In most visitors, Alaska inspires wonder at its beauty, awe at its wildlife, and admiration for the hardiness of those who make their lives in its vast backcountry, enduring some of the harshest conditions on earth.
Alaska
Only in Alaska. Welcome to the ‘totem pole capital of the world.’
Native art has a rich history, but young artists want to expand.
Indigenous artists are fighting stereotypes, protesting appropriation and advocating for their own work.
KETCHIKAN, Alaska – An arched sign stretching between two city blocks welcomes travelers to “Alaska’s first city” and the “salmon capital of the world.” But Ketchikan, the first port on many Alaska cruises, has another nickname: the “totem pole capital of the world.”
Totem poles are unique to the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. The ones around Ketchikan are particularly old and numerous.
“The history and the clans that own (the totem poles), like their animal clan crests, those are still living,” said Irene Dundas, Cultural Resources manager for the Ketchikan Indian Community. According to KIC’s website, its tribal citizens descend from Southeast Alaska’s three main Native peoples – Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian – as well as other Alaska Native tribal nations. “We’re not black-and-white photos … We still practice our culture every day, and we live it.”
“Travelers should know that there are spectacular and diverse Indigenous experiences and stories across every region of the United States, each unlike the other and each transcending generations to get to them,” said Sherry L. Rupert, who is Paiute and Washoe and CEO of the American Indigenous Tourism Association.
Here’s what else visitors should know about Ketchikan, the “totem pole capital of the world.”
Why it matters
“Totem poles are often used to show like family history, clan relationships, crest animals, stories, events, or to memorialize a specific person or event, like a battle or a visit by a dignitary, those types of things,” said Hazel Brewi, a visitor information assistant at the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, an interagency visitors center for public lands across the state.
There are more than 80 totem poles around Ketchikan, many of which are visible to the public, according to Erika Jayne Christian, program coordinator for Ketchikan Museums, which include the Totem Heritage Center, where the oldest totem poles are found.
Normally, she said, “They’re only really meant to last a generation – 70 or 80 years from the time that this giant western redcedar is felled and then carved and then raised in ceremony” until it naturally deteriorates.
However, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, residents of Native villages on neighboring islands began moving to Ketchikan for various reasons, including job opportunities. When surveyors went back decades later, they discovered many totem poles had been vandalized or stolen.
“When it comes to the totem poles, our village was totally wiped out by an expedition that came up,” said Teresa DeWitt, who is Tlingit and serves as a program assistant for Ketchikan Museums.
To protect the totem poles that remained, elders from Tlingit villages on Tongass Island and Village Island and a Haida village on Prince of Wales Island allowed theirs to be moved. “It was a very big thing,” DeWitt said. “It’s not something we normally do.”
The Totem Heritage Center was built to house these totem poles, which still belong to the villages’ descendants, and preserve and perpetuate the traditions behind them, with continuing guidance from a Native advisory board.
Outside the center and elsewhere around Ketchikan, visitors can find newer totem poles, including recreations carved as part of a Civilian Conservation Corps project that began in 1930s and modern-day totem poles by master carvers.
“There has been a real revival effort, and so people are learning to carve and learning to do Northwest Coast design,” said Dundas. “Totem poles are just a little sliver of the overall beautiful, beautiful culture.”
What to see
Visitors can see totem poles throughout Ketchikan, but there are three clusters.
Totem Heritage Center: A $9 Museum Pass covers admission to both the Totem Heritage Center and its sister museum, Tongass Historical Museum. “You’re able to really learn about where it is that you’re visiting … where you are in place and time,” said Christian.
Single museum admission costs $6 for adults under age 65, and $5 for those who are older. Admission is free for children age 17 and under, active-duty military service members, and local residents. Both museums are in downtown Ketchikan and reachable by foot from the cruise port or the borough’s free shuttle bus during the summer.
Saxman Totem Park: Visitors can see recreations of historic totem poles, a community clan house and a working totem pole workshop in the Organized Village of Saxman, less than 3 miles from downtown Ketchikan. Totem park tours run throughout the cruise season, from late April to early October. They can be booked directly through Cape Fox Tours, part of the village’s Alaska Native Corporation, or as excursions through cruise lines. Self-guided tours cost $8 while Cape Fox’s guided tours start at $129 and may include additional experiences, like traditional dance performances.
Kristy Shields, who is Tlingit, recalls being told as a kid “that we were going to dance on the dock for big canoes and it ended up being cruise ships.” Now she helps pass the tradition on to younger generations as tours dance manager for Cape Fox Tours. “They are dancing. They know their songs. They know who they are. They know where they come from.” Saxman can be reached by Ketchikan’s free shuttle in the summer or $2 city bus. There is also a foot and bike path, but walking from downtown takes about an hour.
Totem Bight State Historical Park: More than a dozen Tlingit and Haida totem poles and a community clan house stand in this 11-acre state park, according to a guide on its website. Like many of the totem poles in Saxman, Christian said these were carved as part of a CCC totem pole restoration program. Park admission costs $5 per person from May through September and is free from October through April. The park is roughly 10 miles north of downtown Ketchikan and can be reached by $2 city bus.
Not-so hidden gems
Salmon Walk: This scenic 1.5-mile loop meanders through the heart of the city, along Ketchikan Creek, where salmon famously swim in the summer. There are various interpretative signs and points of interest along the way, including famous Creek Street and both Ketchikan museums. Visitors who don’t want to complete the loop can catch a free downtown shuttle from the Totem Heritage Center, which marks the path’s halfway point.
Southeast Alaska Discovery Center: This is a great point for learning about the region through ranger-led activities, educational films and elaborate exhibits. Three master-carved totem poles in the atrium represent the region’s three main Native peoples. Visitors can learn more through the Native traditions exhibit, developed by Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian elders so “they could tell their own story,” Brewi said. “The voices of the elders echo through that space and it is absolutely beautiful to walk through, especially at the quieter times of the day, because it’s all motion-activated and you can actually stand and just listen to those elders speak.”
The Southeast Alaska Discovery Center is located a few blocks from the cruise port. Admission is free from October through April. From May through September, admission costs $5 for visitors over the age of 15 and is free for anyone younger. Visitors with America the Beautiful Interagency Passes also get free entry.
Tongass National Forest: Ketchikan is nestled within America’s largest national forest and the “world’s largest intact temperate rainforest,” according to the USDA. Visitors eager to explore the great outdoors will find over two dozen hiking trails around Ketchikan, many of which can be reached on public transit, according to Brewi. She recommends first stopping by the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center for the latest information on conditions and bears.
Best time to visit
By far, summer is the busiest time of year with the mildest weather and the widest array of visitor experiences. Travelers hoping to avoid crowds may opt to visit early or late in the cruise season.
However, Dundas notes, “Later in the season, like in October, you’re really, really pushing it with weather and you have to be prepared for Ketchikan weather.” Ketchikan got over 12 feet of rain in 2025, according to the National Weather Service, and October is among its soggiest months.
She recommends visiting in July and early August, when various festivals are held, and packing a raincoat like locals.
If you go
Getting there: Most visitors arrive by cruise, including more than 1.5 million people in 2025, according to the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau.
Travelers can also fly into Ketchikan International Airport, a short ferry ride away on Gravina Island. Alaska Airlines provides daily service between Ketchikan and Seattle, as well as several other Alaska cities.
Where to stay: Ketchikan offers a variety of hotels. Campgrounds and vacation rentals are also available nearby.
The reporter on this story received access from Celebrity Cruises. USA TODAY maintains editorial control.
Alaska
An Alaska vacation can remind Israelis the world doesn’t revolve around them | The Jerusalem Post
For Israelis, it can also inspire humility. Not because the Jewish state is smaller than Denali National Park, but because in Alaska, one is reminded that the world neither revolves around Israel nor is obsessed with it.
That realization came on a trip The Wife and I took to America’s Last Frontier last month.
“Where is your final destination today?” the woman checking us in for our flight home at the Anchorage airport asked chirpily.
“Tel Aviv,” I replied. “Where’s that?”
When I said it was in Israel, she smiled and said, “Oh.”
Lest one think this was just a fluke: on the plane a few hours later, another Alaskan asked where we were going. When we answered “Tel Aviv,” she said she had never heard of it.
Granted, two people do not a Pew Poll make, but they do offer a small corrective to the perception – fed by the media most of us follow – that the world is preoccupied with Israel, thinking about us obsessively, talking about us constantly, and cursing us unremittingly.
The last part, at least in Alaska, is also not true. During our two weeks there, we saw no “Free Palestine” graffiti, nor were we subjected to dirty looks or “child killer” comments when we said we were from Israel.
All of America, it turns out, is not Mamdani’s Manhattan, nor does social media present a proportionate picture of that country’s reality.
One of the problems with social media is that every incident of antisemitism is posted online. The incidents are real and rising at an alarming rate, but seeing them all in one place creates a disproportionate sense of how likely you are to encounter them while traveling.
Watch enough clips of a Jewish kid harassed on a New York subway or an Israeli couple berated at a hotel in California, and you begin to wonder whether the same thing awaits you when you ride an American subway or check into a hotel.
It doesn’t. Yet the cumulative effect is that you begin to wonder how open to be about your Israeliness. You don’t decide to hide it, but simply having to ask the question adds a mini-layer of apprehension before every trip.
When Israel comes along for the ride
You also learn to read the Uber.
“Honey,” I urged The Wife before we got into an Uber in Chicago during a brief layover, “you don’t have to say you’re from Israel.”
“Nonsense,” she said. “I’m not going to hide who I am.”
“Wonderful sentiment,” I replied. “The driver’s name is Rabah. Humor me.”
We didn’t volunteer our place of origin, nor did he ask.
But on the entire trip, that was the only time we consciously withheld that nugget of biographical information. Everywhere else, we proudly said we were from Israel – and it was fine. More than fine: it was often a conversation starter.
On a whale-watching excursion, we sat across from a young couple from China who work at Google. They were intrigued that we lived in Israel, and even more fascinated that we passed on the chicken sandwiches being served.
Instead of looking for sea creatures, The Wife spent a good part of the trip explaining why some of the fish in the sea we can eat and others we can’t.
“Honey,” I whispered at one point, a bit annoyed. “We didn’t pay all this money for you to give an introductory lecture on kashrut. Look for the damn puffins.”
Since October 7, another layer has been added to the anxiety of travel: whether your flight will be canceled at the drop of a ballistic missile.
One doesn’t just hop over to Alaska on a whim; it takes planning and a special occasion to justify the expense. For us, it was 40 years of wedded bliss, so we booked back in October after being warned that rental cars sell out months in advance.
We chose United. But just days after the war with Iran broke out, United – typically – canceled flights until mid-June, four days after our planned departure. We acted quickly – well, The Wife acted quickly – and switched to El Al. Still, it complicated the trip further.
Then came the more serious question: Do you leave the country when one of your sons or your son-in-law is in miluim in Lebanon, Gaza, or Syria?
My first instinct was no: you don’t leave when one of your children is serving. That may have worked before Oct. 7, when reserve duty meant a few weeks a year and could be planned around.
But today, when they have each logged upward of 350 days, saying you won’t leave while they are serving essentially means that you won’t leave at all.
Which, by the way, is hardly the end of the world. But what can I say? I like to travel.
So we went, even though as we were watching bears and sea otters, my youngest son was dodging drones in Lebanon.
“Go,” he said. “What are you going to be able to do by being here? And if, God forbid, something happens, you’ll come back.”
“That’s not the point,” I said. “How can we enjoy it if we are worrying about you?”
“You’ll figure out a way,” he teased.
And he was right. Sure, we worried, but less than if we were here. Distance, it turns out, has its advantages. I wasn’t glued to the news, tracking every development on his front.
Perhaps that was Alaska’s greatest gift. Not the calving glaciers, surfacing whales, or foraging bears, magnificent though they were. It was the realization that while Israel is the center of our world, it is not the center of everyone else’s. Every now and then, regaining that perspective is refreshing. ■
I’m typically pretty wordy. But just watch the video.
Disclaimer: Matt Addington is a professional. These bears grazed toward him from 100 yards away while he held tight. Do not try this ever, under any circumstances, or you will likely spend the rest of your time on this earth as bear poop.
Matt Addington is an incredible professional photographer, and I can say that from personal experience. He’s captured images of me in rough shape and somehow made them stunnin’. The Minnesota-based photographer and filmmaker has built a career telling outdoor stories, and his latest bear video proves he knows exactly where to point a camera.
Places like Katmai National Park in Alaska (where this video was taken) can offer unusually close encounters with brown bears, thanks in part to abundant food and tightly managed visitor access. That doesn’t make encounters like this casual or safe to imitate.
Addington is an extremely experienced outdoorsman, and he was photographing with professional guides Scott and Jackie Stone. For people hoping to photograph bears this way, a guided wildlife photography tour is one of the safest ways to do it. Do not try this in Yellowstone or your local national forest.
The bears were grazing nearly 100 yards away when the group set up. They stayed put as the animals continued feeding and gradually moved closer, resulting in some incredible footage and a once-in-a-lifetime photo.
I can only hope he wore his brown pants under his waders.
Alaska
Black bear breaks into Alaskan mall, eats a peach and relieves itself on floor before leaving: video
Can bearly believe it!
A black bear was caught on camera seemingly running errands at a local shopping mall in Anchorage, Alaska over the weekend.
The bear entered the commissary mall at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson around 9 a.m. Sunday, KTUU reported, citing a JBER spokesperson.
Wild footage shows the young cub strolling through the commissary’s automatic doors and exploring all that the mall had to offer.
The hungry bear stole and ate a piece of fruit before emptying its bowels on the hallway floor on its way out of the building.
Kory Godbout, who works at the barber shop on the military base, was waiting for his first customer of the day when he spotted the furry intruder traveling through the automatic doors.
“My coworker, who is cutting hair in front of me, she yelled, ‘Bear!’” Godbout recalled.
“And I looked up from my phone and the bear was walking into the barber shop right in front of me,” the barber said. “And we all ran into the break room and shut the door behind us.”
After a few minutes, Godbout and his coworkers emerged from the break room and followed the out-of-place bear into the commissary, where it took a peach from the grocery store and ate it.
The barber recalled that a few onlookers were “going big to try and scare” the bear out of the grocery store.
But all of a sudden, the black bear returned to the barber shop.
“By that time, we were able to run back to the shop and then lock the door,” Godbout said.
“And then we were watching him from the window and then that’s when he decided to, you know, use the restroom in the hallway.”
Officers from Conservation Law Enforcement attended the peculiar grizzly scene and were able to direct the wild animal towards a river and into the woods, according to the JBER spokesperson.
JBER’s wildlife program manager Colette Brandt said in a press release that the bear had triggered the automatic doors and that Sunday’s events were entirely incidental, KTUU reported.
While there has been a decline in bear-related calls since the military base installed bear-resistant dumpsters, seven bears have been put down at JBER for public safety over the past year.
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