Masa yee yah tee?

Confused by the title of this blog? Masa yee yah tee? is how you say Hello, how are you? in the Tlingit language. The Tlingit people are a Native American people from the southeastern coast and coastal islands of Alaska. So, can you guess where I visited this week? If you said Alaska, you would be right.

I had a wonderful time with Mrs. Marley, Marina, and Silas. I learned so much about Alaska!

The Marleys live on an island, Sitka, that is 100 miles long and 40 miles wide. What other island have you learned about in class is almost the same size? Unlike that other island, there is only about 20 miles of paved road here. The only way in and out is by plane or boat. Here are two pictures of me at the airport:

This is an Alaskan Airlines jet pulling into the terminal.

Can you see the seaplane in the background? It can also land on the water.

The weather in Sitka is very rainy all the time since the Japanese current warms the ocean all along the Northwest Coast. Usually, it is 40 -60 degrees Fahrenheit year round. Perfect for rain! The area is a temperate rainforest and it gets about 100 inches of rain a year. Wow! It is colder now with some frost, but you might be surprised how little snow they get in Sitka compared to the rest of the state.

In this next picture, I'm at the dock in a small boat with Marina and Silas. You can't see me because I'm so short. :) You can see that the ocean is very important to Sitka. Fishermen and locals depend on it for food and making a living. They also depend on the ocean, the beautiful trees, islands, and wildlife for their huge tourism industry.

Silas and I visited the Sitka National Historical Park. Mrs. Marley is sending some pamphlets about the park with more information about the beautiful totem poles in these pictures.

Silas, Marina, and I visited the Raptor Center one day. Mrs. Marley is sending you some pamphlets with more information about the center. Hey! That baby owl is looking at me!

Hold me tight, Marina! That bald eagle might mistake me for his breakfast.

Mrs. Marley told me that Sitka has lots of history, including battles between the Russians and Tlingit. In fact, they have lots of Russian structures alongside the historic Tlingit structures. Here I am with Silas and Marina in front of the Russian Orthodox Church in the middle of town:

Well, I'm off to my next destination. It was fun visiting with the Marleys. Maybe next time, Mrs. Gutteridge will visit Sitka with me.