Harry K. Bremner, Sr. and Clarissa - Yakutat airport - April 1975

For the first time in 1975 upon an invite to see what Native elders called “the land of milk and honey”; I went to Yakutat to visit “Grandpa” Harry K. Bremner, Sr. (In an upcoming blog entry, I will write about the influence of Grandpa Harry in my life).  Take note of the above photograph; the airport road is newly-paved and the trees are so much shorter than what they are today! — for those of you who are wondering where the heck is Yakutat, Alaska, look at a map of Alaska, find Anchorage, then locate Juneau and look about half way in between the two and you will find Yakutat on the coast, right up there with the big Malaspina Glacier.  Pretty awesome!  As most of you know, Alaska is Alyeska, the Great Land! And we Alaskans are proud of our country!

June 2011 – It’s been 36 years since I set foot in Yakutat.  Upon an invite by my friend Jan the traveling accupuncturist, and a reminder from my friend Preston who was guest speaker at the 1st Annual Yakutat Tern Festival this past weekend and, since my children and grand-children all flew south to attend their other grandparent’s family reunion, and I’ve gone through some heavy-duty, non-stop,  life-changing events over the past three years, (golly!) I decided it was high time to take some R&R and visit Yakutat again!  Yet, as usual I had to do something to offset my travel costs, so with the support and assistance of Walter and MaryAnn Porter, I taught a class in spinning Chilkat warp.   (For those interested in the cedar bark class, look for the blog entry recently posted “Spinning Chilkat In Yakutat).

The following photographs are the day trip to the biggest beach I’ve ever seen that runs North/South called Canon Beach:

As we approach Canon Beach, we pass over a waterway of lily pads

As we came across this bridge and saw this view of the pond, I remembered the swans we saw here in 1975 – it was the first time in my life I had ever seen swans.  And since then, every time I see swans, I have thought of this place here in Yakutat.

36 years ago, we had lunch with Grandpa Harry in this spot - it was a good feeling to be here again!

I have a few more photos taken back in 1975 during my visit in Yakutat; I’m not sure where they are, but I’ll have to do some investigating!  I want to include them sometime sooner than later.

Boogie Boarders skim the shore's wild surface of icy cold Yakutat waters - I tell ya, if I were 16 again, I'd be out there boarding - so much fun!

The very first time I had ever seen big waves like these were in Yakutat at this beach in ’75.  Then a few years ago, I had heard that surfers came from around the world to surf this beach.  We’ll yeah, man!

Although there were none today, surfers from around the world ride Yakutat waves

Sand Texture - I remember the beach sands being whiter, hmmm...I'm going to have to find those photos from 36 years ago and compare!

I swear - in Yakutat, there are more eagles riding the rip tides of the wind than there are seagulls!

Laying on the beach and admiring the textures of the sky while a lone comber goes to that place of meditation where water meets shore

Had to go find out what that thing was over there...(?)--Obviously something that didn't make it back afloat!

A rotting barge adds rustic color as tides ebb and flow

"Windows" of the sea

A lone pebble

When the tide goes out, there are thousands of small, polished pebbles on this beach.  It was odd to find one all by its lonesome.

Like I did 36 years ago, I will be taking memories of the land and sea, yet this time, with little pebbles for little grand-daughter hands in Colorado

You are probably wondering where are the photos of the actual village of Yakutat?  Well, when I post the blog entry about Harry K. Bremner, Sr., I will include a few shots of the village.  Stay tuned.