Author: wellsmarsha

We moved to a campground closer to Anchorage but still 40 miles north of the city near Houston, AK. Left the camper at the State campsite and with the truck headed into Anchorage to get the art supplies. What we saw of Anchorage was neither attractive nor interesting. Marsha got her art supplies. Next it was a quick trip across the street to REI then a bite to eat. Back to the camp. The campground was deserted. The campground host stopped in and said we may be all alone for the night. There are maybe a dozen 16 sites or so. Shortly afterwards the campground was full and two families set up in the two spots next to us. They had little care in the world other than partying. They were loud and let their kids (5 to 10 year olds) run around be unsupervised. The kids were throwing rocks while the adults were loud till 2:30 am. It didn’t bother me until they continued well past quiet hours of 10 pm (4 ½ hours past). Either of us got a good sleep.

Sunday morning was Marsha’s last class while I stayed at the campground and did laundry. Once done with the laundry I set about preparing everything for us to move on towards where we are not sure yet. First thought was to head towards Anchorage where Marsha wants to stop at an art supply store. From there we thought we would head south towards the Kenai Peninsula.  We don’t plan on driving all the way to Anchorage tonight since it is well over 300 miles. As we drove we discussed where to head we have decided not to head south from Anchorage not rather we’ll head north toward Denali.

We stopped for the night about 20 miles short of Palmer. Tomorrow we will head towards Anchorage. Before Anchorage we will grab another campground, leave the trailer and head into Anchorage to the art supply store then back to the campground. It will be much easier not to bring the trailer into Anchorage.

Saturday morning saw Marsha off to her class while I took the Lu Lu Belle Cruise once again. It was a cloudy day with temperatures in the upper forties. Again the cruise was fantastic. Other that being a bit cooler and cloudy it was similar to when Marsha and I went out this past Tuesday. We observed a humpback whale with her young. The mom would attempt to encourage her offspring to leave the boat, but the young one had nothing to do with listening to mom. The young one played right next to the boat for several minutes. Once at the glacier it looked different from Tuesday. On Tuesday we cruised back and forth about ¼ mile off the end of the glacier. Today we got to the glacier at one corner. The area in front of the rest of the glacier was iced in so instead of cruising back and forth the Captain turned off the engines for a while and we stayed in one location.

Got back to the harbor around 8 and Marsha had supper made so we shared the stories of our day apart.

 

It rained overnight and the forecast was for mostly rainy today. After breakfast we took a walk to the harbor for cinnamon buns. A couple from Fairbanks has a tiny and very old (1960’s ish) Airstream which they keep near the harbor. It’s converted into a tiny bakery. They make 100 cinnamon buns each day and when they are sold out that’s it for the day. We were advised to be there by 9 am before they ran out. We got ours then headed back to the campground. Marsha has signed up for a nature illustration and watercolor class at Prince William Sound College. Class is Friday evening, All day Saturday, and Sunday morning. I’ve decided to head out on the Lu Lu Belle cruise on Saturday. Once we secured the ticket for me we headed back to the campground.

Plan for today is head up to Keystone Canyon and Thompson Pass and do some photography then check out the museum in town.

Keystone Canyon is a winding narrow canyon heading out of Valdez on the only road out of here. There are numerous waterfalls cascading down the canyon walls but few places to stop. Took a few photos then headed up to the top of the pass. Thompson Pass was socked in with clouds so no photos of the pass today. We turned around and headed back to town.

Bridalveil Falls – Keystone Canyon

Horse Tail Falls – Keystone Canyon

Next we walked to the Valdez Museum which has many artifacts from years past along with a few videos including one of the 1964 earthquake that hit Valdez hard. The strongest recorded earthquake in North America was centered in the village of Valdez. When the quake struck there were many children on the town dock greeting a ship that had just docked. The ship’s kitchen crew always threw fruit and candy to the kids on the dock. While at the end of the dock the quake struck and the entire dock and all the children were sucked into a fault that opened up right there. Bodies were never recovered. Those in the ship and on the dock were lost.

Afterwards we checked out the local natural foods store and a few other places in Valdez then back to the campground. Marsha ate and packed up to head out for her class while I charged batteries and prepared my camera equipment for tomorrow.

Marsha is one of three people in the class and is looking forward to tomorrow.

Another day in Paradise! We checked out Valdez Glacier Lake again. What I’ve not mentioned is that we went to Glacier Lake this past Sunday and Monday. On Monday we had the place almost to ourselves. We did meet a local that moved here from southern California. He loves it and thinks the school is outstanding. It is well funded from the large tax base due to the terminal for the end of the Alaskan Pipeline. Anyway Glacier Lake was beautiful and very foggy. There were even a few small icebergs in the lake. On Tuesday morning about 7 am a lake contained by the glacier way above Glacier Lake broke loose and a huge amount of water rushed down overfilling Glacier Lake and causes flooding downstream. Nobody was hurt and as far as I know there was no property damage other than a few guardrails and part of the bike trail. Authorizes came very close to closing the bridge on the Richardson Highway. It was close. If they closed it the only way out with a vehicle would be the Alaskan Ferry System. Lucky for all the bridge was not damaged. We did not find out about the flooding of Tuesday morning until Wednesday morning. We had been out on the Glacier cruise the whole day on Tuesday.

We checked out Glacier Lake and found many new smallish icebergs and where we had been standing on Monday had been well underwater Tuesday morning. The water had come back down to the level we had seen earlier.

Glacier Lake with the icebergs that were not there on Monday

After checking out the flooding we looked for more bears with no luck. Next we went for a hike along a trail that heads out of town following a creek and canyon. As we hiked we either talked loudly or sang. It remined me of my sailing days on the Peconic Bays as a teen singing away. I have never had a singing voice yet loved doing it mostly when I was alone and not need to subject others to my singing voice.

We came to a creek with a beautiful falls. I snapped a few photos and we turned around. The whole day it threatened to rain but it held off until we got back to the campground. As I write this I look out the windows and see a half dozen eagles flying over the campground. They are frequent visitors and are only maybe 20 feet above my head.

Upper part of the same falls

A small falls on the hike

 

Another beautiful day in Valdez. We had a 10 am appointment to get our truck and trailer worked on at Mark’s Repair about 3 miles out of Valdez. Turns out one of his employees came in and dropped of his keys saying he found a job working as a mechanic on the boats so bye. Not much of a two week notice. As a result he was a bit backed up. Marsha and I took a two hour walk along a beautiful bike trail. On our way back up ahead about 100 yards was a brown bear and her cub. We turned around and walked away for a bit. Then turned around and headed back figuring the bears would have moved along by then. As we got closer to the spot we had first spotted the two bears earlier two cubs popped out of the brush. We were now about 40 yards away. We turned around once again and found a way to the road and walked along the road back to the garage. They had not started the work so we got our bicycles and went for a ride along the bike trail but not in the direction of the mamma bear and two baby bears.

In order to have our rig worked on we had checked out of the Eagles Rest campground so we needed to determine where we would stay until Sunday. We found a neat small campground on the harbor to find it $55 a night. We were paying $35 at the first place. We checked out a few other campgrounds then headed back to Eagles Rest where we paid for another 4 nights. After a great bike ride we headed back to the garage. They were almost done so we waited in the waiting room. Next thing Dawn and Scott came along. They knew we were getting our rig worked on at 10 am and it’s now 3 pm. They asked if we wanted to join them on a short hike, but that was exactly when our rig was ready. We thanked them and they invited us over to their rig a bit later for a drink. We took them up on their kind offer.

Woke today to sunshine and a forecast of decent weather. It was a surprise. It took a while for us to think about it but we realized it would be a great day to go on the Lu Lu Belle cruise. We threw our stuff together and got tickets. The cruise takes 42 people and we got tickets 41 and 42.

Our Captain, Captain Fred, has been doing the cruise for 40 years and is into showing his guests a great trip. He exceeded expectations. I’ll not a complete list everything we saw, some included sea otters, porpoises, humpback whales, tufted puffins, horned puffins, sea lions, seals, and eagles. We left around 10:30 am and returned to port after 8:30 pm. About the trip, all I can say is WOW. Captain Fred took us to the Columbia Glacier which has retreated 13 miles up the bay since he started doing the cruises 40 years ago. He slowly worked his way through the floating ice for miles to get within one quarter mile of the glacier. Once there he let us know we’d be there for about an hour watching calving. We witnessed several glacier calving. Once we made our way up the bay the temperature dropped to the mid-thirties. After 45 minutes almost everybody was inside and I found myself alone on the front deck. A small bit of water started trickling out of near the base of the glacier. The captain over the loud speaker told me to keep watching where the water was dripping and then a huge calving took place. It was amazing. It got Captain Fred excited with glee then he needed to get the boat further out to avoid tangling with the calving ice. He told us it was the largest calving he had ever seen in the 40 years of taking people there. All I can say is WOW.

Marsha and I befriended some fellow travelers, Anna, from New Mexico and Scott and Dawn from Wisconsin. Once back in Valdez us five went out for diner together. It was a fantastic day!

Tufted puffins on the left and a horned puffin on the right

 

 

A steady rain all night and continues this morning. I made an appointment to get the chains repaired and an oil change for Wednesday and Marsha found out more about the class and signed up. I’ll have no problem photographing the area while she is in the class. It rained most of the day so we stayed around the camper playing cards and enjoying life. Late afternoon the rain finally ceased so we headed out to check some of the views that were obscured by clouds yesterday and earlier today. Got a good look at a brown bear from the safety of the truck. The difference between a grizzly bear and a brown bear is where they live. Brown bears are coastal while grizzly bears are interior bears. They are the same species yet there are many differences. According to locals brown bears are more content and would rather leave you alone. They are larger due to their rich diet of fish and are more plentiful. Grizzly bears are more aggressive. As for me I don’t wish to get close to either one! Around here there are many bears. Plans for the week other than the rain forecasted for everyday for the next several days include getting the oil changed in the truck and getting new safety chains installed for the trailer on Wednesday and going on the boat cruise on Thursday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It rained overnight and slowed down when we first got up. What to do today? First let’s check out the town and the information center. We took off on foot to explore a bit of the town and the information center. There we given a few suggestions on where to explore. We started out heading out to a glacier lake with the glacier, a lake, and mountains. Mind you the visibility was poor in the clouds and fog so you could see parts of the mountains and lake but not really the glacier. The good news is it stopped raining and I took so moody shots of the area which I will post when bandwidth is available. Next we drove to the other side of the fiord like harbor towards the southern end of the Alaskan Pipeline. Outstanding views of clouds, mountains and harbor. Took some more photos.

Glacier Lake near the Valdez Airport

Valdez Harbor

Came across an eagle in a pose similar to cormorants drying there wings. The perched eagle had it’s wings away from it’s side and drooping down a bit to let them dry. It was a moment I did not capture in a photograph. Back to town we set out to walk more of the harbor and find a place to eat. Marsha was fixated on the Fat Mermaid for lunch. We found it and had lunch. On the way back to the campground we found the Lu Lu Belle office and went in. We signed up for a cruise tour on Thursday. Captain Fred loves should the world of beauty to others. If a pod of whales is jumping he says there for as long we want. His small ship can get places the larger on cannot. We are excited about the cruise along with periods of less rain!

While walking around town Marsha spotted some information on a 3 day course on Field Sketching and Watercolors for next weekend, Friday evening, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning. Tomorrow we’ll look into getting the trailer safety chains repaired, an oil change for the truck, and the class.

Slana to Vadez

On our drive to Vadez we hit some construction spots and frost heaves. With the window open I heard a noise that was not familiar so we pulled over to investigate. One of the safety chains between the truck and trailer had broken. The next few miles to Glennallen we limped along to a NAPA store where we got one new link. Closer inspection of the chain shows wearing so we really should replace both chains. Being a Saturday afternoon there was no place that could even look at it until Monday so we pushed on to Valdez. By this time the headwinds picked up and didn’t let up until we got to town.

The road to Valdez is one of awe. In the last 60 miles to Valdez the road climbs over Thompson Pass then through a canyon finally reaching Valdez. As you hit the top of the pass you climb out of the trees to what appears to be a barren and stark landscape. It would look less so if we were not in the fog and rain. Driving towards town down from the pass we entered a canyon with many waterfalls. There’s one, there’s one, there are three… on and on there were waterfalls. I took a few photos but the rain and more so the wind made it hard. If the wind stops it would be a good place to spend hours photographing the falls.

Did I mention that Valdez calls itself the Snow Capital of the United States?  Syracuse, NY gets more snow on average than any other city of its size or larger at over 100 inches per year. The Tug Hill receives between 200 and 300 inches. Valdez averages more that 300 inches of snow each year. Plus in the warmer months it receives plenty of rain. We arrived in town to scattered showers.

After setting up our site at a RV park in town we went out in search of some seafood to cook for supper. At PeterPan Seafood we got some scallops. On the way back from the harbor we saw many eagles at another RV Park. The people running the park were feeding the eagles. We were told they feed them everyday around 5:30 in the afternoon. Note to self, be there tomorrow at 5:30. The scallops were outstanding.

Earlier in the day we ran into a woman that had taken a boat tour out of Valdez. She said there were two companies to pick from, one uses a larger boat, the other a smaller one. She had taken the smaller one and raved on how great it was, the Lu Lu Belle. We were sold.

We checked at the office of the RV park and the Lu Lu was not sailing Sunday or Monday. They were working on the generator. Plus the forecast for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and into Wednesday was for rain, rain, and more rain. We want to do the cruise but not sure if and when.