We  arrived in Valdez last night.  The drive down was spectacular.  Some of the prettiest scenery we have seen in Alaska.  We drove around town, which took about 2-3 minutes and down to the docks where we saw the fishermen returning with their catch of the day.

This morning we again went to the docks but in another area and across the bay we could see where the tankers fill up with oil for the lower 48.  All the oil is coming into Valdez and going out of here yet their gas is the most expensive we have purchased in Alaska - $4.31.  It cost us $70 to fill up this morning.  They even have a refinery here so that isn’t the problem.  

Valdez is such a beautiful place, it is totally surrounded by mountains and a lot of them  are currently covered in snow.  We were talking to a lady in the Visitor’s Center this morning and her heating bill during the winter is around $1200.  I’ll bet even at that price her house is what I would consider freezing.

    We drove to the other side of the sound (where the oil comes in) and saw a bear fishing in the river.  We drove on and saw seals fishing.  Mostly we could just see their little heads sticking out of the water.  Then we saw two young eagles trying out their wings.  We are just thrilled with all the scenery and wildlife we have seen.

  We think this is one of the most beautiful places we have been in Alaska.

Tomorrow we leave for Tok.
   

 

Notice the holding tanks across the sound.

Kayaking

The bear fishing

Seals fishing

Bridal Veil Falls

The Valdez harbor

In Anchorage we went to the “Earthquake” movie at the Visitor’s Center.   This told all about the terrible earthquake they had here in 1964.   We took a trolly tour to earthquake park, we saw an "underground" house and many other interesting things around Anchorage.   There were a group of Germans on it that talked the entire time the driver was trying to give us information.  We were so mad at them.  We saw a Dogsledding movie about the Iditarod and one about how they delivered medicine by dogsled in the 40's when no other way could be found to get it to remote villages. Finally we took a free trolly and went to a chocolate factory.

Friday we drove to Seward stopping at Exit Glacier to hiked up to it.  That took about an hour.  The entire trip down was one beautiful sight after another. 

 The cabin where we stayed was so cute.  No phone or TV but it is one of the best places we have stayed.  We wish we could have stayed several days.  The next day we took a drive into Seward and all the way down to the point, Miller’s Landing.  This was where a lot of people were camping, a really cool spot.

On the way back to Anchorage we stopped at Alyeska, a resort where we stopped on the way down.  This time we took the tram to the top of the mountain where we could see seven glaciers.  We watched young guys mountain biking, it was unbelievable how fast they were going and how hard it was.  Some of them fell but got right back up and kept going.

 We arrived back in Anchorage where we are spending the next four nights with the sister and brother-in-law of a friend of ours.  They have been so gracious to us.  They have a 5th wheel in their yard and we are staying in it.


On Sunday we took the train to Spencer Glacier for a rafting trip.  It was cold and rainy when we left Anchorage but by the time we got to the area where we were going to start rafting it had cleared up.  They gave us lunch and then we rowed toward the glacier in our raft.

Today, Monday, we spent the entire morning. taking everything out of our car and repacking and rearranging everything.

We're leaving here Wed morning heading for Valdez.
  

 

Stopping by to see Sara

 

                                          The official starting point of the Iditarod

Taking the train to Spencer Glacier

                                                            Spencer Glacier

Flowers in Anchorage

Protesting working conditions at the Hilton in Anchorage

Visitor's Center

I have never seen artichokes growing

   

Parisailing at Alyeska

Add caption

Exit Glacier near Seward

Seward

The cabin we loved in Seward

Fishing at Seward

On Sunday before leaving Fairbanks we drove out to see Musk Oxen at the U. Of Alaska research center.  It wasn’t open today but we saw some anyway. 
    We drove to Denali.   The next day we did an 8 hour trip into Denali.  We saw lots of wildlife: bears, caribou, moose (with two little ones) and our favorite a lynx.
  This morning (Tues) we packed up and drove towards Anchorage.  We had lunch in Trapper Creek.  The first place where we stopped we were about to get out when we saw a man with a big gun strapped to his hip, we decided to go on.  At the gas station we saw a man with a knife on his hip.  We were a little nervous around all those armed people. 
    After lunch we drove to Talkeena which is base camp for hikers attempting Mt Mckinley.   It was such a cute little town that we got out and walked around.  We went in the Roadhouse where the hikers meet, eat and sleep before their attempt.  
    Before getting to Anchorage we went through Wasilla, home of Sara Palin.  They didn’t have a single sign saying anything about her being from that town.  Wasilla is also the place where they have the Iditarod Museum.  We went in and watched a film.  It was very interesting.
    We got off the highway at Eagle River and went to look at a hotel.  It was too expensive for us so we drove on (about 20 minutes) into Anchorage where the hotels were even more expensive and not nearly as nice.  We ended up going back to Eagle River and checking into the Microtel which we couldn’t afford ($150) but we had no choice. 

Dog Sledding

Musk Oxen

The fall colors are fabulous

These things were so heavy

Even heavier

Lynx

We are still upright and traveling on four wheels!  We are in Fairbanks, Alaska tonight after a day of seeing moose and once again fabulous scenery!  The bear pictures are from the day before.  Did I mention that we made it to the North Pole?  Very cool.