Stilts was a bit of a critic but the rest of us loved the film. After the movie we went to dinner at a Mexican Restaurant and then headed home! Great Day!

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