VALDEZ SITES

Hello Trackers:



June 3 – Today is a travel day. We have seen wild horses and mooses on the roads. A lot the roads are being worked on. Traveling is slow. Lots of gravel sections. We camped at Lake Creek campground. As, always when we stop, we checkout all the vehicles to make sure all is well. Oh no, the car tow bar hitch is bent. Since we are in the middle of nowhere we decided keep looking at it when we start again.


June 4 – We crossed into Alaska this morning. It is so good to be back on US soil. We can use real dollars to buy stuff. We drove for an hour and Lo decided the tow bar was getting more bent. So we unhooked the car and I drove it to Tok. We found a shop that could fix the tow bar. The service guy told Lo they see a lot of this problem. He stated that “ya came from Beaver Creek didn’t ya”. We said yes. He stated he sees this all of the time. He told us that we were one of the “Lucky Ones”. Some people actually lose their tow vehicles in that stretch. We were only going 40 MPH. Could highway signs not be put up as a warning???  I can imagine the tow bar breaking and seeing our car in the front us with no one in it. That would have been a nightmare. God is really good. We stayed at the Porcupine campground.



June 5 – Valdez - We took a trip to Valdez. It is nice and sunny. Glacier on one side and snow capped mountains on the other. The drive was very beautiful. This is a little fishing town. We were told that the boat from the show the “Biggest Catch” is docked here occasionally. It is also the end of the AK pipeline. Of course we stopped into a museum. It was the Jessie & Maxine Whitney Museum. Amazing what two people can collect. Maxine would travel the small villages and trade items for her gift shop. Her collection really gives ideas of how the real natives of AK live. We stopped for lunch at the Best Western Hotel. (It was supposed to be the best food around.) Got a hear full from the young waitress. She stated she only had 7 more days in Valdez. She was moving to Vegas. She had been in Valdez for 4 years and had to go where there was “action” and no snow. Valdez normally gets 350 inches of snow yearly. But this year it was 450 inches. I will not complain about our weather again. Looking at some of the people was interesting. Most of the people could use a good tanning bed. Boy I have never seen such paleness. We took a tour of the town. Again I was taking pics. Lo decided we could get closer to the water. He drives right to the edge. I asked him was he going in the water or what. He said, “You wanted closer pics. I am just getting you closer”.  Did he not learn anything from our dirt road situation the other day??? Go to my Happy place. We went to where the original town used to be. Very little is there. On March 27, 1964 an earthquake lasting 4 minutes struck 45 miles west of Valdez. It created tremendous waves that wash away Valdez. I remember this happening as a teen. We all thought CA was going to be next. This is also the city where on March 24, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef and caused the biggest oil spill in North America. If I were citizen of Valdez, I would always be leery of the month of March. We left Valdez for the return trip back to our campsite at Dry Creek campground. We had to pass Horseshoe and Bridal Falls. It was amazing to see 3 powerful waterfalls at once. God really created this beautiful land.

Question of the day – What was the magnitude of the earthquake that created an underwater landside that washed away Valdez? Well look it up and let me know your answer.

Until next time Trackers. Keep a light burning for us.


Lo & Bren

P.S. I heard from some of you that your comments and answers to the questions are not being posted. Just email your answer and I will respond.  Bren