Sea otters

Sea otters! 

They were nearly hunted to extinction. By 1911 no more could be found.

Orca whale tail 

The Small Boat Harbor 

Sea Otter RV Park - Excellent

Our campsite at Sea Otter RV Park

We liked it here. The showers are no extra cost. Nice and hot and good spray (you have to pick a good shower stall though). The showers are old but it's roomy in there. We camped by the water for $25.00 per night where you can get water and electricity hook-ups but no sewer. If you want sewer it's a little more expensive and you're not right by the water. Nice laundry open 24 hours. Nice people run the place. Kathy is the lady's name.

Actually there's not much to do in Valdez. The mountains are breathtaking but, ahem, there's not too much to do after the Lu-Lu Belle.

Doh. I forgot to add...FREE WI-FI here. I was able to connect and use my machine in our trailer. Niiiice!

Valdez' majestic mountains

Mountains, clouds, snow 

I was thrilled that my 'Mountain and Cloud' photos turned out. I didn't expect the details of the clouds and snow to show up at all.

Beauty 

Approaching Valdez

Approaching Valdez 

We were in awe.

Good book - Into the Wild

I finished reading Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer. Very good read. I could hardly put it down. The cashier I bought it from was a pretty young girl, a recent high school graduate, and she claimed it's required reading in all of Alaska's high schools. Now I'm reading it aloud to the family. I do like Krakauer's books. I've read his Into Thin Air and that was great. Currently my husband is reading Under the Banner of Heaven, also by Krakauer. I couldn't bear to read it. It's stomach turning. The FLDS were being discussed on the radio yesterday. Could have knocked me over with a feather. I'd never heard of the FLDS before I saw the book and now it's on the radio? Krakauer's book has busted the FLDS wide open for all to see. It's going to be a big story. I also read The Pilot's Wife which I give five solid thumbs down. What a waste of money that one was. It's an Oprah Book Club book. I should have known better. I'll never buy another one of those. I'm too embarrassed to tell anyone I even read it. I was just desperate for a book to read.

Am now reading The Cruelest Miles a story about the beginning of the Iditarod sled dog race. It all started in 1925 when Nome needed antitoxin to stave off a diphtheria epidemic. Horrible disease, that diphtheria. It's a good book so far. Did you know the first syllable of diphtheria is pronounced 'dif?' All these years I've been saying DIP-theria. I just happened to come across the correct pronounciation in my son's reader (I bought him The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto) or I'd still be saying DIPtheria. Incidentally, he enjoyed his book too. He read it in one sitting. I was surprised and pleased that he liked it.

Richardson Highway

Driving the Richardson Hwy

We had no idea this highway was so gorgeous. Even my husband was commenting on the scenery. That's a little unusual for a guy, so it had to be pretty impressive stuff - ya know; trees, mountains, wildflowers and the like.

Valdez' waterfalls

A waterfall just outside Valdez.

Okay. Hold the phone. I did not know Valdez had waterfalls. There's a coastal forest here and a load of waterfalls coming down the mountains.

Lunch by a lake

Ate lunchie here.

Drove two miles off the main highway on a gravel road. It was worth it.

The TransAlaska Pipe Line

Okay, the Alaska Pipe Line without me

The girl at the visitor's center told us about this place. Signs say don't stand on the pipeline but she said, "Everyone does." So we did. You can see a few people have stood on there. Unfortunately there are NO tours anywhere - at any of the pump stations. I was very disappointed. All tours of the pipeline closed down after 9/11.

Me and the Alaska pipeline

The Alaska Pipeline

Hmm. Teeth look like bucky beaver here. Gimme a tree for lunch. But I'm happy. And anyways, my mom says looks don't matter.

They sell a lot of coffee up here. There are espresso kiosks all over the place. If there's even a ramshackle old run down hut along side the road it'll have a sign nailed to the front says 'Rose's Hot Espresso' and it'll have a drive-up window. I guess all the coffee is on account of the cold. It's June and it's cold in Valdez. In Fairbanks though, the weather was warmer. The temperatures in Fairbanks are more severe, higher in summer and lower in winter, than Anchorage because it's in interior Alaska.

My hair. I brought my frayed yellow tape measure, lent it to my son at the beginning of our trip and I haven't seen it since. This means I can't measure my length. Surely it must be at 31.5 by now but I have no idea. I have a couple inches to go until the ends touch the top of my jeans. One inch if I tip my chin up and gaze at the heavens at a 30 degree angle all day. Okay, I just decided that's my new goal - top of the pants.

I wash every second or third day. When I was home, in one place all the time, in our big old house, it was a challenge to go as long as possible between washes. Man, now I just look forward to a real shower in a real bathroom. Even if it's in a bun all the time, which it usually is, it gets dirty fast outside. We have our little shower in the trailer, and I DO mean little, but I get tired of taking a Navy shower. Six gallons of hot water doesn't last long.

My bag is utterly overflowing when I go to the shower room. It must weigh 20 pounds and this is me roughing it. My husband watches people walk by with literally nothing more than a towel and a bar of soap. "Look at that!" he says. "Now why don't you do that?" Frankly, I have no idea how they manage it. I have to have vinegar rinse. I have to have Cetaphil for my face, soap for my body, and shampoo for my hair. Creme rinse for my hair. Jojoba for my hair. Hair dryer for my hair. Alpha Hydroxy for my face and olive oil for my body. My pumice stone for my feet. I have very smooth feet you know. I promised myself, on this trip I would not let my feet get all rough. HATE rough feet. HATE when they sound like velcro on the sheets. Well I'm doin' good and kept my promise to myself. My feet are soft. See, it's a trade off. There's not much point to painting my nails. It doesn't match the lifestyle. So I baby my dogs. Well, it all makes sense in my world.

Valdez

It's like when I got a set of spokes for my Toyota Celica back in the '80s. I kept looking at the wheels and couldn't believe they were really mine. I got up in the middle of the night to go outside and admire them. Now I can't believe I'm really in Valdez, sitting right on the water in the Port of Valdez next to the Small Boat Harbor. Tomorrow we're taking a boat trip on Prince William Sound. I keep peeking out my window and can't believe those mountains are so close. God did some real fine work here.

Chena Hot Springs Ice House

Chena Hot Springs Aurora Ice Hotel

We camped two days. Toured the ice hotel created by famous ice sculptor Steve Brice. Impressive work. It's between 15 to 20 degrees inside. After the tour when we walked back outside the wind hit our faces and literally felt like a warm blast from a furnace. It was 60 degrees outside!

Salmon drying in the smoke house. 

Example of where pioneers stored food. 

Eskimo summer camp smoke house. 

Example of a pioneer home. 

We watched the dogs pull her on the ATV.