To Valdez...

We once again borrowed the RV from Neema and Granpi and headed out for a week long adventure. We got a bit of a late start when we realized that Lucy's beloved Rosalie the Pig was left behind. Gramma was nice enough to get her and meet us in Palmer so that we wouldn't have to go all the way back home. Boy, was Lucy happy to have her, so a big thank you to Gramma! Our first stop was a pull out on the way to our campsite. We had a gorgeous sunny day to start us off and we were just itching to get outside.

After our first night we headed out toward Valdez. The drive has some of the best scenery that Alaska has to offer. It helped that day two gave us another dose of sunshine of course. About a half an hour outside of Valdez is the Worthington Glacier. After just a short hike (more like a walk) you get right up to it. Lucy was in toddler heaven with all the rocks and the water. Brian actually went back to the camper to get our galoshes so that we could splash around.

Brian has become quite savvy with our camera. He set it up on a rock with a mini tripod and used the timer for this family photo. Don't we all look cool in our shades?

The mountains and open valleys soon disappeared as we headed into Keystone Canyon. A winding road led us past big cliff faces and beautiful waterfalls. This one is called Wedding Veil Falls and looks even taller in person.

After a long day of driving and seeing the sights we arrived in Valdez, made famous after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in the Prince William Sound in 1989. We made our way down to the boat docks and were pleasantly surprised to find this little guy playing in the water.

He soon folded up his otter arms and dozed off. I overheard one of the locals saying that he frequents the docks and has been nicknamed Oscar. He was our first official wildlife sighting of the trip, but not the last.

After a good night's sleep we headed out to explore Valdez. Our first stop was the Valdez Glacier. After watching a tour operation launch some kayaks into the lake we decided to get out Granpa's pack rafts and do some paddling of our own. It was a cold and rainy morning so we suited up and headed out among the icebergs. If only we had thought to bring some gloves for ourselves like we did for Lucy. She quickly dozed off and after about 45 minutes we headed back to warm up. Some nice folks from Spokane, WA took our picture as we headed in. They agreed to email it to us in exchange for a restaurant recommendation in Anchorage.

More rain as we stopped to watch some harbor seals checking us out on Allison Point.

Further along we came to the Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery. They release more than 200 million salmon each year and then they return to the hatchery in mid-summer. There were tons of salmon fighting their way in and a handful of sea lions there for the easy catch. It was really neat to see them in action.

We continued on in hopes of seeing the pipeline terminus, but were halted by warning signs of "authorized personnel only beyond this point". We did get to see the pipeline along the highway at some point though. So off to Copper Center for a night along the Klutina River. More rock throwing for Lucy and steak dinner cooked over the campfire for us. See my next post in a few days for the rest of the adventure.