We awoke at 6 AM because someone had set the TV to be an alarm and it
went off then. There were others up already so we got dressed and
went to the Grumpy Grizzly café for breakfast. It was unremarkable
but as we were almost going to go we met a man, Arthur ??, that just
returned from the US after driving in the Peking-Paris Rally. He was
driving a 1950 Ford of some type and he and a codriver had finished
the rally. After the car was brought back to the US, he was driving
it to Anchorage where a friend was going to drive it to Ohio and
eventually back to FL where its kept. Arthur told us about a few
other adventures he'd gone on including a trip to New Guinea. He was
nearly a member of the 100 country club and was next going to go to a
place on the planet where you can stand in all 24 time zones at once.
I'll let you look up where that would be... ;)
We left and headed south toward Valdez. We actually saw Arthur twice
before Glenallen as he drove his car that way. We only saw one moose
prior to Glenallen so the trip was pleasant yet unremarkable.
South of Glenallen, we stopped at the Wrangell-St.Elias vc I was at
about a week ago. Ruth had a problem with her heated jacket so I
worked on fixing it while she saw the vc. She'd broken one of the
wires to the battery on the Dalton Hwy so I got that repaired and
tightened her chain.
When she returned, we headed south toward Valdez. The Alaskan Range
was in the distance and we had NUMEROUS photo stops, each one getting
prettier than the last. When we got into the mtns, we did the same
thing. Real close to Valdez we saw the Worthington Glacier, which was
phenomenal. You could see the blue in the ice/snow and how it was
dirt covered at the toe.
We then started ascending the mountain to cross Thompson Pass. It was
2600+ feet tall and was cold. Ruth was amazed that there was still
snow on the ground.
After the pass, we descended into Valdez, passing numerous waterfalls
on the way (our favorites were Bridal Veil and Horsetail Falls).
In Valdez we found the Ferry Terminal and then looked for a room.
There was nothing inexpensive so we ended up in a cabin at an RV park.
We didn't think we could camp because we've got to be on the ferry at
7 AM. At the RV park, they told us a site they've been seeing a sow
grizzly so we drove there hoping to see it. We did see an immature
bald eagle with a salmon on some mud flats and some seals and LOTS of
salmon at a water inlet but no bears.
We returned to town and had the fried salmon for supper.
What a great day!!
--
============
Todd Ryan; Hudson, MA
Westborough HS Science Teacher
MSF RiderCoach
No comments:
Post a Comment