Alaska's Winter Horizon

Alaska's Winter Horizon

Monday, August 2, 2010

Valdez




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Woke up refreshed after getting a somewhat good night's sleep for the first time in days. It was a dreary, foggy, and rainy morning in Valdez. We drove right down the street to the Totem Inn Restaurant. There we enjoyed a really delightful breakfast. We stopped in at the ferry terminal to check on times for the ferry to Whittier. Unfortunately, we had missed the boat by a few minutes. We drove onto the docks and looked across the misty bay. I'm sure this is a beautiful scene on some days, but today visibility was restricted and we could only see a few boats in the water. Before we headed out of town we drove to Allison Point and watched the fishermen in the bay. There were many salmon anglers standing side by side on the rocks leading down to the water. We did see several people catch salmon before their freshwater push to spawn. There was a taped off area for bears and many bear warning signs. This area had been roped off due to daily bear sightings. We looked at the stream leading from the ocean and it was black with fish. It was quite an impressive thing to see so many salmon spawning in one area. The area around us featured scores of bald eagles sitting high in the spruce trees. They are truly magnificent birds. We also saw many sea otters but they were uncooperative photo subjects. It would have been easy to hang there all day, but we had no rain gear and thought it was best to leave before we got chilled. On the way out of town I spotted a grizzly bear in a marsh area but he was gone by the time we turned around. We then drove through the rain and stopped to take pictures of 2 beautiful waterfalls, Bridal Veil and Horsetail Falls. This lush area was green with summer's growth. We also visited Worthington Glacier. This glacier is easily accessed by a quick walk from the parking lot. It is a magnificent sight. We stopped for a burger and tots and then headed on to our destination for the night.

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