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Published: July 26th 2015
Our caravan is scheduled to be in Valdez a total of four nights. We drove here from Tok on Thursday. The views were great, and the roads were pretty good, except for the frost heaves, which give a "roller coaster " ride. Compared to the last few travel days, these 255 miles were good.
We stopped a few times for pictures. I can't tell you how many mountain pictures I have taken so far. It seems like each mountain range we see gets prettier than the last. Thank goodness for digital cameras!!
On Friday we took a 9 hour cruise to the Columbia and Meares Glaciers. What a beautiful day! I sat out on the upper deck in the sun and wind all day just enjoying it all as we moved through the Prince William Sound. The glaciers were awesome. I had never seen anything like this and find it hard it imagine these covering so much land years ago. We sat about 1/4 mile from the Meares Glacier for quite a while ... waiting and watching as it would break off pieces and fall into the water. As one of our group members said, "it doesn't take much
to entertain a boat full of senior citizens!" We also pulled along groups of sea otter, harbor seals, sea lions, Dall's porpoise, and several whales. Again, we would all patiently wait for the whale to resurface and then dive under. It was something great to see.
Our city tour was cancelled for this morning. The bus driver could not make it ... and yes, Jim volunteered but decided he was not qualified, although we all know he has a way of telling tales! It was nice to be able to sit and enjoy our coffee this morning before heading out to take our own city tour, check out some museums, the boat harbor, and the fish hatchery. Valdez has a population of approximately 4.000 and the entire town was moved following a huge earthquake in 1964. It also is the end of the 800 mile oil pipeline. They eliminated tours of that area after 9/11 for security reasons. We had another travel meeting followed by a dinner this evening. A free day tomorrow and then off to Palmer on Monday.
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Georgia
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Glaciers
I am enjoying your comments about your trip. Very beautiful!!