Valdez Wrap up

Clearly, Pat has been working very hard out there in Valdez!  Hey, aren't you supposed to be tied off somewhere: you are over 4" above the ground!

The weather was really great almost my entire trip.  It did rain a bit, but not bad and even then, it was not torrential.  One day, however, the wind picked up and tried (in vain) to remove our tarps.  I battled it for a while, then just loosened it all up and went into town!  I had laundry to do!

Dinner time was a nice relaxing time for Pat - or I tried to make it so.  I liked having it all ready to go when he got "home" but occasionally, the steak had to cook a bit longer!  This was a typical scene at dinner, with everything out.  The cooler is on the bench on the other side of the table and the kitchen box on the end.  Every bit of this had to be packed away overnight in the relative safety of the car (disregard all the stories of black bears getting into cars - apparently the bears here haven't figured that out yet!).

Whew!  Camp cooking is rough!  We just have to make do.  It's a tough life.  I could keep going, but it's making me hungry again!

It wasn't a rare thing to see a black bear on my driving about.  This fella wasn't too quick to exit the road.

Too quickly, it was time for me to come home.  I was fascinated by the ferry and thought it was kinda cool to drive onto a boat.  By the way, the Chenega is a really nice ferry and I'd highly recommend it!  It's the fast boat and well worth taking if you plan on visiting Valdez, which I also recommend!

The scenery was amazing!  We did see some porpoise and Orca's (killer whale's) but I wasn't able to get close photo's.  Little black dots just don't do them justice!  I did get a few shots of these icebergs!  Yes, icebergs!  I thought that was a bit strange, but there was a big patch of them.  And no, Celine Dion was not playing in the background!

After less than 3 hours, we arrived in Whittier.  I'm not impressed by Whittier.  Anyway, I was off and driving off the ferry in no time...

...only to drive back into a hole in the ground.  The Whittier tunnel is 12 miles of tunnel through a mountain.  It is a one-way lane that is also shared by the railroad.

Did I mention I'm claustrophobic?  Oh, and it didn't help that I had a monster truck about 6" from my tail on most of the drive.  He clearly didn't realize that I was not the leader of this train of cars and if I had gone faster, I would have severely broken the 2-second rule for the car in front of me.  Safety is an attitude, right Pat!

Glacier Cruising

This was Pat's perspective!  This red crane was visible from every vantage point.  It was enormous.

I may have mentioned that I tried to do the last trail to some extent.  It's a very long trail that suggests a time frame of 14 hours round trip, so I thought I'd just do 4 miles of it, that is until I went a mile in this:

Once I emerged from the alders and mud, into this lovely meadow (still mud), I decided this was as far as I'd go.  No glutton for punishment am I, so I took a few photo's of the area and promptly made my way back.  I was almost back to the car when a group of 3 ladies (daughter, mom, and grandma) met me and after telling of my decision, they were right behind me.  I did suggest they go on the Mineral Creek Trail that I did first and the seemed excited about that one!

Valdez is really spectacularly surrounded.  There is no way to capture it, but I still try!

Here begins our saga of my own personal "Glacier Cruise"!  We took the canoe to the Valdez Glacier, just 2 miles from our campground and set forth.  It was a bit breezy and cool, so the way into the glacier was choppy, but after our exploration, the wind died down and made for a lovely trip!  The glacier is mostly covered in gravel and rock debris, so we were less impressed with it's beauty.  It was still interesting.

I really can't get enough of this guy!

"Point!"

The glacier was broken up at the waterline and we canoed as far as possible before ascending the rock slides on one end.  Below you can see how the glacier sweeps back into the valley.  It seems this was the preferred method of gold seekers to travel into the gold/copper valleys beyond.

Why do I not wear makeup when I know I'll be photographed?  Oh dear, and that hair.  I look like quite the wild thing.  Someday I'll clean up and show that I can do that too!  In the meantime, we looked for and brought out a little rock for my mom, the rock collector!
Did I mention it was really steep?!

After throwing rocks at an ice outcropping on the glacier (yes, we are 7 years old at heart), we set out and decided to paddle about the moraine lake filled with icebergs.  We did have to pick off a few pieces of the glacier to taste!  It was cold!

It was really beautiful.
We canoed up to one of these floating islands of ice and found a little nook to get a closer look.  It was the most gorgeous clear blue.  The sounds were also fascinating.  It sounded like a constant tinkling of ice melting and water dripping down.  You could see the bubbles and water moving throughout the surface and even down below the water line.

He is just too good-looking.
Did I mention I'm claustrophobic?!

We capped our trip off with a little trip back in time to an abandoned crane that was left to rust.  It was really fascinating and like the 7-year-olds that we are, we had to play on it for a while before we left and went back home!

Valdez Catch up

We were able to head out one night to try our hand at the silver salmon.  That particular day was clear and sunny...and windy.  The waves were very choppy and I think it affected the fish, though we saw them jumping everywhere!  We were unlucky in our catching, but we had a lovely time out on the ocean in the bay.  It was beautiful!

The next morning, I headed out to a historical cemetery.  It was used only until 1915 or so when they moved to where the current cemetery is located.  This one had been renovated and reclaimed several times, and there are still missing "headstones."  Apparently, the markers are all made of wood and have not stood the test of time.  These re-done markers were fascinating to me and the one below is of a woman of mixed race who was not allowed to be buried within the gates.  I found that odd, since they did allow a Japanese man to be buried there with all Buddhist rites, but not a woman who was half white, half black.  I thought it was sad.

I drove on into the mountains and stopped at Horsetail falls (above) and Bridalveil falls (below).  There are very pretty falls, just off the highway.

Beside one of the falls parking lots, I took a "Goat Trail" up a little over a mile, one way.  It seemed to be a lovely trail with the trees just shading the walk.  That is, until the photo below which made me a bit uncertain.  It looked dark inside that tunnel of trees! (I'm thinking bears hiding out, eating berries!)

I was completely alone on the trail, so I had to try and remember if it was, in fact, this trail that had remnants of the telegraph lines visible.  I saw these and had to conclude that it was so.  I could be wrong.  No one was there to dispute me.
I was correct in my assumptions that the berries would be ripe and ready.  These are actually Salmonberries.  They look like giant raspberries or even strawberries that are hanging from raspberry canes.  These were quite tasty, though still not as flavorful as a raspberry.

The trail was lovely, just enough shade to keep me cool, and the end came as a washed out bridge!  It seems that prior to a 2006 spring, this bridge allowed one to continue on the trail that had historically been used for wagons and carriages from Valdez to Fairbanks.  This particular spot is called Snowslide Gulch, and it appears that this spring flooding has a long history of removing bridges, and the DOT is not inclined to give it another one to demolish.

I finished my outing with a view of the never-used railroad tunnel.  It seems that there had been a rush to get a railroad made from the coast up to the mines, but after a shootout, Cordova was the desired route.

It was an interesting and lovely day.  I'll have to take some pictures of the real purpose of my visit.  I just didn't think photos of camping, cooking, and laundry were all that interesting!  As I'm preparing to leave tomorrow, I'm feeling quite sad.  I really enjoy taking care of Pat and helping him here.  I wish I could stay until he comes home, but it won't be too long!