It is always about the people

We did meet people on the Holland cruise, but I first want to write a bit about the people we met when we were on our own.

Many of our wait staff were local but there was a large group from countries like Serbia and Moldova.  These were lovely, exotic, young women certainly hoping to get ahead when the poverty and war in their own country was so difficult.  I learned from one gal that Moldova is the poorest country in the area and they are struggling to be accepted into NATO.  One of our Presidential candidates would give that a big thumbs down and the other would see it as a way to make lemonade.  If you don't get what I just wrote, I am too upset over NATO to explain just now.

We took a very long (all day) Denali road trip by bus with the park service.  Our driver looked like "most white folks" favorite grandma.  She managed that bus like a professional over some very steep climbs and hairpin turns while still keeping up a very good patter about the woods, its animals and even the culture of Alaskans and how they dealt with summer.

And she had to be her own window-washer!  I am sure they do not pay her nearly enough.

Our other guide was a sweet child from Florida who had been a park ranger only 4 or 5 years.  She said she had found her home in Alaska at long last.  Now all she needs to do is find her Prince Charming.  She was good on the plants, admitted her weakness on the birds and took us to a homesteader's cabin that was now an historic part of the park.  (The man on the right was from Pakistan or India and certainly from the Brahman class.  He managed to spoil almost all of my shots from the bus as he was destined to be the only one who wanted to get shots of the animals and thus most of us got shots of the back of his head!)

We learned (as if we didn't already know) that these miners, hunters, trappers and homesteaders were a rough, strong, and determined class of people, although not usually able to complete a sentence without swearing.  Alaska is deceitful in all it beauty, because a wild animal, a landslide, or a lengthy cold spell can mean death to any man or woman.

The nails in the sign above are the Ranger's attempt at keeping the bears from rubbing the signs into oblivion when they scratch their backs.  The sign below was where the road through the wilderness came to an end.

AND we are so small for all the destruction we cause which has nothing to do with signs.