We have begun our great RV adventure!!! I am sitting here in wonderful Valdez, Alaska for our second night. All I can say is "Wow!" We left a day early- Wed. Walter's gout was acting up. As some of you know, the medicine he takes says to take until "severe diarrhea." That started Tuesday night so he had to call into work Wed. We decided that we should just go ahead and go. And so we were off!!! Let me say that every person should take this trip at least once in their life!! I will try not to get into too many details. But you know how I am..... I am adding some pictures. Sorry to some of you who will have to sit through looking through all of the pictures later on! Have started to get use to the daylight. Bob is having some issues with the time change, daylight, and walking on a leash . Nothing Benadryill wont cure.
Day 1-
We left Anchorage pretty late- 5ish. But hey- it doesn't matter because it is daylight for a long time! We drove into the Mat-Su Valley. It is a very lush valley that is between two mountain ranges. Lots of veggies are grown here. We began our approach into into the Matanuska River valley. The valley has mountains on each side and different rivers draining into the Mat River. Breathtaking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Came across my first glacier ever! Matanuska Glacier. Get this- there is a school on the edge of the glacier!!!!!! It is called Glacier View School. Can you imagine? We have learned that there is trailer trash in Alaska. There is also a Glacierview Bible Church. (for some reason I thought of you Dawn! Can you imagine having service overlooking the glacier?) We spent the night at Slide Mountain Cabins. Nothing fancy. We pulled in, made dinner, and went to bed. We didn't bring any blankets because it has been so warm in Anchorage. Things are different when you get away from the city. We couldn't figure out how to turn the heater on. We about froze to death. Bob was freaking out, Walter was sick, and I was contemplating my future while I couldn't sleep because of the daylight and coldness. Made for a fun night! But the sun rose from the horizon and a new day began....
Day 2-
We figured out how to turn on the heat. Just adjust the thermostat. Imagine that! Drove to Lake Louise along the Glenn Highway. I have learned that highway in Alaska doesn't mean I95!!! It means that it is a mostly paved road and open during the summer. We drove through an area that the Nelchina Caribou herd hangs out. 40,000 caribou!! I was on the look out! The book we have (The Milepost- a MUST have for this trip) said "watch for caribou" for about 10 miles. I saw nothing. Lake Louise is about 19 miles off of the Glenn Hwy. The recently paved road (thank God!) was an easy ride. We saw our second glacier- Tazlina Glacier. I guess I have seen pictures of glaciers, but nothing compares to the view in person. Awe- inspiring to see this massive piece of ice in between two mountains. It looks almost fake. When you come up to a glacier, there is no mistaking it. You know it is a glacier. It's just there. I know that is corny. But, it is true. We went on to Lake Louise. Guess what we saw..... a juvenile caribou! At first we saw a rabbit on steroids. We got all excited because we thought that would be it for the animals. Then we saw it. I don't know if it was a male or female, but it wasn't an adult. It was curious about us, especially when I was running to pet it. But, Walter stopped me and I just watched it. Then we drove on. Lake Louise is huge. It reminded me almost of the 1000 Islands of New York. (What up New York Franklins!!) There were islands in the middle of the lake the people lived on. Can you imagine in the winter living on the island? Talk about harsh. We then went back to the Glenn Hwy. On our way there was another caribou in the road. It was almost comical! It saw us, we saw it- we shared a moment and then it ran. We had lunch at the Caribou Hotel & Restaurant. It is so strange because when you come up to these towns you expect to see a town. These towns have like less than 1000 people in it. We got to Glennallen and hung a right south to Valdez. I started to become nervous because it was very windy and there is a big pass (Thompson Pass) you have to drive through to get to Valdez. We drove and pulled off here and there to see the mountains off to the left (east). The road followed numerous rivers. The river beds are very wide with a small amount of actual river. There are numerous mud flats along the rivers with lots of dead trees. Looks like the rivers might flood at times. At times we followed the Alaska Oil Pipeline- Trans Alaska Pipeline. It ran along the road for a large part of our drive. Just a simple bright, silver pipe. It is a beautiful drive into Valdez. Flat along the river beds and then you get into the Chugach Mountains. The mountains go right up to Prince William Sound. I couldn't see how we could get through the mountains for there to be a town! We came across another glacier- Worthington Glacier. It seemed like it would just fall onto the road! Thompson Pass was unbelievable! How can it be the best place for a road? You start way up on the mountain and it is steep descent into Keystone Canyon. It gets over 200 inches of snow a year. It is closed a great deal in the winter. So, in the winter, the ONLY road into Valdez is closed!! There are tall poles on the side of the road so the snow plows knows where to go in the snow! Keystone Canyon was like a different world. It was like driving through a mountain. Waterfalls on either side. Very green. We came upon Old Valdez first. It is were the old town of Valdez was located before the 1964 earthquake/tsunami. The whole town was destroyed then because it was built upon mudflats, sank about a foot, and then the tsunami came in. The town was moved to more stable ground 4 miles south. The town of Valdez is small- 4100 people. We stayed in a RV park along the harbor. No commercial businesses like McDonalds. Small little businesses. Again, can't imagine the winters. Can't imagine the effect the oil spill of 1994 (I think) had on this area. Across the sound is the pipeline terminal. Very unassuming. There is a community college here. Doesn't charge for out of state tuition. If I had only known!!!! Went to a local bar. The local bar in the movie "The Perfect Storm" comes to mind. I could hardly breath because of the smoke. But, if you were a woman trying to pick a man- that was the place! Went to dinner at the Best Western. Russian employees! Are they legal?
Day 3-
We decided to stay in Valdez another night. We went hiking on some cross country skiing trails. We drove over to the pipeline terminal. We couldn't get on. We decided to take another trail. It went up to a dam that was high in the mountains. The entire trail was 3.8 miles. My body was in for a shock. We went for it. The trail was right above the pipeline. (the pipeline is buried for a stretch leading into the terminal) We saw fresh bear crap!!!!! So, we made sure the bear bell (also called bell bell in one of my emails! sorry!) the walk was great! Water everywhere! We walked for 4 fours and got to the top of the dam. The dam is way up on mountains. There is a lake behind it and the lake was frozen over. People had driven on it. The water was so blue! We got some driftwood for souvenirs. Walked back down the mountain and saw more bear crap! Again, no spotting of an actual bear. We got down to where we could see the water and saw two otter swimming and eating in the sound. Went and had pizza and went walking around Valdez. There is an airport here. Don't know what type of flight service there is. We are headed to the Denali Highway tomorrow. It is a 134 mile unpaved highway that is suppose to be beautiful! Hope so!
I will post tomorrow about the AWESOME bald eagle experience we had today. Too tired now.
Hope all is well! Shout outs go to Kathy A. who is headed to Hawaii with Aaron. And to Misty Pond who is getting getting hitched this weekend. Wahoo! Happy Birthday (belated) to Karen. What up Monica D in Texas teaching summer school. Also, in remembrance of D-Day and my Great Uncle Keith who passed away last week. He was Grandma Nell's baby brother. How much fun he must be having hanging out with Grandma Nell. He fought at Iwo Jima in WWII. I am headed to bed. Kudos to everyone!
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