Valdez

The drive down to Valdez is one of the most beautiful drives with views of mountains, glaciers, rivers and waterfalls. The average annual snowfall on Thompson Pass which is the route into Valdez is over 50 feet of snow.  As a result, you will see snowfields in the mountains in the middle of the summer contrasting with the abundant green vegetation that thrives as a result of all the precipitation.

 

We stayed at Bayside RV Park because it has a view of the bay, is located just a block from the small boat harbor and it is easy to walk to any place in town.  It is fun just to walk the harbor in the evening to see the fish that everyone has caught during the day.

 

We took a boat tour to Columbia Glacier in Prince William Sound and saw icebergs, humpback whale, steller sea lions, sea otter, harbor seals, Dall's Porpoise, Puffins, bald ealges,  Murre and Black-Legged Kittiwakes.  The icebergs at Columbia Glacier were  a beautiful blue color.  The weather gods were with us and we had a gorgeous day to be on the water.
     

We also visited the Solomon Gulch Hatchery where we watched the salmon as they returned to spawn. It is so fascinating to watch thousands of salmon determined to swim up a series of ladders to spawn. I don't even want to try and guess how many pictures we took trying to capture this.  All I can say is thank goodness for digital cameras!  On our way to the Hatchery we were entertained with a Mama Grizzly and her two year old cub catching salmon in a stream.  It was clear that the cub had not perfected the art of catching dinner and it was humorous to watch him. You need to go here to see more pictures and some videos.

 

We happened to be in Valdez during Gold Rush Days and so we went to the parade.  Some things are the same no matter what town you live in and one of those is the community parade.  They all have the local high school band, boys scouts, dogs, fire engines etc.

 

Unfortunately, Terry came down with bronchitis while we were in Valdez and we were forced to stay two extra days to give him a chance to recuperate.  Such a sacrifice to have to stay longer is such a beautiful place! The good part was we had wet rainy weather during this part of our stay. We did have to make the trip back to Salmon Gulch to view the bears and fish.

We are now on our way to Hyder Alasak for more bear viewing. You will not hear from us until sometime after that.