The Alaska Marine Highway ferry ride was great. After driving onto the ferry, we just relaxed and watched the scenery go by as the Captain did the driving, no bad roads, no loose gravel, no construction, no pilot cars. At one spot, several orcas had gathered and were jumping around. The captain turned the boat in a circle around them so all the passengers could get a great view. I got one great photo of a baby orca breeching. As we pulled into Whittier, more glaciers, more beautiful waterfalls. Off the boat and onto the road toward the TUNNEL. We were quite fortunate; we got there when our side got the green light to proceed. Proceeding into the dark and damp tunnel while driving on train tracks felt ominous. After 2.5 miles, the light at the ... read more

On Sunday, the Johnsons and Mike and Jack left to head over to Palmer and Anchorage while we stayed in Valdez. We walked around town, heading out to the Crooked Creek Salmon Viewing area, but the pink salmon had not arrived yet. That seems to be the story on this trip – we either arrive a week late or a week early. How many times we have heard, “Oh, there were so many bears here just last week.” OR “Last week, there was a family of about 7 otters just playing on our beach right here.” Oh well, there’s still a lot of Alaska to cover. We walked over to the Alaska Marine Highway Terminal to book a ferry ride from Valdez to Whittier on Wed. That evening, we walked down to the docks to watch ... read more

Friday, left Tok to head for Valdez, home of two disastrous events that both happened on Good Friday in two different years: the earthquake registering 9.2 on the Richter scale lasting over 4 minutes struck March 27, 1964, the oil spill, worst in North American history (until last year in the Gulf), spilling more than 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound occurred March 24, 1989. Our original plans did not include coming to Valdez, but we are so glad we did. The pipeline is visible at places along the route southward, but really quite inconspicuous. The port and pipeline terminus are about 10 miles from downtown Valdez, so the town is still charming. After the earthquake, the old town of Valdez was condemned as it was built on unstable ground. So, a new ... read more

We decided to “do” the walking tour of Haines Sunday morning, but the wind was howling and it was cold. The buildings weren’t open until afternoon, so back home we went to catch up on blogs and photos. Cooked a nice steak for lunch, added some broccoli and a caprese salad. As we were sitting at the Johnsons for happy hour, out the front window, a gorgeous rainbow appeared. Soon, a couple eagles flew into the picture and we watched them as they scanned the water for food. Later, the cruise ships meandered down the canal towards Juneau. All the while, the clouds and the mountains keep changing patterns; it is mesmerizing as the white clouds sit atop the mountains like puffy mounds of whipped cream, then move on and turn gray and ominous as they ... read more

Twenty days on the road and we made it to Alaska! It was a wonderful feeling to get to the border and be greeted by a US Customs agent and a Welcome to Alaska sign! The brochures and books that said the Haines Highway is by far the most scenic byway in the world were not wrong. Around every turn, a new vista that was more beautiful than the last. As we passed over the summit (only 3500 ft), there was snow at road level. Coming into Haines, we saw a juvenile bald eagle. Had it been November or December, there would have been so many more eagles, probably around 4,000 lining the shores of the Chilkat River, waiting for the salmon. One highlight of Haines is the 48,000-acre Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. As we entered ... read more