seawalk. Elsewhere in town, you may observe Huna Tlingit people smoking fish outside their homes or foraging along the coastline. Take time to look around you and soak it all in, and you’ll be doing what the people originally from this part of Alaska have always been doing. “Our people learned a lot of things from observation, and especially by observing all the things that live around us,” Dybdahl says. “The orcas, whales, seals, sea lions, bears.” Tlingit culture is based on balancing all things, he explains, and the respect of all things and people is paramount. Key to that, says Dybdahl, is the ability to truly listen. “Our people gave importance to learning to listen,” he says. “It’s a valuable lesson, and one for people who had to pass down stories and valuable lifesaving lessons.” Tlingit people are very careful when they tell stories, asking the children who listen to repeat it back exactly as they heard it so it can be properly passed down. “In that way, these lessons weren’t lost,” Dybdahl says. When a second dock was built in Hoonah at Wilderness Landing, Hoonah elders held a blessing of
the trees before clearing some of them to make room for the mountain gondola. “Our people believe trees are the holders of all knowledge, and what one tree knows all the other trees know, so they talked to the trees,” Dybdahl says. “Our whole Tlingit culture is based on balancing things. If you don’t have that balance and response in all things, it’s like leaving it out there hanging in the air.” Sometimes, says Dybdahl, he will see visitors to Icy Strait Point puzzling over something. So, he will approach them and tell them a story. “Around every corner at Icy Strait Point, there’s another story – and very big stories, in some cases, that visitors have never heard of,” Dybdahl says. The key is to be present, to observe and to truly listen. Freelance travel writer Terry Ward is based in Florida but is frequently on the road (or at sea!) to report stories. Her work has been published by such outlets as Travel Channel, the Washington Post, Travel+Leisure and Cruise Critic. Visit her website to learn more, www.terry-ward.com.
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