Indiana to Alaska and Back - 2013: June 2013

When we arrived in Valdez, we could not believe what we were looking at as the scene in front of us unfolded. With the cloudless sky and the bright sunshine, the harbor of Valdez was a like a preview of what Heaven will have in store. The terrain, water, viewpoints, etc are perfect. We were so "cranked" up we failed to take pictures thinking we had 3-4 days to do it. BAD DECISION. The clouds moved in, the rain followed, and we lost our chance to share ALL of the beauty with you guys. Trust me. Valdez is not to be bypassed on a trip to Alaska.

We went on another wildlife/glacier boat excursion with Stan Stephens Glacier and Wildlife Cruises. Even though we missed the Orca and Humpback whales, the trip was well worth it (see the pictures). The six hour tour had many highlights: scenery, birds, Steller Sea Lions, glaciers, icebergs, waterfalls, cascades, and stories of mining for gold.

Many, many drives in our car allowed us to see a bear, get close to the restricted area of the terminal for the Alaskan Pipeline, revisit some waterfalls, visit gift shops, eat at some decent restaurants, and see a $12.99 small watermelon and $9.95 pound of bacon at the local Safeway supermarket.

We were given some salmon fillets yesterday. Steve managed to make them edible. We froze a couple for future use. We are going to a potluck tonight at the RV park. The owners supply the salmon from the grill and we offer a side dish. We leave here tomorrow morning. We will retrace our steps to Fairbanks and then go down to Denali National Park. It may be a while for a new post to be uploaded.

Remember to click on a picture to enlarge it's size to make details more vivid.

Alaskan crab legs at Totem Inn

Our excursion boat

Valdez harbor at low tide

Alaskan pipeline termination point - load 52 tankers per month - open all year

Valdez Arm of Prince William Sound - you should have seen this in the sunshine without clouds!!

"Hard rock" gold mining tunnels

Gold mine structures were destroyed by tsunami after 1964 earthquake

Anderson Falls - one of hundreds

Cascade with snow at shoreline - these mountains get 800-1000 inches of snow each winter

Black-legged Kittiwake

Pigeon Guillemots being bashful

Thousands of icebergs 10-18 miles from the glacier

Iceberg

Video of icebergs and the boat traveled through them

Steller Sea Lions - we saw 400-500 in three colonies

Male sea lion - 900-1200 pounds

Video of sea lion colony - not real clear - listen carefully to hear their barking

Tufted Puffin

Iceberg with Black-Legged Kittiwakes

Highest coastal mountains in North America - up to 7,000 feet sea level to top

Ice jam 8 miles from Columbia Glacier (in background) - no hope of getting closer

This ice jam is caused by icebergs getting hung up on the bottom of the fjord - only 40-60 feet deep at the moraine

Video of the ice jam - a harbor seal will appear on the ice

Bald eagle resting on ice jam looking for lunch

Crew members netting a chunk of ice

Success! MAW holding the chunk of ice - very dense and heavy

Commercial pink salmon fishing boat

Successful catch!

Notice this boat's name (click on the picture - it gets bigger)

The Indiana has a full net

A Dall Porpoise close to surface and our boat

Eagle on nest

Pilot boats - Pilots meet each tanker and act as captain of their ship all the way to the tank farm dock

Postcard enhanced picture of what we saw the first day - decided to wait until next day to take pictures - DUH!!

Aerial view of Valdez Pipeline Operation (end of 800 mile run)

Town of Valdez was moved 4 miles after 1964 earthquake and tsunami

Surf Scoters in bay near oil tank facility

Black-Legged Kittiwakes roosting on lower ledge of a bridge

Our campsite - full services, but little ambiance

Large black bear spotted maybe a mile from the RV Park

Valdez Glacier north of town

This Kittiwake picture is for Norm, our neighbor

Sweet camping spot across the bay from town (at low tide)

Glimpses of the beauty - even at low tide and cloudy!

Fairbanks was a good place to visit. The temperature was 93 degrees on Monday and was unexpected by everyone we talked to. Staying in North Pole, AK allowed us to visit Santa Claus House. The gift shop certainly did everything they could to take advantage of the town's name. In Fairbanks, we arranged for our Chevy HHR to get repaired in Wasilla, AK (shattered sunroof glass).

We eat dinner at Alaska Salmon Bake at Pioneer Village. It was a tourist trap but one worth visiting. You could tell that they have years of experience in feeding hundreds of visitors on a daily basis. It featured all-you-can-eat salmon, prime rib, and crab legs. The meats were excellent but the sides could have been better.

We went down and up the Chena River on the Discovery III paddleboat steamer. This company has been doing this tour since the 1950's using Discovery and Discovery II before the present boat. A nice lunch was enjoyed on shore with excellent beef stew and cheese ale soup. The boat went downstream and meet up with a Piper cub seaplane that took off and landed for our enjoyment. The history of the surrounding area was explained. One stream on the north side of the river was perhaps the source of more gold than any other body of water during the late 1890's. It is said to have produced billions of dollars worth of gold (2009 dollar value). The stream was about 10 feet wide where it met the Chena River. Sorry - no picture since homes now cover the shoreline.

Further downstream we docked at a recreation of a Athabascan Indian village. The narrators were a 19 year old Indian girl and a 18 year old girl that hailed from an Eskimo village up by Nome, AK. Both of these gals seemed to be thoroughly enjoying their summer jobs. One had plans to attend the local university and the other was going to a college in Durango, CO. They told us about survival in the harsh environments that their people experience on a daily basis. This included the making of native clothing and coats, the construction of homes (both permanent and when on hunting trips), and the preparation of food. Their emphasis was two-fold, 1) nothing is wasted and 2) no one is a slacker. Novel idea (editorial comment).

We stopped at the former residence of Susan Butcher. She won the Iditarod FOUR times. She started out as a person with no special skills but went to live in the back country and observed how to raise the right dogs and how to "mush" with them. Her lead dog Granite was a four time champion as well and there's a good book written by Susan entitled "Granite". The crew at the house gave a sled dog demonstration as we stood at the rail of the boat. When being put into their harness, the dogs were absolutely going berserk (wanting to take off).

We left Fairbanks with the intention of driving to Valdez in one day. Didn't happen. The road conditions and especially the beauty of the landscape made that impossible. Look at the pictures. All I can say is "This is what we were hoping to see". We thought Canada and eastern Alaska were nice. Well let me tell you, this trip from Delta Junction to Valdez is a "must do" on your bucket list of things you'd like to see. One more thing. Our photos do not do justice to the things that we have seen. (We need our 13 year old granddaughter, Grace, and her camera to teach us a few things) We followed the Alaska (Alyeskan) pipeline for most of the trip. We plan on staying in Valdez for at least 3 nights.

We had dinner at the Alaska Salmon Bake ... interesting entrance