We decided to spend a full day in Hoonah before sailing into Glacier Bay. That day was wonderfully shaped by a chance encounter.

In the late morning, leaving the Hoonah Trading Company after buying some hardware for the boat, we saw a woman putting gas in her car. We asked her if she would recommend Icy Strait Lodge as a lunch venue. She said she would, and she offered to drive us there. Along the way, we fell into conversation. That's how we met Mary Beth.

Mary Beth is an anthropologist by training. She used to work for the National Park Service. (Perhaps, in some capacity, she still does; I'm not sure.) However, after taking a year off work to recover from a hang-gliding accident, she went to work for the Hoonah Indian Association.

Given the history of tension between the NPS and the Tlingit, Mary Beth's career path seems not unlike that of a Cold War defector. But nothing is as black and white as it first appears, and Mary Beth's résumé gives her a unique and balanced perspective on affairs. Also, her husband is native.

Mary Beth dropped us at Icy Strait Lodge, where we ate lunch. It was established in 2000 by the Huna Totem Corporation, but it was not an economic success, and it was eventually sold to its current owners: a couple named Ed and Barbara. We were served by Barbara, who told us that she was the Lodge's employee before she became its co-owner. Specifically, she was hired to sing there.

Thanks to Mary Beth, our plans for the afternoon were set. During the drive to Icy Strait Lodge, she and The Captain discovered their shared interest in the issue of cultural appropriation. (In fact, The Captain has produced a book on the subject: The Ethics of Cultural Appropriation.) When she learned this, Mary Beth said: "Oh, you have to meet Gordon."