Starr Treks: Alaska trip Thursday 6/18/15 Valdez AK

STARR TREKS THURSDAY 5/18/15 Valdez (pronounced Val-deez) AK

We were very happy to wake up to sunny skies instead of smoke. Even tho the 265 miles of highway was not supposed to be as bad as what we have driven on the past 2 days, we decided to put the tow cover on the car. Larry has found a few dings on the RV windshield— we may get them fixed whenever we get to Anchorage. The road was not gravelly as the past 2 days, but the frost heaves made it feel like a roller coaster ride. We passed the Copper River where my expensive Copper River salmon came from that I ate in Issaquah WA. We saw a mother and baby moose along the highway — very cute. The Alaskan Pipeline was visible along the base of the mountains — the pipes did not look that big, but they are 48 inches in diameter. Watching all the road repair workers and seeing things like the pipeline made me very conscious on how physically hard people have to work in Alaska— both now and in the past. They grow a lot of blueberries here, but not ripe till fall.

About 20 miles before Valdez, we took the turnoff for the Worthington Glacier — it was a short walk to the lookout and there were telescopes to look thru. I peered thru, and there were actually people hiking on the glacier! Brrrr! Coming into Valdez, it really looked as described— like a little Switzerland. Our RV park is really pretty nice— it is mostly gravel, but we are surrounded by mountains streaked with snow, and the sites are very roomy. They allow people to wash cars and RVs on site, so we will take advantage of that— we are pretty dusty. We only had the energy to wash the tow car cover and mirror covers, so we did that, then took a walk. We have a Safeway with a separate Safeway liquor store right next to the RV park. We walked another 2-3 blocks to the Visitor Center— we got some info about the area plus some fairly easy hikes that we plan to do tomorrow. The lady at the desk told us that at 5 pm, the BayView RV park across the street from us would have an eagle feeding that anyone could come and watch. It was about 4 pm, so we headed to Safeway, and stopped at the liquor part first to get some of my favorite Black Box Wine. It was cheaper using my Safeway card, but I left it in the RV. The clerk said just to put my phone number in. Larry had to show his ID, and the clerk said I did too!! I said I would just walk out of the store to let Larry pay, but he said I would have to go get my ID even tho I wasn’t paying for it— Alaska law!!. So it was not far to walk — we got my purse, showed my ID, then picked up some groceries at Safeway— it is the only grocery store in town. Valdez has about 4000 people.

We walked across the street to the other RV park, and the wind really started blowing hard— it was like Alamogordo, but without the dust in the air. A man showed up with a box of fish, and sure enough, the bald eagles would swoop in to get their free fish! There were also some pest seagulls and hawks around. We got several good photos of the bald eagles — fun to watch, but with the wind, it was getting chilly. We had left our tow cover and mirror covers on the picnic table to dry out, and here one of the mirror covers had blown away— I was aggravated, since it really helps on the lousy roads to protect the side mirror on the car. I said a little prayer that we might find it or someone else would and turn it in. Larry cooked burgers on the grill, then after supper, we walked to the office to see if anyone found our mirror cover, but sadly not. The guy at the desk suggested we walk behind the little rental cabins, since the wind was blowing that way— and right behind the last cabin, we found our cover (thank you, Lord!). We really thought it would have gone into orbit! We bought some tickets for a Columbia Glacier cruise on Saturday — we talked to some people at the RV park in Tok last night, and they highly recommended it. I will be sure to take my seasickness armamentarium with me just in case. We plan to stay here at least till Sunday.

On the news, we have been watching coverage of the many wildfires in Alaska right now. One is in the Kenai peninsula, so we may not drive that direction till it is contained.

We are both very happy to have internet and the chance to play Words with Friends, my addiction.