Journey to Valdez

7-8
Today we traveled from Palmer through Glennallen and on to Valdez. The drive had awesome views. The mountains are beautiful and seem to go on forever. Mountains are covered with alders and other bushes or much higher and covered with snow. We saw the Matanuska Glacier which is quite close to the road. It averages 2 miles wide and has been stable for 400 years. We also saw the Worthington Glacier as it appeared to flow down from several mountains. The oil pipeline was visible as we headed south to Valdez. We saw two massive falls--Bridal Veil Falls and Horseshoe Falls--that are beside the highway.
After setting up the trailers at Bear Creek RV, we drove into Valdez to check out a glacier tour for Elaine, Jim, and I. Rex, Jim M, and Venice are going halibut fishing tomorrow. We checked out the dock area and watched fishermen fillet their catch. A bit north of town we checked out a small stream that flowed into Prince William Sound. We saw people catching salmon in the sound as they were headed up to the stream. There were also many eagles, gulls, and sea lions. We were looking for bears but did not see any.

Anchorage

Today we went touring in Anchorage. The weather was warm and partly cloudy. Our first stop was at the visitor center in downtown Anchorage. The flowers all over Alaska are the most beautiful I have ever seen. They hanging baskets are awesome with vibrant color. The visitor center has lots of flowers as well as most of the stores. We chose to take the trolley tour of the city and our driver was Jody. She has lived in Anchorage her entire life and has great pride in the city. This is her last year driving as she will be student teaching next semester. She did a great job and had lots of facts about the city. One of the dates important for the area was the 1964 earthquake that registered over 8 on the Richter scale and the tsunami. One of the stops was at the seaplane part of the airport where they have connected two lakes with two channels that allow the planes to taxi and takeoff. After the tour we stopped at the musk ox cooperative where articles are sold by knitters using the soft hair. We even found a quilt shop in the area. We also stopped at the ulu factory. Ulus are a curved knife that are great for chopping vegetables. Our last stop was the natural history museum.

Celebrating

On the fourth of July we moved from the Denali area to Homestead RV Park close to Palmer, Alaska. We drove in rain for much of the 200 mile trip. The owners of Homestead are Bill and Cathy, who we met in the park in Arizona. The afternoon was spent getting things set up. We watched eagles below the bluff we are on. Venice has a friend who lives in Wasilla, so they were off to visit with her.
July fifth is Rex’s birthday. This morning Elaine and I checked on the lowlands and saw a moose taking a nap. We spent time watching him and taking pictures. I baked some cupcakes and then Venice’s friend took us all on a tour. We went up Hatcher Pass and stopped at a resort for some tea and coffee. The stream beside the road was beautiful with many huge rocks. The mountain sides were covered with alders. We also saw fiddle ferns. After a little lunch we headed for Cook’s Inlet. The inlet has miles of mud flats when the tide is out. It was very windy and rough on the water today. We stopped at Indian Valley Meats. They take people’s fish or wild game and fix it however they want. They can smoke it or make jerky from it. It was a very interesting place. Our last event of the day was a drive-by of Sarah Palin’s house in Wasilla. Then it was back to camp to frost the cupcakes, make some ice cream, and have a birthday party for Rex. It was another fun day.

Denali National Park

July 3, 2010
The alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. because we had reservations for a 6:00 a.m. bus tour. It really did not seem like 5:15 when we left our RV’s because it was so light. The first highlight of the day was the moose and baby that were right outside the parking lot. That was a real treat. We didn’t see much wildlife until a couple of hours into our trip. Then we stopped to watch the Dall Sheep on the mountain ridge on the right side of the bus and the caribou in the river bed on the left side of the bus. After that we saw lots of sheep on the high mountains and more caribou. We were almost to our turnaround at the Eielson Visitor Center when we saw a momma grizzly bear and her big cubs. They were grazing on grass on the meadow. We saw them again on the return trip and they were napping on the hillside. We saw another set of grizzlies further down the road and they were grazing. We also saw a golden eagle. The sad part of the tour was that Denali Mountain or Mount McKinley--whichever name you want to use--was in the clouds today. We were back home by about 3 p.m. and it rained the rest of the day.

The area is a favorite of hikers and backpackers. When they are back to the road any of the buses will pick them up and take them back to the park headquarters. We picked up a 20ish young man who had been in the wilderness for 5 days. The national parks are also a favorite for foreign travelers. We had people from New Zealand, Germany, Korea, and Sweden.

The first picture is an Alaskan sunrise! The second is a picture from the bus as we drove above a valley in Denali Park.

Sled Dogs

July 2, 2010
Today we moved near Denali Park. We toured the park as far as they would allow personal vehicles to drive. Then we stopped an dropped in at the Denali Park Kennels where they raise, train, and use sled dogs. Most of the employees of the kennels are young women. We heard a presentation about the dogs, their training and use in the park. They they brought out the “summer sled” and hooked five dogs to it. As soon as the first dog was taken to the sled, all of the dogs barked and howled because they wanted to be the ones chosen. When all the dogs were in their harness, they were off like a shot--they ran like the wind. They came around an oval that put them back before the audience and then the trainer answered questions. It was a great event.

The Alaskan Pipeline

July 1,2010
Yesterday we checked out the Trans Alaska Pipeline System near Fairbanks. Oil was discovered in 1968 in Prudhoe Bay in northern Alaska. Pipeline construction began in March 1975 and was finished in June 1977. Crude Oil began flowing on June 20 of that year and the first tanker was filled at Valdez on August 1. The 48-inch diameter steel pipeline runs 800 miles and crosses three mountain ranges and 800 rivers or streams. Because of the permafrost large segments of the pipeline were elevated above ground to keep the permafrost from melting. More than 16 billion barrels have moved through the Trans Alaska Pipeline System. Alaska supplies nearly 14% of the United States’ domestic crude oil production. Over 19,000 oil tankers have been loaded at Valdez. The Marine Terminal cost $1.4 billion to build, covers 1,000 acres, and includes 18 oil storage tanks with a capacity of 9 million barrels.

I thought maybe you would like the little board that was posted at the pipeline sight about sunrise and sunset.

Fairbanks

Today is Tuesday, June 29 and our 20th day of travel. We drove from Tok to Fairbanks on Highway 2 in a gentle rain.. The highway today was excellent and took us in a NNW direction. We left Tok at about 7 a.m. and got to Fairbanks at about 2 p.m. Today we saw several moose, one with a baby. We did stop at North Pole, Alaska and have a little chat with Santa. After that we had our first look at the Alaska Pipeline as it crossed a river. We went to Pioneer Village for a Salmon Bake this evening. We had prime rib, salmon, halibut, and cod with all the trimmings and dessert. We then walked around the village and saw many different antiques.