BEAUTIFUL DAY IN VALDEZ

Finally, the sun came out. We’ve been here for four days and when it wasn’t raining it was drizzling. It was foggy and cool, but we made the best of it. Today was the best day ever. We woke up to the clear blue sky and bright sunlight and planned to make the most of it.

We started the day at the Valdez Annex Museum where they had an exact replica of old town Valdez. We learned earlier that the old town was completely destroyed and abandoned after the 9.2 earthquake in 1964. The model town was to scale and took up most of the floor space in the museum. Very Interesting. 

Next, they decided to drive to the site four miles out of town where the original town was located. Here’s a picture of what was left of the original pier before the earthquake and fire. There were signs in the area showing where certain buildings were located.

Later in the day they stopped at the fish hatchery to watch the sea lions catching salmon as the fish dropped down into the bay from a stream above. The sea lions grabbed the fish so quickly that no one was able to take a picture as they gobbled up fish after fish. It made Jim and Warren envious, and they contemplated getting a fishing license for the day. Didn’t happen!

In the late afternoon they drove to see the Valdez Glacier. Beautiful area, but the glacier is almost gone. The photo shows the small lake below the glacier for kayaking around the ice chunks, but it’s not the fantastic glacier it once was.

Tomorrow, we start the drive to Fairbanks. We don’t have a reservation so we will be winging it for the night near the town of Paxton. Hopefully we will stay on BLM land for the night.

Tonight, the cocktail moratorium was temporarily lifted and the Kathie’s enjoyed a Coco Loco martini.