Category: Day Trip

Totems, old and new

The styles of the totems shown in the Royal BC Museum in Victoria are as varied as the First Nations cultures they represent.

The BC Museum totems are different from the many more contemporary totems you can find in Sequim, for example here, and here. In 2011 I did a series on the totem poles of our local Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. If you’re interested, click here, here, here, here, and here. These two links will take you to the Jamestown S’Klallam carving shed in Blyn to show you local carvers and works in progress: here and here.

This totem is from an 1858 Kwakiutil house post in the village of Humtaspi on Hope Island. At its top is a moon figure. Beneath is the Dzoonokwa, a wild woman who lives in the woods. She is often seen with a basket on her back where she places stolen children that she intends to eat. I found this one particularly interesting as I have heard locally a Native American story about a similar child-eating character. She certainly gets around and undoubtedly has terrorized generations of children.

Totem art

We recently spent two days in Victoria, British Columbia. The trip included a visit to one of my favorite spots, the Royal B.C. Museum. There we spent most of an afternoon in the museum’s First Peoples Galleries. There is a rich exploration of the lives of Canada’s First Nations people and our tour led us to their superb collection of totem poles. They’re kept in low light and my photos reflect some judicious editing. There are additional totems on museum grounds outside. Click here to take a look at a photo of these from 2010. It is part of a series on totems that I posted in 2011. I’ll share links to that series tomorrow.

Totems include Nootkan, Tsimshian, Haida and other styles that tower over visitors.

Lighthouse views

New Dungeness Light Station is a gem, located at the end of Dungeness Spit. It’s not easy to get to. For the hearty it’s a 5-mile (8 km.) beach walk, timed to avoid high tide. We took a watery route on Monday as we fished for crabs on the last day of the season. Not much luck on the crab front but the lighthouse views were great. It’s otherwise quite distant from land.

The Lighthouse is maintained by a volunteer association and for a fee members can be volunteer lighthouse keepers for a week. It’s a beautiful, remote, and different place to stay. Keepers greet visitors and do light maintenance around the site.

Can you tell it was a nice day to be on the water?

Herbal ales

One of our recent guests is a craft beer aficionado so on a trip to Port Townsend we sought out a local brewery we’d seen but not explored: Propolis Brewing.

My Danish grandmother allowed me tiny glasses of beer as a child so I’ve long enjoyed beer and ale. However, nothing quite prepared me for the Propolis beverages. Made with herbs and botanicals in an “Old World” style, the tastes were quite unlike what I’ve come to expect. The one on the left, above, was a Golden Saison brewed with lemon balm. The other was an Amber Saison brewed with sage, hyssop and thyme.

The brewery has won a number of medals for their craft brews. We took home a couple of bottles. As one who leans towards India Pale Ales – and drinks them infrequently – I can’t really say what I think of them. They’re certainly different.