Thursday, June 30

Here we are at the beginning of the Mineral Creek trail.

This is about where Sharon decided she was not going any farther despite my urging that there truly was a water fall around the next bend.

Barb and I continued and there was a waterfall about 1/2 mile around the next bend!

A Harbor seal. There were several of them catching fish next to the fish hatchery

This guy had a nice sized salmon that he caught near where we were standing.

This sea gull was very interested in whatever the sea otter was eating.

A vacation is not complete without a picture of a sea gull.

Another sea otter

I could watch these guys swimming and floating on their backs all day long. Even if it is cold.

Rain, rain, go away! We are still in Valdez, and so far the best day was the day we got here. Yesterday wasn't too bad, just a little overcast, but today was just plain gloomy. Breakfast was interesting. I don't think Mr. Bichler realized that he was eating salmon in his eggs or else he was very, very hungry. I still haven't told him. Sharon doesn't want fancy breakfasts, she just wants eggs and bacon. (well she really wants cookie dough or ice cream but we haven't found a bed and breakfast that serves that!) We were told that a 7-8 ft. brown bear has been hanging around the fish hatchery and also some black bears with cubs but we didn't see them this morning. We dropped Andy off at the B & B and Sharon, Barb and I did the Mineral Creek Trail. We only did about 3 miles of the 12 mile loop but we did make it to the first water falls at Horse tail creek. It rained on the way back but not very hard. We ate at the Old Town Burgers again and have decided that they have the best curly fries ever. After lunch we picked up some snacks for the 5 hour ferry ride tomorrow and then drove back to see if we could see any bears. We didn't see any bears but we did get some great photos of several harbor seals and some sea otters. It has steadily gotten much colder all day but we still enjoyed watching the seals and otters. Tonight we are going to eat at a restaurant out near the Valdez airport.

Wednesday, June 29

The mural across the street from the museum.

This old boat sits outside the Valdez museum.

I saw this boat in the harbor when we were going to dinner and it reminded me of my dog, Molly.

Outside the Fat Mermaid where we ate Wednesday evening.

We spent a relaxing day in Valdez after a breakfast of stuffed French toast and bacon. We went to the Valdez Museum and learned a lot about the area. It was quite interesting as it led you through a time capsule beginning with the area when it was inhabited by the native Chugach and Ahtna Eskimos to Captain Cook and the Russian fur trappers. There were many artifacts and replicas of the tools, furs and furniture used by the peoples of all the eras. As it progressed through the time line it also ended with a short film on the Valdez oil spill and the clean up. In another building was an exhibit that was dedicated to the old town of Valdez that was destroyed in the earthquake of 1964. The quake, a 9.2 left the town 9 feet lower and the land where the docks used to be was swept out to sea. 32 lives were lost on that day in Valdez. Because the land was now lower it was decided by the town council that the town would be moved to it's present location, 4 miles to the west

Tuesday, June 28

Our friend, Dynamite.

McCarthy on Saturday night, waiting on the band to arrive.

We sat on the porch watching as the town population expanded by 100+ people and about as many dogs. They were arriving by bicycles, atv's, pick up trucks appearing from every corner of town. This was our entertainment the first night we arrived in town.

Barb and Sharon doing their competitive journal writing. They are constantly comparing how many pages each of them writes. (They are in bed right now as I am finishing this post)

We loved this front porch at Ma Johnson's. We ate ice cream here each night we were here!

Sharon next to the Horsetail Falls just outside Valdez.

We ate supper in the town of Valdez and this was the view of the harbor. We are staying at the Brookside Inn.

This morning we packed our bags and left McCarthy. We had really settled in and were enjoying the simple life that the McCarthians were living. Each evening we settled into the chairs on the front porch of Ma Johnson's and simply watched life go by. Barb and Sharon would write in their journals, I had my binoculars focused in on the nesting swallows and Andy would be chatting with the newest visitor to town. Last night we learned to play Farkle from our friends from Springfield and also met a couple from Maryland. We also bumped into a family from Tennessee who noticed Barb's LMU shirt and we talked about Lincoln Memorial University. We ate ice cream every night and we waved and joked with the St. Elias guides as they headed back to their dorm/tents on the river at the edge of town. We were on a first name basis with most of the dogs in town and just had a relaxing time. No TV, computers or cell phones. And it was great. On our way out we saw a moose with 2 young calves and several snowshoe hares. Still no bears but we keep hoping. It is really late here so I'm going to stop for now. More tomorrow.

Monday, June 27

This morning we were catching the 9 am shuttle to Kennicott to go on the Mill Tour. We are waiting with our favorite dog in McCarthy, Dynamite. Dynamite is an 11 year old sled dog that once raced in the Iditarod. She was a very sweet dog. This picture is being taken by our new friends that we met who are from Springfield. (Tom and Helen Martin) They taught us to play Farkle, a dice game in the evening and it was really fun.

This is the mining town of Kennicott. When copper was discovered here in the early 1900's, a town was born. It was quite progressive for the time.

This was the recreation center. They held parties here every Saturday because they wanted to keep the workers happy. However, it was only for the upper management and the miners were not allowed to take part in any of the activities.

This was the school house for the children of upper management. Miners were not allowed to have family live here.

The hospital was very up to date because they wanted to keep the workers healthy. It was the only place women were allowed to work and they had to be single.

The building in the background, that is climbing up the side of the mountain is the Mill. It is 14 stories high and is supposed to be the tallest wooden structure in the country. We walked to the top of the hill and descended 220 steps to learn the process of the copper from the mines to the time it was placed on the train and sent out of town to Cordova.

Mr. B heading down the stairs. He was not too happy about the walk to the top of the mine. He kept saying he thought this was a bus tour. We ate at the Glacier Lodge when the tour was over so he was happy again.

We all wore hard hats on the way down through the mill. The mill is open by tour only and is operated by the National Park Service. Notice how high we are.

The copper came from even higher elevations where the mines were and it was sent down on cars attached to cables similar to a ski lift. It was quite an operation. The mine closed in 1938 and made over 500 million dollars. The train and the mine were abandoned when it closed. The National Park Service is continuing to restore the town helping to preserve it's history.

Sunday, June 26

Today we left Andy back in McCarthy with Dynamite and we headed in to Kennicott for our 1/2 day Glacier Tour. It had rained during the night and we were a little worried about the weather, but it soon cleared and turned out to be a very pretty day.

We met our guides, Chris and Nabil and after getting fitted for our crampons, we were soon on the 2 1/4 mile trail heading for the Root Glacier. There were just 5 in our group. Barb, Sharon, me and 2 other women from Germany.

We were in great spirits as we headed up the trail and very excited about the upcoming adventure. Here you can see the Root Glacier behind me.

Barb was checking out the many wildflowers that grew along the trail.

Here we are putting our crampons on before we begin our ascent onto the glacier. This climb was the most difficult of the day.

Once we got to the top the view was just absolutely breath-taking. All I could think of was the song, Our God is an Awesome God. No offense Pastor Pat, but this was better than any sermon.

This is our climbing team. The German ladies, Barb, Sharon, Nabil and Chris.

Here we are having lunch on the glacier. Lunch never tasted so good as it did today, and I was never so ready to sit down and take a break as I was here. We all agreed that this was the absolute best time ever!

After lunch we walked to this lake that had formed on top of the glacier. The blues were beautiful. Pictures just don't do it justice.

This was a hole in the ice and Nabil didn't know how deep it was, he just kept saying that it was "deep"!

Here we are before we started back down off of the glacier. That was the second most difficult simply because by now, after walking several miles around on top of the glacier with spikes attached to my boots, my legs felt like jelly. Then after we did get down and took the crampons off we still had a 2 mile hike back to the shuttle bus. But we made it and it was one of the best days so far. Amen, what a Sunday.

Saturday, June 25

We left Riverview B & B this morning after a great breakfast from Homer and his son Patrick. They made homemade pecan waffles with sausage, juice and coffee. Homer and his wife taught in several bush communities in Alaska and shared some stories with us. We left by way of the Richardson Hwy and turned onto the Edgerton Hwy and saw these Tibetin Yaks. Later when we were eating at the Restaurant in Chitina we saw they had Yak burgers on the menu. We decided Yak Burgers were a "NO" for all of us.

The McCarthy Road may have been pretty rough since it was 60 miles of gravel, but the scenery was nothing short of spectacular.

The McCarthy Road followed the railroad bed most of the 60 miles. We did not have to cross this railroad tressel, thank goodness!

At the end of the road we crossed this foot bridge and a van from Ma Johnson's Hotel came to pick us up. The car was left behind as well as our cell phones.

Exploring the streets of McCarthy. The Golden Saloon is in the background. It housed the bar, the restaurant and served breakfast in the morning. It was also the venue for an underground band from San Franciso called the Murder by Death. We had a great time watching all the locals coming in to town to hear the band.

This is Ma Johnson's Hotel. It is actually owned by Neil who also owned the Golden Saloon and several other buildings in town. There was electricity and running water but no outlets in our rooms. There were 2 showers on each floor and only 2 toilets per floor. We enjoyed it just the same.

Friday, June 24

The Santa House in North Pole, Ak

A giant wooden mosquito at the Knotty Shop

Rika's homestead

The pipe line

One of the many spectacular views we saw today

The Riverview B & B

Today we left Fairbanks and headed south on the Richardson Hwy. We stopped in North Pole, Alaska and did some early Christmas shopping at the Santa Claus House. We also stopped again 10 miles down the road at the Knotty Shop, a shop that had a large variety of Alaska made gifts and specialty items made from the burls of trees. We drove several hours and decided to stop at Rika's Historic Roadhouse. It was a homestead of Rika from Sweden. She ran a boarding house on the Tanana River for the miners during the gold rush. Today was the nicest day yet and as we continued south we had some of the most spectacular vistas of the Alaska mountain range. We pulled in to the Riverview Bed & Breakfast at around 6pm. After checking in we went down the road and ate at the Gakona Roadhouse. We are now updating our journals and packing for the next 3 days that will be spent in McCarthy and we will more than likely be off the grid. I may not be able to post until Tuesday. So until then, I wish you a great week end.