Valdez!

Valdez, AK

Miles driven:       121
Diesel                $4.79
Campground:     Eagles Rest RV Park    Three nights:   $132.00


Had a great 4th.  Hope you did too.   First we viewed the parade in Glennallen.    Good old fashioned type parade.   Homemade floats and lots of candy being tossed.   Check out Leonard:

Notice please he was not the only man grabbing candy.  We sat with other RVers and all the guys scrambled for whatever was thrown their way.

After the parade we headed to the local park where they had a short ceremony and then a salmon bake.

Raising of the flag:

We took lawn chairs with us and watched the sights.   The line became long for the eats.  When it got a little shorter we left our chairs and got in line.   We were in line at least 30 minutes.  While in line we noticed a couple of old men were sitting in our chairs.   That was okay with us as long as they would get up when we got our meal.  That was not to be, easily.   One man did.   The other remained seated even after Len told him 4 times that he was sitting in my chair and I stood there holding my dinner.  Finally I decided I would have to sit on the ground.  It was at that point the man's friend told him to get up.  I felt bad as the man was old.   But as Len gently reminded me - SO AM I!   And it was my chair!   And he was done eating!   I still felt bad.

What a nice meal.  Salmon, baked potato, cole slaw, corn on cob, garlic bread, hot dogs, baked beans and watermelon.   The meal was put on by the Kiwanis club for donations.  The woman in front of us put nothing in the box.  We noticed the family of three in front of her put in ONE DOLLAR.   The Kiwanis does this every year so it must all work out.  (We put in $22.00)

We left Glennallen this morning at 8:30.  A short way down the road we visited the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve Visitor Center.   There we learned a lot about the history of the area and park.

This is a fishing basket.   It sits in the stream and the flow of the water causes it to rotate and scoop up the salmon.

On the way to Valdez we saw the Trans Atlantic pipeline several times.

At one point the fog became so thick we could hardly see.

But once we got down to a lower elevation it lifted.    Glad because we would have missed these:

So here we are for the next three days.   Tomorrow a cruise of the Prince Edward Sound.

The trip of a lifetime!