Valdez to Whittier

July 3:  Well, after making my last post last night, I got to bed at 1:00 A.M. and we were up this morning at 4:45 to be at the Ferry by 6:00.  Got there in plenty of time - we were 3rd to load! Ferry was pricey - $571.00 for the 2 of us, the truck and camper (51 feet total), but time spent was kind of time saved - and promised to be an interesting trip!

Loading in:

 Ferry was pretty amazing and plenty of room to sit and see out the BIG windows, but because of the rain all day it was very chilly.. nice bathrooms and a nice lunch room - with several casserole and sandwich choices and cold drinks, coffee and hot chocolate.  (we brought our own sandwiches and Hot Chocolate liberally laced with BAILEY'S!! - for ME) lol! 

The sun was out there,  but far away!   

Unfortunately, with the rain and fog the beautiful mountains that I KNOW were out there, were almost totally obscured…. sad… We did, however, see a few Glaciers and Icebergs… When the Glaciers begin to thaw, and 'flow' toward the water, the process of breaking off of the icebergs is called "Calving"… This was a NEW term to me, never heard that used, but the resulting icebergs were a sight to see!  The color is MAGNIFICENT!  I have heard the term "Ice Blue" but now it has MUCH more meaning!  This was Columbia Glacier with in the Columbia Bay, and the results:

 

I just KNOW there is a MOUNTAIN around that corner…….

First sight of Whittier:

Off the Ferry by 1:00 P.M..

Through the tunnel at Whittier, about 3 miles or so long.

Two pix of Glaciers after we left Whittier 

And we ran into a Couple of Japanese guys and they were taking pix of each other, so I offered to take one of them together, so they were SO tickled that I would offer and then they offered to take mine - in the broken english, one of them said that the other was a photographer, and here is the pic he took! You can barely see the glacier behind me, which was the POINT!  LOL!  I was pretty punchy by then, with only a bit over 3 hours of sleep!!!  

MOUNTAINS on the way to Kenai Peninsula!!! FINALLY!  

 And a Cardinal pulled by a GMC(??), did not get a chance to stop and chat - it looked to be a rear kitchen like ours.

Copper River on the way to Kenai Peninsula 

We are staying at the Diamond M Ranch Resort - quiet, trees in our area, FHU, wifi and 3 PBS TV stations.  Most expensive we have paid for a campsite since we left home - at $55.00 per night! Not sure why they call it a resort - there are a few horses, lamas and pigs in a pen… but it IS close to the towns of Kenai, Soldotna,  for great exploring! We will be here till Sunday and then head on down to Homer. Den is hoping to go out on a Halibut Fishing trip!! Will post more as time allows!  Off to explore Soldotna tomorrow!! Wood carving shop and a gift shop, and who knows WHAT else?

(BTW: Fuel is $4.54 here in this area)  Drove 162 miles today.