Iskut, BC to Stewart, BC

This picture was taken at our current campground in Stewart, BC. No picture can do justice to the majesty and beauty of BC, YT and AK. It’s like the Grand Canyon, you have to see it in person. The mountains up here are just spectacular.

7/30/10: We continued South on Cassiar Highway today to Stewart, BC. It was another beautiful day and an equally beautiful drive. We stopped for lunch at a nice lodge in Bell, BC, joined by fellow travelers from 5 other rigs. On the way down to Stewart, located at the head of the Portland Canal, a narrow saltwater fjord approximately 90 miles long, we passed many glaciers (see pictures of some of them attached to the email forwarding this blog). After dinner, we gathered into car pools to drive over to Hyder, AK, just a few miles away, to a bear watching area alongside a creek where salmon were starting to run. There were some salmon working their way up the creek, but, unfortunately, no bears. We were told that we were a few weeks too early. In a few weeks there would be more salmon and, of course, more bears.

7/31/10: Today was a Free Day. The first order of business was to get my car washed…I’m not even sure what color it is any more. We wandered around town in the morning…didn’t take long, it’s very small. At 5:00 p.m. this evening, the host held a Bash for all those that had birthdays or anniversaries during the caravan. Cake was served and gifts were given to all from the hosts, small comical gifts that meant something to each receiver. Throughout our caravan, Marcia has been looking for a USA Today newspaper. She finally realized that she wasn’t going to find one in the Canadian portion of our travels, but was really taken back when she found none in Alaska, which is a US State. She was given a USA Today, a week old, but a USA Today. The hosts had found it in Juneau.

Iskut, BC

Iskut, BC, population 12. Beautiful weather was enjoyed on this, a day off. A group of us decided to put together a quartet (ended up with 9 in our quartet, 3 leads, 2 tenors, 2 baritones and 2 basses), a work up an Alaskan parody to “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” for the Farewell Dinner Banquet in Prince George, BC, next week. We had our first rehearsal at 11:00 a.m.

In that no one in our group had been able to attend GNR (Winnebago’s annual Grand National Rally attended each year by +/- 1,600 units), as we were all in Alaska at the time, our hosts decided to have our own GAR, Grand Alaska Rally. Started at 2:00 p.m., we began with games, Frisbee, Blongo Ball (Snake/Crazy Golf) and Jenga (a giant size version of). We stopped long enough to have a group picture taken then held a seminal where various of us shared tips about our rigs. The hosts then presented information on upcoming Rallies and Caravans. For dinner, we had a baked potato meal with all the fixins, including ice cream sundaes. The festivities ended with a sing-along.

Whitehorse, YT to Iskut, BC

Enroute to Iskut, we stopped in at Jade City, named for the jade deposits in the Princess Jade Mine, one of the largest jade deposits in the world. At the Mountain Jade Store and Gift Shop you could see raw jade, jade jewelry and carvings crafted from local Cassiar jade.

7/26/10: Travel Day 1 of 3 on our journey from Skagway, AK to Iskut, BC (see previous blog).

7/27/10: Travel Day 2 of our journey from Skagway, AK to Iskut, BC, saw some beautiful weather and good roads, but nothing special to report other than the usual beautiful scenery. We spent the night in a Watson Lake, YT campground that we had stayed in much earlier in our travels.

7/28/10: Travel Day 3 to Iskut, BC, a thriving city of 12. This was the first of several days travelling on the Cassiar Highway. Just a mile or two onto the highway, we smelled smoke…there was a forest fire somewhere East of us. We stopped at Jade City (see above) and then traveled on to our campground in Iskut. Once again, the weather was wonderful and the campground was beautiful. We’re finally back into shorts and tee shirts.

Note: We found out the next day that the fire had crossed the Cassiar Highway and that the highway was closed. We got through just in time. Also, a few days after we drove the Top of the World Highway, it got washed out and probably won’t reopen until at least next year, so we’ve lucked in twice now.

Skagway, AK to Whitehorse, YT

Today was Travel Day 1 of 3 from Skagway, AK to Iskut, BC. To start, we had to climb for 16 miles out of Skagway, Elevation 0, up and over White Pass, Elevation 3290. Once over the Pass, we had to go through Canadian Customs. For the next 15 or 20 miles, we were driving along the Summit Lakes. At one point, a bear walked out onto the road, then off and back on again. Marcia was finally able to get some pictures of a bear. Later, near Carcross, YT, a moose crossed the road in front of us, but, being a shy animal, disappeared into the woods before we could get a picture. We stopped at Crystal Lake for some pictures, a beautiful multicolored lake, then headed into Whitehorse, YT and did some grocery shopping before checking into the campground. Once set up, we did some laundry. The evening ended with a Steak BBQ Dinner provided by the campground.

Skagway, AK - Day 2

This morning we went on a White Pass Summit Excursion. We traveled up from Skagway, Elevation 0, to White Pass Summit, Elevation 2,865, and on to and back from Fraser, BC, aboard the WP&YR (White Pass and Yukon Route) aboard restored, replica coaches pulled by vintage diesel locomotives. White Pass is one of the two passes that the prospecters in the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898 had to travel over from Skagway to get to Whitehorse, where they could then board boats down the Yukon River to the gold fields. Each person had to carry a ton of supplies up and over the Chilkoot Pass or the longer, less steep White Pass. The railroad was started in May of 1898 and was completed in two-years, two-months and two-days. Tens of thousands of men and 450 tons on explosives overcame harsh and challenging climate and geography to create the “Railway Built of Gold”. From Skagway to almost 3,000 feet at the summit, the train climbs steep grades of almost 3.9 percent, travels over some trestles and through 2 tunnels. The tight curves on the White Pass called for a narrow gauge railroad.

Skagway, AK - Day 1

While in Juneau today, we were bussed up to the Mendenhall Glacier, a tongue of ice stretching 12 miles from the Juneau Icefield to Mendenhall Lake. At its widest point, the glacier is more than 1.5 miles wide, with ice 100 to 1800 feet thick. The Juneau Icefield is the fifth largest icefield in North America, stretching across a 1,500 square mile area that straddles the boundary between Alaska and Canada. The Mendenhall Glacier is one of 39large and over 100 smaller valley glaciers in the Juneau Icefield.

Today was to be a very long 12 to 13 hour day, so Marcia stayed back to care for our and other caravaner’s dogs. The group boarded the Fjordland Express, a beautiful catamaran scenic cruise boat at 7:45 a.m. for Juneau. It was just short of a 4-hour cruise to Juneau, but with plenty to see along the way. We traveled the Lynn Canal to and from Juneau, a glacier created waterway with 5 to 7 thousand foot high mountains on either side. We saw many eagles, harbor seals, Stellar Sea Lions and humpback whales going and coming from Juneau. We arrived back at Skagway at 8:30 p.m.

Juneau is the capital of Alaska, only reachable by either airplane or boat. It is very much a tourist town, supported by the many cruise ships that stop there. People who cruise must buy jewelry, because every other shop was a jeweler.

Fairbanks to Skagway, AK

This trip took three travel days, Fairbanks to Tok, Tok to Destruction Bay, Destruction Bay to Skagway. Day one saw some rain, but it had stopped by the time we reached Tok, so we set up an assembly line and washed our rigs. Day two saw more rain, and the road to Destruction Bay was horrible…lots of frost heaves and sunken spots. It did turn clear by the time we reached the campground and there the owner put on a wonderful BBQ dinner followed by some entertainment by him and his band, aptly called “Loose Gravel”. Day three started out beautiful, but about halfway between Whitehorse and Skagway, we hit rain again. Driving over White Pass, we hit the densest fog I have ever encountered. Apparently normal, both the Canadian and US Customs are below the summit by about ten miles each way. A 3,000 foot grade down to Skagway completed this part of our journey.

Fairbanks, AK - Day 3

7/20/10 – Tuesday: Today we boarded the Riverboat Discovery and cruised the Chena and Tanana Rivers. Along the way, in addition to oohing and aahing some of the beautiful homes along the river’s banks, we saw a bush pilot take off and land his float plane on the river, saw Susan Butcher’s Iditarod champion sled dogs in action, saw an authentic Native Gish Camp where we watched a salmon be filleted in a traditional manner. The only stop was at an authentic Athabascan Indian Village. Here we were shown how the lived for thousands of years as they moved along with the caribou, how they hunted and utilized every part of what they hunted and how they made their clothes from the animal skins. It was a beautiful sunny day and the trip was delightful. The day ended with a buffet dinner for the group.

Fairbanks, AK - Day 2

Marcia and I at the Alaska Pipeline. Half of the pipeline is underground and half is above ground. This point in the line is 450 miles from Prudhoe Bay, the starting point, and 350 miles from Valdez, the ending point, where it is transferred to ships.

7/19/10 – Monday: The morning was spent on a bus tour of Fairbanks. The highlight of the tour was time spent at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum where we learned more about Alaska’s natural history and many cultures in a resource rich environment. We also saw a video explaining the Northern Lights. After lunch, a buffet at the campground, we headed out to the Alaska Pipeline, then on to the El Dorado Mine. There we boarded a narrow gauge train and traveled to a working gold mine where mining techniques are demonstrated by local miners. We stopped in a permafrost tunnel where we were show historic drift mining methods. After a short course in panning, we all panned for gold. I panned $17.00 worth which I had put into a pendant for Marcia.

Fairbanks, AK - Day 1

Today, our first day in Fairbanks, AK, was a Free Day. We went to North Pole, AK...unfortunately, Santa was busy making toys, so we didn't get a chance to see him. The picture is of the North Pole Visitors Center. In town, all of the street light poles are red and white striped to look like candy canes. We did, of course, stop in at Santa Clause House and did a little shopping.

On the way back to the rig, we stopped in again at Pioneer Park where there was a wonderful quilt show. Back to the rig for lunch, then it was time to do some laundry. Found a wonderful local quilt shop and went grocery shopping to wind up our day.

Hello from Tatlanika, AK. Today we traveled to Fairbanks, AK. We stopped along the way at Tatlanika Trading Co., by far the best gift shop stop we’ve had to date. Not only were there many Alaska made gifts, reasonable priced, but also had on display just about every Alaskan animal, stuffed of course, including a polar bear. The next stop was at Nenanak, where we visited a Railroad Museum, then enjoyed lunch at a little local sandwich shop with 5 other couples from our group.

Shortly after getting settled in at our campground in Fairbanks, the skies opened up, delivering a torrential downpour, including hail. For dinner, the group went to an Alaska Salmon Bake held in Pioneer Park. You enter the part through an old mining tunnel, emerging into an old mining town where you can relive those Gold Rush Days of old, complete with actual relocated log cabins, shops, sluice boxes, gold dredge buckets. The dinner menu included an “all-you-can-eat-buffet” with grilled King Salmon, Halibut and Cod plus an alternate choice of Prime Rib. After dinner, we wandered around the park, stopping in a museum showcasing the history of Fairbanks. The evening wound up at “The Golden Heart Revue”, an authentic glimpse back in time to the “Last Frontier” and the colorful individuals who formed this State, its charm and its character.

Denali - Day 2

Today, the group went on an 8-hour narrated bus tour into Denali National Park. Unlike most US National Parks which strive to protect the visitors from the animals, Denali exists to protect the animals from the visitors. There is only one road into Denali (same road back out), and access is strictly controlled. Our day turned out to be a double bonus day. It is considered a “clean-sweep” when you see the 5 major animal groups in the park. We saw many more, making it a “grand-slam”. Our other bonus was seeing all on Mt. McKinley. Only 30% of the people visiting Denali see any of the mountain, less than half of them see the peak. As you can see from the picture, we saw it all, including the peak.

I saw the following animals:
* Grizzly Bears: 5 plus 2 cubs
* Dall Sheep: 4 herds
* Moose: 1
* Gray Wolf: A pack with 5 adults and 7 pups
* Caribou: 3 male, 3 female and 2 calves
* Golden Eagle: 3
* Arctic Ground Squirrels
* Marmots
* Red Squirrels

The park is vast and wild: six million acres with few established trails. It is a national treasure because it is a place where visitors may still see large animals at home in the wild. The bus program, which emerged in 1972 as an alternative to private car traffic in the park, minimizes visitor impacts, allowing many to experience a park that belongs to all of us without destroying it.

Palmer to Denali, AK

We've Gone to the Dogs. Our first day in Denali was a Free Day until late afternoon when our group went to Husky Homestead, the kennel of four[time Iditarod winner Jeff King and his wife, well known wildlife artist, Donna Gates King. We met champion sled dogs, held puppies (as you can see from the picture) and saw summer training in action during our 1-1/2 hour narrated kennel tour. We were able to see the wonderful enthusiasm of the Alaskan Huskies and the relationship between musher and dog. We were shown Artic survival gear, sleds and racing equipment. We heard 30 years of mushing stories from freight hauling on Denali to crossing the finish line in Nome with a champion Iditarod team. Jeff King is recognized as the "Winningest Musher in the World". His victories include not only the 1160 mile Iditarod Sled Dog Race in 1993, 1996, 1998 and 2006, but also two-dozen first place finishes in races all across Alaska. His wife, Donna, is a well known artist whose art portrays her intimate involvement with mushing and her love and respect of nature. Their kennel houses over 60 friendly, energetic, Alaskan Huskies. For more information go to, "www.huskeyhomestesd.com"

7/14/10 Wednesday: Cloudy, overcast and drizzle was the weather for our drive from Palmer to Denali. The first half of the drive was pretty boring, but the views improved significantly as we neared Denali. In the evening, the group boarded a bus for transport to McKinley Chalet Resort for an evening of rip-roaring entertainment and a family-style, all-you-can-eat dinner of Alaska salmon...barbecue ribs...salad...baked beans...corn...sourdough rolls...and homemake blueberry cobbler. Following dinner, Fannie Quigley and her crew of unforgettable characters showed us old Alaska in its early days with great songs, tall tales and foot-stomping music.

7/15/10 Thursday: A Free Day until 3:00 p.m. The drizzle and showers continued, so all we did in the morning was visit the many shops in town. Lunch in the rig followed by a nap, a we were ready to head out to the Husky Homestead, covered above.

Palmer - Musk Ox Farm

Musk Ox almost became extinct in that they don't run when faced with danger...the males form a circle facing out surrounding the females and calves, therefore easy to shoot and kill. They were totally wiped out in Alaska and nearly wiped out in Canada. The musk ox reintroduced in Alaska came from Greenland and now number around 3,000. The musk ox has four stomachs and eats only 1/6th of what cattle require. They are well suited for the Alaska climate in that they have an under-wool that is eight times warmer that sheep's wool.

The Musk Ox Farm is a private non-profit organization dedicated to the development and domestication of the musk ox, for the purpose of providing additional subsistence income opportunities for Alaska's first people. The soft under-wool of the musk ox, qiviut, is harvested once a year and delivered to the Oomingmak, an Alaskan native knitter's co-operative (www.qiviut,com). By the way, qiviut, no "u" after the "q", is a great scrabble word. Why qiviut? It is eight times warmer than sheep's wool, will not shrink in any temperature water, is gathered without harm to the musk ox and its ash brown color compliments any ensemble. Each tribe has their own knitting pattern and knit caps and scarves which sell for $150-$250 each. A qiviut blanket was being raffled off valued at $10,000.

Kenai to Palmer, AK

This is the Church of 1,000 Logs in Palmer, built by the "Matanuska Colonists" who settled in Palmer in 1935. A government program created over 100 colonies late in the depression era, most of them in the US South. This settlement in Palmer was the only one in Alaska and the colonists all came from Northern MN, MI and WI (mostly Scandanavian, the government thought that they were best suited for the Alaska climate). Each was given 40 acres of land, a house and some out-buildings. They were to farm the land to see if would support agriculture and eventually pay back the government $3,000.

7/12/10 Monday. Travel day two of two from Kenai to Palmer was again a beautiful day. All of the highways we traveled today had been previously traveled (Kenai Spur, Seward and Glenn), so we made no stops on the way except along side of the Turnagain Bay, just South of Anchorage, were we stopped for lunch. Dinner was stone soup served by the hosts (every person provided a can of their favorite beans to the host who prepared the soup), followed by peach cobbler cooked in dutch ovens. After dinner, the owner of the campground gave a one-hour presentation of the "Matanuska Colonists" who settled Palmer in 1935. Palmer sits in a valley surrounded by two mountain ranges, averaging only 20-30 inches of snow each winter. Summer temperatures average in the 60's and winter in the 20's.

7/13/10 Tuesday: Today we took a bus tour, driving through some of the farm area where the Matanuska Colonists settled. We saw several of the original homes that the government built for the settlers and the type and extent of the agriculture in the area. We then went to the Visitors Center which included a beautiful flower garden with many different kinds of flowers. The reason crops and flowers do so well here is the length of the summer daylight hours (18 hours/day in the summer). We then went to the Colony House Museum, one of the actual original dwellings in the settlement. Following, we were then given a wonderful lunch at the Inn Cafe. Next, we walked over to the United Protestant Church, built in 1937 by the settlers (pictured above...the Church of 1,000 Logs, more pictures to follow in the email). Finally we went to The Musk Ox Farm which will be covered in another blog. Dinner was on our own and the evening ended with a campfire and smores.

Homer to Kenai, AK

Dipnetting, fishing like you've never seen it before. This scene is just below our campground where hundreds of Alaskans are dipnetting in the Kenai River where it flows into Cook Inlet. It is a popular way for Alaskans to fill their freezers with fresh salmon for the winter. To dipnet, anglers stand waist deep in the water holding large nets with long handles. Each Alaskan family is allowed to catch 25 salmon. Some additional pictures will be with the email.

Today was travel day one of two to Palmer, AK. In that is was a short travel day, only covering 92 miles, a pancake breakfast was held before we left Homer. The day was sunny and beautiful. Once in Kenai, we went to the Visitors Center, the City Dock on the Kenai River and North Beach, which is where the dipnetters were.

Seward to Homer, AK

Welcome to Homer, the Halibut Fishing Capital of the World. You will see in the first attached picture Homer Spit, a several mile long, narrow, piece of land that separates Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay. This is where our campground is.

7/9/10 Friday: It was a beautiful sunny day for traveling to Homer. On the way, just outside of Soldotna, we stopped at a Large Animal Carving location and took in all the magnificent carvings (pictures attached to this email). We also stopped at a scenic overlook about 10 miles out of Homer, overlooking Homer, and across Cook Inlet at what's called The Ring of Fire, mountains and volcanos that ring the Pacific from Asia down through the West Coast of the US. After a brief travel meeting for our trip to Kenai, the day after tomorrow, then the whole group headed out to Captain Pattie's Fish House for a wonderful dinner.

7/10/10 Saturday: Today was a free day and we spent the morning at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Visitors Center, another place with many wonderful exhibits dealing with Alaska nature. We then went to the Pratt Museum where we explored the art, science and culture of Kachemak Bay. The afternoon was taken up doing 3-loads of laundry.

Anchorage to Seward, AK

This is the view from our RV, parked in Seward on the edge of Resurrection Bay. As always, there is still plenty of snow in the mountains across from us.

7/7/10, Wednesday: Left Anchorage for Seward in beautiful sunshine, but ran into rain on the way which stayed with us for the rest of the day. We made a stop at the Portage Glacier National Park on the way which had wonderful exhibits and a 20-minute video of glaciers and their effects on nature. There were two cruise ships docked in Seward while we were there, most likely for passengers who wanted to go fishing. There were many charter boats in the harbor.

On Thursday, a free day for us, we went to the Alaska Sealife Center, which is dedicated to the study and preservation of Alaska's marine wildlife and birds. It is the first cold-water research center in the Western Hemisphere. We took a one-hour back-of-the-house tour and then spent two more hours wandering through the many exhibits of Alaska's marine wildlife and birds. We saw harbor seals, Stellar sea lions, sea otters, puffins and other sea birds, as well as many other species of sea life around Alaska.

Valdez, AK to Anchorage, AK

Anchorage in July. I know that many of my family and friends back on the east coast have been suffering through a heat-wave. The weather here has been wonderful up here, upper 60’s during the day and down to 50 at night. Note the snow capped mountains around Anchorage.

Travel Day 1 of 2 from Valdez to Anchorage began backtracking out of Valdez along the Richardson Highway to Glennallen, where we turned off onto the Glen Highway to Mendeltna, AK. On the way we stopped in Copper Center and the Wrangell-St Elias National Park. In Mendeltna, we were served at the Lodge home-made pizza (which was to die for), along with a salad bar for dinner. We then enjoyed a sing-along and some games…I played Mexican Train.

Travel Day 2, Independence Day, took us to Anchorage. Took a brief stop at the Matanuska Glacier and stopped short of Anchorage in Eagle River to fuel up with gas and propane. The caravan host provided grilled chicken and garlic bread for dinner and all brought side-dishes and desserts to share. We retired to the rig after dinner where we watched the fireworks from DC, NY (Macy’s) and Boston.

Our first full day in Anchorage was spent being bussed around, starting out with a tour of downtown Anchorage. We were then dropped off at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art for two hours. The primary exhibit was the Alaska History Gallery covering the history of Alaska’s people from pre-contact times to present, including artifacts from the many distinct Alaska Native cultures (10 indigenous communities that occupied the land for 12,000 years). This displays from each of the 10 communities were divided into three parts; Community & Family, Ceremonial, and Sea, Land & River. Another level housed changing exhibitions, currently showing art, photography, sculptures, quilts, etc. from a recent competition. There was also an Art Gallery and an Imaginarium Discovery Gallery with many hands-on exhibits. After a wonderful lunch at ORSO’s, Caesar Salad and Chicken Parm on a bed of spinach and pasta plus yummy desserts, we were taken to Alaska Wild Berry Products, the centerpiece there being a 22 foot tall waterfall of chocolate. Beside the candy factory and gift shop, they also had live reindeer, tame enough that you could pet them and feel their furry antlers.

Today, our second day in Anchorage, was a free day. We headed downtown where we did some gift shopping. We found a wonderful quilt shop, The Quilt Tree, where I purchased a pattern and fabrics to make an Alaska quilt. In the afternoon we did some grocery shopping at a Fred Meyers store…a Wal-Mart Superstore on steroids. Finding an Applebee’s nearby the campground, our favorite restaurant (none in or near our current hometown), we did dinner there.

Valdez, AK

This is the view from the front window of our rig. The Port of Valdez is the most northern port in Alaska that never freezes over. The end of the 800-mile Alaska Pipeline is across the port from us.

Our first day started out with a Valdez City tour. It included Old Valdez, the original city that was decimated by the 9.2 scale earthquake on Good Friday, 1964. Next stop was the Oil Terminal, the end of the 800 mile Alaska Pipeline, where the oil is transferred to ships for transport to Seattle or Long Beach. We then toured the new Valdez, it stores, shops, museums, etc. After the tour, Marcia and I enjoyed some fabulous hamburgers and home-made curly fries at Old Town Burgers. We then did some grocery shopping and stopped in at the only quilt shop in town. Marcia made some potato salad and I grilled some chicken for dinner.

Our second day in Valdez saw us doing laundry in the morning. In the afternoon we went to the Visitor Center; saw a video on the building of the pipeline and another on the earthquake of ’64. We then headed over to the oil terminal area where we saw eagles, otters and sea lions. The day ended with an Ice Cream Social for the whole group.

The 3rd day was the Glacier and Wild Life Cruise. It was aboard the Stan Stevens, a large 2-level catamaran. We departed at 9:30 a.m. and cruised Prince William Sound going first to the Columbia Glacier. Due to icebergs and a large ice field from the glacier, we were only able to get about 12 miles from the face of the glacier. This glacier is around 100 feet thick and receding at approx. 50 feet per day. Most of the other glaciers, at least a dozen around the Sound, are still advancing. Next we went to the Meares Glacier were we were able to get within a quarter-mile of the face of the glacier. The ice is brown and dirty where it has pushed through the earth and a beautiful blue and white where it is just frozen ice. The snow up in the mountains around the Sound get 100-200 feet of snow each winter. It’s the weight of all this snow creates the glaciers. The edge is quite noisy as the ice is constantly cracking and when a piece lets go, it sounds like a cannon going off. Between the two glaciers, we were served and wonderful lunch, chicken on a bed of rice with a nice thick white gravy, mixed vegetables and some cookies for dessert. On the return trip, we were served clam chowder. Along the way, I saw the following birds; Black-Legged Kittiwakes, Pigeon Gillemots (puffin family), Bald Eagles, Cormorants, Tufted Puffins and Great Blue Herons. I also saw the following mammals; Stellar Sea Lions, Humpback Wales, Black Bears, Deer, Sea Otters, Dall’s Porpoises and Harbor Seals. We returned to Valdez around 7:30 p.m. It was a wonderful day.

Chicken, AK to Valdez, AK

5,095 miles into our journey, we're now in Valdez, AK. Old Valdez was decimated on March 27, 1964 (Good Friday) by a 9.2 earthquake lasting over 4 minutes. The quake triggered an underwater landslide creating tremendous waves that washed away the Valdez waterfront, drowning 30 people on the dock. 3-years later, the town was condemned when it was discovered it was built on unstable ground. The town was relocated to its present site, moving 52 of the original buildings there. In 1973, Congress approved the plans for the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline with it's Southern terminus at Valdez. The town's population soared. 25-years after the earthquake, again on Good Friday, the tanker Exxon Valdez struck Bligh reef, approx. 25 miles outside of Valdez causing the largest oil spill in North American history (until the current Gulf Oil disaster, of course).

We left Chicken, AK in the rain, but luckily, the muddy road turned to a paved road about 2 miles out. A short travel day, only covering 78 miles to Tok. It rained all day and all we did in Tok was grocery shopping.

Tok to Valdez was beautiful. The trip was mostly winding around mountains, beautiful and lush green for the first half on the Tok Cutoff Hwy. Then we turned onto the Richardson Hwy., and the mountains stood taller and still had snow on them. Just prior to Palmer Pass, elevation 2,678, 26-miles out of Valdez, we stopped at the Worthington Glacier. After the pass, you head down to Valdez, and I mean down...to sea level. One the way there are many waterfalls from the melting snows, Bridal Veil and Horseshoe being the most spectacular (pictures attached). We're here in Valdez for 3 days, one of which will be a Columbia Glacier Cruise where we will hopefully also see a lot of wildlife along with the glaciers.