Anchorage

We spent 5 days in Anchorage - good to have full hook-ups, internet, and phone - got groceries, did laundry and cleaned! We picked up Judy on Wednesday evening - Roger is happy with two women to wait on him - especially, to have a good navigator instead of a "nagg-igator!"

Our friends, John and Diane, from our Alfa club are here staying for the summer with their daughter and her family so they joined us for happy hour and dinner a couple of nights. Good to see them.

Roger enjoyed the Alaska Aviation Museum - he wants to come back in his second life as a bush plane pilot! Lake Hood is the busiest seaplane base in the U.S. Airplanes are moored at the docks like boats in a marina. It was fun to watch them take off and land - wish we still had the cub!

We hiked to Thunderbird Falls and ate at the Moose Tooth - otherwise, not much to do in Anchorage.

Saw "Moose Drool" beer in the liquor store at Fred Meyers!

Glacier Hike

We drove the Glen Highway on our way to Anchorage - one of the prettiest drives in Alaska - and stayed overnight at Grand View Lodge and RV Park. They had a mother moose and her two calves walking through their parking lot two mornings in a row before we got there - but, when we arrived NOT!

Roger and I went hiking on the Matanuska Glacier - glad we had our hiking boots and poles! We watched a bunch of climbers scale the ice walls.

Tolsona Wilderness Campground

The fishing boats have been casting their nets right in front of our rigs in Valdez. We sat in our front chairs, drinking our coffee and watching them the past two mornings. Roger got some good sequential shots with his IPhone. Our camera died - the lens won't move in and out - so we need to shop for another one in Anchorage.

We left Valdez this morning on our way to Anchorage. We got to drive through the Keystone Canyon and Thompson Pass again with all the gorgeous scenery! We stopped along the Copper River where many fisherman were trying to catch some salmon. "Trying" being the key word while we were there!

Bridal Veil Falls

We are staying at a pretty campground on the Tolsona River tonight and we all have nice campsites right on the river but....the mosquitoes are horrendous - I've had to break out my entire arsenal! We bought fresh seafood (salmon, halibut and king crab legs) to cook for dinner so we are braving the swarms!

Our seafood feast

Don't know the name of this glacier and falls

Tolsona River Campground

Columbia Glacier

We took a 7 hour scenic cruise out to Columbia Glacier in Prince William Sound today. The weather was perfect and it was an awesome trip! There are waterfalls galore along the shorelines and we finally saw some wildlife - otters, sea lions, whales, eagles and puffins. It was a long ride but the captain was a good narrator, the water was smooth, the sun was shining and the glacier was stunning!

Columbia Glacier

Sea Lions

Icebergs around the glacier

They look like ice sculptures!

Up close to the glacier - we saw big chunks of ice "calf" twice!

You get an idea of the size of the ice when compared to this fishing boat

We saw a whale 3 times - hard to get a picture 

The color of the icebergs are beautiful

Sea lions getting a tan!

Salmon fishing boat - it is highly regulated by the Alaska Fish and Game

On our way back to Valdez

Awesome!

Valdez

We traveled from Tok to Valdez today. The road out of Tok was a patchwork quilt of good road, bad road, frost heave, earthquake damage and construction - with no wildlife to make up for it! We saw one moose! But the last 50 miles were absolutely gorgeous! They call this area around Valdez and the Thompson Pass (2,678 feet) the "Switzerland of Alaska." Snow capped mountains, waterfalls, glaciers and the glacial Trickel River flowing along the road. It is so hard to get pictures that capture the scenery but, I tried through the front windshield!

The Milepost Book - the bible for traveling in Alaska - says the record snowfall in the state was at Thompson Pass in 1952-53 at 974.5 inches and the record for a 24 hour period was 62 inches in 1955!

Valdez was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami in 1964 - the town actually sunk into the earth! - but it has been rebuilt just down the harbor. The Alaskan Pipeline is part of the scenery. The Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, a consortium of oil companies, has a huge terminal here.

Worthington Glacier

We are camped at Allison's Point - a municipal campground right on the harbor - this is the view from the front window in our motorhome! Otters are swimming by!

Mosquito Fork

Not a problem - I am armed!!!

 

 

Tok, Alaska

 We met up with our friends in Tok, Alaska yesterday. Not much to do here but they have one great restaurant.  So we had dinner at "Fast Eddies!" On our way to Valdez today.