Blogs from Valdez, Alaska, United States, North America - page 3

Another beautiful day in Alaska - sunny and in the 60's. In my blog last night I mentioned that Michael, Barbara and Carroll's son had come down and was smoking some of the salmon that the guys had caught. He smoked part of the salmon and the other part they sealed up and put in the freezer. Today Carroll sealed up the smoked salmon so they could freeze it. Barbara gave Jim and Charlie a haircut at her "outdoor beauty shop". Tonight we had another wonderful dinner outside. Barbara deep-fried some of the halibut that Larry and Carroll caught here in Valdez. Not only is she a good beautician, but a great cook. It seems like our dinners just keep getting better and better. As I said before, we have some very good cooks in our ... read more

We went to the Solomon Gulch Hatchery here in Valdez. This was the first major project for the Vadez Fisheries Development Association which was organized by residents of Valdez after the bitter cold winter of 1971-72 all but devastated the commercial and sport salmon fisheries in Prince William Sound. Their goals are to produce an annual return of 10 million pink, 300,000 chum, 100,00 silver and 10,000 king salmon. The hatchery is licensed to incubate and rear to release size 230 million pink, 18 million chum, 2 million silver and 300,000 king salmon eggs. Pinks and silvers reached full production in 1987. The fish in the attached pictures are adult pink and coho salmon returning to the hatchery to complete their life cycle by spawning and dying. These fish were spawned, hatched and released from the ... read more

Another outstanding breakfast at Rose's by the Sea B&B to start this day. Since the drive to Tok is just under five hours and my only activity today, I take my time packing up and then I start doing some blogging catch-up in the common living room area. Rose and I end up engaging in a thought-filled, sharing conversation about the life curves that can sometimes turn us in a totally different direction than one would expect. She has such unique experiences; we make an easy connection that actually becomes a couple hours’ worth of dialog, some causing pooled laughter and others touching souls…so much for getting any blogging done. I can't regret that time because this is the kind of interchange I so wanted to have in Alaska - not just travel here but meet ... read more

Today begins with a little stress factor. Early rise after a not so early to bed to pack up, drive the almost 60 miles on gravel road out of McCarthy to a paved highway and hopefully without another flat tire, and then another 120 miles to Valdez before noon to catch the half day boat trip to Columbia Glacier in Prince William Sound and then check into a new place in Valdez for the next two nights. I should be regretting staying in McCarthy the extra day making today a rush but after that grand river raft trip yesterday, no regrets. Just the knowledge I’ll be pushing it again today. I pray as I get stuff together and to the car knowing I’m a little anxious about driving the almost 60 mile McCarthy road again where ... read more

The rain came during the night, but I didn't have too much of a problem because I had gotten my tent up while it was still not raining the night before. The tent is fairly waterproof so far and only a little water came through the fabric. I was comfy inside with no difficulty. The only problem was getting it all dry enough in the morning to put away. But I did it. Then I headed off down the road. I decided on Anchorage and headed in that direction. Initially, it seemed it was just going to be a bit of a boring drive. The scenery got better though. I stopped at a turnout to have a view of a really nice river valley and met a man from California who was also enjoying the view. ... read more