Valdez

 

 

June 19, Monday – drove to Whitehorse YT from Skagway AK, a short 2-hour drive that turned

into 3.5 hours with a delay at Canadian customs. Hi-Country RV Park is nice, had a chance to get

3 loads of laundry done…met lots of people in the laundry area waiting to switch out loads!

June 20, Tuesday – Spent the day in Whitehorse getting some work done to the truck and

trailer. Oil and fuel filter change for the truck. Tires, bearing, breaks and axel straitening for the

trailer. Got supplies, also picked up a couple of sleeping bags for girls coming up here the later

in July. Long and expensive day but managed to get everything done.

June 21, Wednesday – 3-hour drive to Destruction Bay, Yukon T. Stopped at a really bad RV

park, probably should have kept driving but had a nice cocktail and hors d’oeuvres hour on the

shores of a beautiful Kluane lake. Feeling we are entering remote wilderness and need to start

paying attention for bears! 

June 22, Thursday – 4.5-hour drive to Tok, Ak that ended up taking 6.5. We are now on the

Alaskan Hwy, windy, wavey, rough, potholes, gravel and construction. We did see a mama

moose and her calf cross the road ahead of us, the calf was very small. We finally made the

Alaska mainland!!! Tok RV village is verry nice and would stay here again.

June 23, Friday – Drove 4.5 hours to Valdez Ak for 6 nights, going to start exploring from here

on some Alaskan roads… Sunny drive! Still, quite a bit of snow on the Thompson pass, this is

the snowiest place in AK with an average of 42 feet per year! Drive down to was beautiful,

glacial ice flows, lush green rain forest and lots and lots of beautiful waterfalls!

June 24, Saturday – Took a down day, cleaned up the trailer, planned the next few weeks and

watched some tv…

June 25, Sunday – Drove into Valdez. Pretty cute small town (like Skagway) but not as touristy.

This is a fishing town! There are no cruise ships coming and going every day. We found out that

it rains 70 inches per year here in Valdez and only has 132 sunny days! It was cold and rainy

today, so we spent some time in the museum and learned about the 1964 earthquake that

destroyed the town of Valdez and other parts of Alaska! We also learned about the 1989 oil

spill when the Exon Valdez ran ashore. Dinner at The Fat Mermaid.

June 26, Monday – Today, we are off to see the Columbia Glacier on a wildlife cruise aboard

the Lu-Lu Belle. Left the port of Valdez at 10:30am and returned at 8:30pm with about 35

people on board. Long and spectacular day! Captain of the ship was a very old sea dog (Mya)

and quite a storyteller. He introduced us to a lot of wildlife, sea otters (one with a pup snuggled

on her chest), sea lions, puffins (sea bird), eagles, humpback whales, Doll’s porpoise and harbor

seals. The seals have their pups on icebergs near the face of the glacier.

The Columbia glacier was about 3 hours out from the harbor and was between 125 and 250

feet tall and a couple of miles wide at the face. We started to see ice bergs about 4 miles out

and the captain managed to get us about ¼ mile from the face. We managed to see a few cafing

events (huge sections of ice falling into the sea). The cracking of the iceberg was earie, the

splash went almost as high as the face of the glacier and the waves rocked the boat. While it

was very cold (about 30 deg f) the compressed blue ice (or crystals) of the glacier were

beautiful!

We also saw the location where the Exon Valdez ran ashore which is a couple of miles out of

the marked shipping lanes. What an avoidable tragedy! The good news is most of the wildlife

has returned.

June 27, Tuesday – We continued to explore the high country above Valdez. Craig and I hiked to

the Worthington Glacier, about a mile up on a rocky trail with pretty waterfalls. I made it! We

also went to an outfitter in Valdez to buy some foul/rain weather gear, it’s been cool and rainy

here with highs in the 50’s.

June 28, Wednesday – Took a down day and hung out in the campground. Showers, laundry

and prep for travel tomorrow. It was a nice visit to Valdez; this place is definitely worth a visit.