Wrangell

How's this for a Welcome-to-Wrangell greeting?

It has been far too many years since our last visit to Wrangell. We always seem to rush on by as we cruise north and south, choosing other routes to travel from Petersburg to Ketchikan. 2010 was the perfect year to revisit the town, especially since friends Pat and Frank R. were in residence this week. Omigosh, what a fun-packed three days in town.

We hiked the north beach...

... spotted this cool benchmark, with its information and warnings...

(remember to click on any photo to see it full-frame)

... and then found the famous Wrangell petroglyphs. Here's a sample of just two of the many we spotted (and who knows how many we missed?)

Wrangell has a new award-winning museum, and it's quite impressive. The structure is well-designed to highlight the collection and reflect its heritage. Visitors walk through Wrangell history, with a background of audio prompts to complement the signage. We loved everything, from the tiniest baskets to the towering totems, with Pat's tour narrative adding more local color. 

Next we toured the uplands of Wrangell Island. We don't often have a chance to see the waterways of SE Alaska from above, a hillside view to savor. 

High bush cranberries were prolific everywhere in the hills, or so it seemed. That glossy red fruit has quite a puckery punch when nibbled straight from the bush. Rumor has it that HBC make great jelly or sauce, but I'd want to add a lot of sugar to the mix.

Talk about attractive fruit! these apples were fresh-picked and came out of one of Frank's greenhouses. All three of his three structures were filled with roses, fruits, vegetables and trees. I got so involved exploring the greenery that I forgot to take any photos.

Is it the long hours of sunshine each day? Is it the unusually warm Spring this year? or is there some other magic in Wrangell that explains the glorious riot of color on this houseboat in Heritage Harbor? Some locals credit the effect of a seaweed (fucus) mulch.

More photo-tour of Wrangell at some later date. Can you tell how much we enjoyed our stay?