Happily married 55 years, retired baby boomer, mother of 2, grandmother of 4, traveler, Georgia Bulldog fan, Air Force Brat, avid reader, amateur photographer, gardener, ovarian cancer survivor, blogger. Every day is a gift!
I love Valdez. It is a quaint fishing village with about 4500 year round residents. It is not too commercial or touristy and everything here revolves around the water. The harbor is surrounded by mountains and is the northern most harbor in Alaska that doesn’t freeze in the winter. The Alaska pipeline ends in Valdez.
Valdez is all about the fishing
View of the bay across from the campground
The sign says it all
Boardwalk next to the harbor
Really nice fish cleaning tables
Looking into the bay from the small boat harbor
A barge going out into the bay
Love the old wooden boat
Wooden boat at the Valdez Museum
Valdez Small boat harbor
On our drive into Valdez we descended a long steep grade on the highway past several glaciers and waterfalls without stopping so we took a drive back up the highway to do a little exploring in Keystone Canyon and at Worthington Glacier.
Horsetail Falls waterfall in Keystone Canyon
Bridal Veil Falls in Keystone Canyon
Bridal Veil Falls is next to another smaller waterfall
This old railroad tunnel was never finished when a feud interrupted progress and a gun battle took place
Near Thompson Pass on the road to Valdez
Beautiful green valley on the road to Valdez
Up close at the Worthington Glacier. With a state recreation area parking area and paved trail to an overlook, this is Alaska’s most accessible glacier.
The lake at Worthington Glacier
Henry and Blondie at Worthington Glacier
This sign explains the Solomon Gulch Hatchery Fish Weir
On the way back into town we took a drive to the other side of the bay to stop by the fish weir next to the hatchery to see if the salmon were spawning. There were fisherman on the banks catching salmon. At the fish weir by the hatchery the water was filled with thousands of fish.
Fishing for salmon across the bay from Valdez
Kids trying to touch the salmon as they swim upstream to spawn. You can see fins sticking up in the water.
Thousands of salmon in the water
The Fish Weir
Fish Weir at the Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery
We arrived in Valdez during their Gold Rush Days celebration. The Klondike Gold Rush is an important part of Valdez history and the residents celebrate for several days with events for adults and kids. Friday night was the Wine Walk and start of a street fair. The ladies were all decked out in the 1890’s outfits having way too much fun!
Valdez Gold Rush Days
Gold Rush Days in Valdez during the Friday night Wine Walk around town.
Day 78: Thursday, August 1, 2013. Glacier View to Valdez, Alaska. Bayside RV Park Site 80. 196 miles driven.
Before hooking up the fifth wheel we took a short drive to view the Matanuska Glacier from an overlook on the Glenn Highway.
View of Mantanuska Glacier from overlook on Glenn Highway
Rock messages on a hill beside the road.
Again we had no luck seeing wildlife but the beautiful mountains, lakes, and glaciers made up for the lack of wildlife.
We had lunch at Willow Lake with a view of Mount Wrangell
We could see Worthington Glacier from the highway about 30 miles from Valdez
The views along the highway into Valdez are spectacular
Welcome to Valdez
Our campsite at Bayside RV Park in Valdez. The bay is behind the camper.
The last few miles into Valdez take you down a steep grade through a spectacular canyon with many waterfalls. We didn’t want to stop while pulling the RV so we will drive up there later to look around some more. Our RV park is right beside the small boat harbor and close to the bay.
Day 77: Wednesday, July 31, 2013. Williwaw Campground to Glacier View, Alaska. Grand View RV Park Site 1. About 150 miles traveled.
The drive to our RV park along the Glenn Highway was scenic with no wildlife sightings. I am still constantly on the lookout for moose and bears. We passed through areas where caribou are sometimes seen but there were none to be found today.
The Grand View RV Park advertises “Dall Sheep Viewing” so we stopped there hoping to see some Dall Sheep on the mountains across from the campground. While I did laundry all afternoon we got out the binoculars and spotting scope in hopes of seeing the sheep. We weren’t disappointed. Four of the Dall Sheep (big horn sheep) were grazing high up on the mountain late in the afternoon. They were too far away for photos but they were fun to watch.
View out the back window of Dall Sheep on the mountain at Grand View RV Parl Alaska
This interesting mountain was behind our campground
We could see Dall Sheep on the mountain behind the RV
Day 75: Monday, July 29, 2013. Homer, Alaska to Williwaw Campground on Portage Glacier Road in the Chugach National Forest near Whittier, AK. About 180 miles traveled.
We enjoyed our time in the Kenai Peninsula but it was time to move on to our next Alaska Adventure. The sky was clear when we woke up and we watched the boats going out into the bay before we left. The drive north through the Kenai was beautiful and as always we kept an eye out for moose. Unfortunately, there were no moose to be seen! The only wildlife of the day was a family of ducks at a rest stop at Tern Lake
We enjoyed watching the boats going out in the bay our last morning in Homer
Mama and baby ducks at Tern Lake
It was peaceful at Tern Lake
After staying in private RV parks, city parks, national parks, state and provincial parks, we spent two nights in the first United States Forest Service park of the trip. The road through the campground is paved and each site has a paved pad. When the last few weeks have almost all been in gravel, parking lot type campgrounds it was such a treat to have no dust! Our site was surrounded by trees and wildflowers and we had a large picnic table and fire ring. A perfect place to relax.
The campground is located on Portage Glacier Road which leads to Portage Lake and then the town of Whittier. There are several glaciers in the area which can be seen from the visitor’s center at Portage Lake and from the campground. The only way to see the Portage Glacier is to take a cruise on the lake. We decided to pass on the cruise and enjoy the ones we could see from land.
Glacier view from the visitor’s center at Portage Lake
Portage Lake
Portage Lake just a couple of miles from our campground
Another glacier at Portage Lake
Portage Lake
View out our back window at Williwaw
Beautiful campsite at Williwaw Campground in Chugach National Forest
View from the campground
Day 76: Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Our campground was so beautiful the truck didn’t move all day. We started the day by going to a salmon viewing platform where salmon can be seen in the creek when they are spawning in August. We were just a few days too early and never saw any. After seeing no fish we went for a hike along the Williwaw Nature Trail.
Fog over the glacier early in the morning
There’s a waterfall in the middle of the picture
Glacier and waterfall
No salmon in the creek yet
What a view from the nature trail
We walked through really tall fireweed
The only wildlife we saw on our hike
The wildflowers were beautiful in the campground
Bluebells of Scotland
Northern Yarrow and Wild Geranium
I think this is a high bush cranberry
Ferns covered the ground beneath the trees
Cow Parsnip
Our journey through Alaska is nearing the end. Soon we will have to leave this beautiful state and start heading home.
Day 73: Saturday, July 27, 2013. Ninilchik, Alaska to Homer, Alaska. Baycrest RV Park Site 44. 35 miles traveled.
Delicious lunch at Captain Pattie’s on the Homer Spit
Foggy skies greeted us as we drove south to Homer, Alaska, our next destination on the Kenai Peninsula. We had chosen a campground for its spectacular views from a bluff overlooking Kachemak Bay. The fog was so thick we couldn’t see anything so we drove to the Homer spit for some lunch at Captain Pattie’s. The Homer spit is a long, narrow piece of land with several campgrounds, a small boat harbor, and many restaurants, shops, and bars. Tourists were everywhere on this Saturday afternoon and parking spaces were rare but we found a spot in front of the restaurant and enjoyed a lunch of halibut and clam chowder.
After a stop at Safeway for some much needed groceries we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying our view from the campground. Several eagles were soaring over the bluffs. It doesn’t get much better than this.
Fireweed behind our campsite made the beautiful view even better
Our campsite overlooks Kachemak Bay
Beautiful day in Homer, Alaska
View out our back window from Baycrest RV Park, Homer, Alaska
Loved this cloud over the water
Eagle soaring overhead in Homer
Day 74: Sunday, July 28, 2013
The fog rolled in over the water early in the morning. It was eerie looking down over the fog.
Early morning fog rolling in over the water
Henry went up on the RV for a better view
We were above the fog
More fog
After a home cooked breakfast of sourdough french toast and reindeer sausage we took a drive to Anchor Point, the western most point reached by highway in North America. We stopped at the beach to watch the tractors bring in boats from the water like in Ninilchik. It was so foggy the tractors beeped to help the boats find them.
From Anchor Point we took a drive on the North Fork Loop Road where we saw hillsides covered with fireweed and views of two volcanoes.
Anchor Point is the most westerly highway point on a continuous road system in North America
Tractor at Anchor Point bringing in a boat in the fog
Bringing in another boat. It was so foggy we couldn’t even see the water.
The volcano Mount Iliamna is in the distance
We dropped Blondie off at the RV and took a drive down to the spit. We stopped at the Baycrest Overlook where we could see our campground. As we drove along the road a bald eagle was flying at eye level over the beach close to my window. He stayed beside us for a while. What a treat.
As the former owners of several boats named Salty Dawg, we had to stop at the Salty Dawg Saloon for a beer. We finished our tour of the Homer area with a stop at the small boat harbor.
View of our campground from Baycrest overlook
The sign says it all.
A perfect day for a beer at the Salty Daw Saloon
No dawgs allowed at the Salty Dawg Saloon. We went in anyway.
Beth at the Salty Dawg Saloon
Homer small boat harbor
Small boat harbor at low tide
Henry had just built a fire when Ted and Ruth Ann arrived from Ninilchik. They had been on a halibut fishing trip in the morning and were pretty exhausted after each catching their limit. We visited with them and some campers from Missouri while watching more eagles and enjoying our fabulous views.
Wandering Dawgs 