Valdez

We slept VERY well last night, even though the campground is actually a gravel lot, next to the only road in or out… 

Honey's first job this morning, was to do the laundry - been almost 3 weeks, so while he was gone (laundry is in the office building), I vacced and cleaned, washed out the canister of the Dyson, as all the DIRT from Top of the World highway is STILL coming up! Minor leak in the slide with bench in (which is also my BIG pantry), so when Den got back, he went up top, cleaned out the area of the failed caulk, and put new in. 

 Then we put a fan inside bench area and dried the dampness.  About 3 in the afternoon, the Camp Host came around to everyone and told us about the last minute Fish Fry!  Fresh Caught Salmon!  So I went through the pantry, and ended up making a Mac and Cheese casserole with seasoned bread crumbs to take - and the Salmon was FABULOUS!!!!  Tender, no bones, flavorful, without being "fishy" tasting… met some more nice folks!  Forgot to take a pic of the casserole and in 10 minutes it was GONE!!!!!!  LOL!

Took a few pix of snow capped mts that ring the city of Valdez, but still a bit cloaked with low clouds. 

 Great Cable here, so we rested with TV in eve..

This morning, we went exploring - went over to the location of the FIRST Valdez.  In 1964, a 9.2 Earthquake hit the harbor town of Valdez, destroying it. That same Earthquake impacted Anchorage, Whittier and Seward as well (we are going to all three of those cities/towns when we leave Valdez on the Ferry Wednesday morning..)  According to reports, Thirty people died in Valdez and the town was so damaged that it was not thought to be safe to stay in that location and rebuild, so the Whole Town was given 2 years to relocate to the new location. Fifty two buildings were actually MOVED to the new location.  

Old Valdez location:

Valdez is also ''famous'' for the Massive Oils Spill that happened in 1989. 

On our Exploring trip, we also went to the Fishery, where Salmon can usually be seen swimming upstream… Being Sunday - I guess they were SLEEPING, as were the Bears!  LOL!  That area is very popular, as a Mother bear and her 4 cubs have been coming there for the last 2 years.  We are going back to check it out again before we leave. 

Here is one of the waterfalls pouring into the River there from Solomon Lake.

Sea gulls nesting on the bridge beam.

And there were 2 Eagles hanging out and watching for anything that moved..

Looking across the lake over to Mt. Shasta (I THINK!) Low Tide

 Then we went back into a Valley to see the Valdez Glacier - Could not get too close to it, as there was a VERY fast moving river between us and the trek up to the glacier - Buthopefully my pix will show the Glacier.

Hoping to see more of these beautiful mountains before we leave on Wednesday Morning, but socked in with fog again today .....

Honey DID manage to wash the rig yesterday, as it was FILTHY from all of the red dirt/mud that we have been going through for the last week - hoping the roads on the Whittier/Seward side will be better.. Hoping to go to Homer and will for SURE be going to Anchorage in the coming week.. So STAY TUNED!!!!  

Will try to post again tomorrow - but a big caravan came into the park today, so we are now at the town library posting... wifi at our park is JAMMED!  LOL!