Alaska -- Day 86

You know how it is when you have a really good meal, and as much as you want to eat? You get full and don't want any more to eat, at least till later or tomorrow. The same can happen with other types of experiences. Well, we are full. We have seen so many wonderful sights, experienced so many things, been in so many interesting places, that we are full. We aren't eager to go see new things, go new places. It doesn't mean we are bored. Or tired of mountains and lakes and wildlife. But we are full. It will be a while before we seek out new places and sights.

That doesn't mean we didn't enjoy the scenery as we drove from Valdez to Glennallen today. Valdez was totally fogged in.



As we drove up and over Thompson Pass, we saw several waterfalls.







The top of Thompson Pass is at 2,678 ft, and yet it is above tree line and snow still lingers. What must it look like in winter? During the winter of of 1952-53, the pass received 974.5 inches of snow; 298 inches in the month of February alone.





The road north of Valdez passes by Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The only road into the park is a very rugged dirt road, so we won't drive there. Four major mountains in the Wrangell chain can be seen from the road. Today we saw one. Since we couldn't see all of them, I don't know if it was Mount Drum, Mount Sanford, Mount Wrangell, or Mount Zanetti. All I know is, it is beautiful.

Alaska–Day 85

Alaska and Alaskans. 

Alaskans are tough.  When we are inside with the heater on, they are inside with the windows open.  When we wear a heavy coat outside, they are often in short sleeves and flip flops.  When we come inside as the temperature hovers in the low 50s, they sit outside—talking, eating, relaxing.  They love being outside in summer.  Is it because of the long, cold, dark winters?

Fishing and being on or near the water is really important.  It seems everyone owns knee-high rubber boots.  I wonder if we could even buy them in Colorado or Arizona?

Alaska is our largest state, with 571,951 square miles.  It ranks 47th in population with 686,293 residents in 2010.  With all that territory, there are only 1,747 miles of highway that most tourists drive (us included).  There is an additional 160 miles of the Taylor Highway which those people who go to Chicken and Dawson City also drive.  (We didn’t.)  So, this part of the road trip isn’t that great.  It is just getting here from anywhere in the lower 48 that entails so many miles.  We spent one month driving through Canada.  We will have been in mainland Alaska almost seven weeks when we leave here Tuesday.

A whole lot of people come here mainly to fish.  Here in Valdez there are lots of campsites that include outside cooking equipment to smoke fish and can it.  The same is true near the Kenai River.  We see large chest freezers, as well as and smaller ones, next to RVs and in the bed of pickup trucks.  A lot of Alaskans do that, but so do people from the lower 48.  Two sites from where I sit, there are folks from Nevada with a smoker and several cases of canning jars.  Others, of course, take their catch to the local fish processing plant to have it frozen and shipped home.

Our time here is coming to an end.  We leave Valdez tomorrow, enter Yukon Territory Tuesday, and Thursday go to Haines in Southeast Alaska on the Inside Passage.  On Aug. 20, we board the Columbia, one of the Alaska ferries, for a three-and- a- half day trip to Bellingham, Washington.  We’re ready.  It has been a wonderful trip.  I would say the trip of a lifetime, but it is our second time here.  We have seen and experienced so much and loved almost every minute of it.  We also look forward to going to familiar places, Colorado and Arizona, where we can sit still, rather than travel.

It will take a week or two or more before I can effectively blog on the overall experience.

Today was a work day—laundry, groceries, yoghurt making, propane.

Alaska -- Day 84

Sometime after 8 last night, I heard a bagpipe. A bagpipe? In an RV park in Valdez, Alaska? I picked up the camera and walked down a couple of units and saw this young man, playing for his family. The 3 RVs are all from Yukon Territory. How cool.



Today, we visited the Valdez Museum. It traces the history of the area, from native peoples several thousand years ago to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. These two pieces of fire-fighting apparatus were used in the early days of the city of Valdez. The first is a handpumped fire engine purchased used in 1902. The second is 1907 Ahrens steam fire engine purchased new.





Look at all the nickel plating and gold leaf. Aren't they beautiful?

There was a wall displaying historic photos and visitors were given the opportunity to write a caption for each one. I am showing this one because my mother lettered in high school basketball in 1932 in Victor, Colorado. I don't know what her uniform looked like. I do have her athletic letter, which was once sewed on a heavy blue wood v-neck sweater. My favorite caption for this one read, "Boys' basketball is easy. They don't have to run up and down the court in a dress.



We don't have a washer-dryer in our RV and I don't want one. I am glad the laundromats we use have better equipment than these we saw in the museum. The first one was hand-powered. The other two are electric.







And I thought our home was small. This shows what a typical prospector's cabin would have looked like during the Klondike gold rush.



The highways in Alaska have caused us problems this trip, but they have certainly improved since the early days.



This barrel of oil was presented to the Valdez Chamber of Commerce in 1977, the first to come through the Alaska Pipeline. However, the first barrel of North Slope crude oil reached Valdez by dog sled on April 13, 1975, 49 days after it left Prudhoe Bay.

Alaska -- Day 83

What are all of these gulls waiting for?



Something to eat! In case you can't tell, the dark areas in this water are virtual rivers of pink salmon, moving toward Solomon Gulch to spawn.







Here you see them crowded up against the wire of a fish weir. It diverts many of the returning salmon to the Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery, from where they were released a year or so ago.



Part of the wier is stretched across the river. Only the strongest-jumping fish make it on up the river.





The rest are diverted into the fish runs to the hatchery.





We were there before the hatchery opens at 8 am, but a walkway is open so we could see the raceways and read about the fish. The salmon eggs that are deposited in the hatchery are artificially fertilized. The fish had returned to Solomon Gulch because they had been released here. However, the stream itself can't accomodate all the fry (little fish) that will hatch next year. That is where the hatchery comes into play each year.



We found the morning absolutely fascinating, even if it wasn't what we had planned. These signs show why were out there.





We didn't see any bear, but we can certainly understand why they are in this area some time each day.

After returning to the RV for breakfast, we went for a walk. We found this bus in our RV park. We have seen another of these buses somewhere in the past. Click to learn about the Green Tortoisee.

Here you can see the travelers' gear and water supply in the bus basement. Look carefully and you can see two tables on the other side of the buss, one with their breakfast dishes dripping dry and the other where breakfast was prepared.



These are the travelers' tents.



Our walk took us out of town north, where we saw these peaceful wetlands. Look at the reflection in the water.



On the other side of the road, there was fog on the bay. And it was clearing from the mountain tops.





One more great sight.



I have seen bald eagles somewhere every day since we arrived in Valdez.

Alaska -- Day 82

We have never seen something like this! And it was great. About 10 am we set out for a walk, after the morning rain stopped. As we left the RV park, we saw a bear near the camper cabins.



When we came back at noon, the neighbor leaned out her window and told us there had just been a bear walking there. Another woman said Animal Control had chased it off. And here came Animal Control, checking again.



About 3:45 the bear was back, trying to get into some sort of cooker in front of a nearby RV. We didn't get the camera out in time for that, just to catch these three men trying to burn up the grease the bear wanted to eat.



The black bear hadn't been deterred, however. Here he (or she) is at 4:06, still trying to get something to eat.



One of the neighbors threw something at him and he left. That was a deterrent for a little over an hour. At 5:18, he was back in the same place.





John raced out to take some pictures.



After sniffing and licking for a while, the bear decided to check out other parts of the park.



And sauntered across the road.

'

He checked out this truck camper.



Until something spooked him and he sprinted back the way he had come.



These were incredible bear sightings--a first for us in some place we have been parked. How exciting!

We did see some other sights, as well. We had watched the fog float around the valley while it was raining. When the rain ended, there was still some fog sitting at the base of the mountains. It sure is pretty.



The sun actually came out for a while this afternoon. Hopefully, we will see some more tomorrow. But, if we do, it won't compare to what we saw today.

Alaska -- Day 81

Valdez is an interesting town, surrounded by beautiful mountains and Prince William Sound. We had a quiet day and spent some time walking around the town--bundled up against the clouds, high humidity, and 54 degree temperature at noontime. First we went to the small boat harbor.



In addition to all the boats floating in the harbor, we saw several in dry dock, being cleaned, remodeled, painted. Some are pretty good size.









Valdez is all about fishing. So we see lots of signs like these.





And boats going out to catch fish.



This is how they mow the lawns in Valdez.



Kayaks are pretty and colorful.



I learned something new, reading this sign.



And this one.



These gulls were waiting for something to eat. They would get a meal as soon as someone started cleaning fish.



John took this really neat photo of the entrance to the small boat harbor.



You don't see this every day (and thank heavens, we don't either). It is a dirty pile of snow, left over from last winter's storms.



This impressive 30 ft high carving of an American Indian is Indian Statue #40 by Peter "Wold" Toth. He has done a total of 70 "Whispering Giants" in all 50 states, Canada and Hungary.