Howdy! Guy came to visit at the end of August and we had a great visit in spite of rain every day. We moved to Valdez, Alaska, after Samantha and her friends left. We made the drive in 2 days, it was about 7 hours all together. We stayed at Bayside RV park, right in town and next to the boat harbor. Valdez is a beautiful area, surrounded by mountains, glaciers and lots of waterfalls, and is on Prince William Sound. I’m sure it is even more beautiful when it’s not raining…but I couldn’t tell you since it rained every single day we were there. Steve and I finally bought rain boots, we couldn’t walk Gerry or go outside without getting our feet soaked. The RV park was busy with a lot of Alaskans there to fish the Silver Salmon and fill their freezers. Many of the campers had full size deep freezers sitting in their camp, they would fish all day every day, filling their freezer for the year. Some were also fishing for shrimp and I’m sure other creatures as well….we were one of the few RVs that didn’t have Alaska tags. The tourists are all leaving quickly before weather becomes an issue.
We didn’t let the weather dampen our fun (pun intended 🙂 ) We did several hikes, and Steve and Guy went on a Salmon fishing charter. We had booked a Halibut fishing trip, but it was cancelled twice due to high seas. So they did the Salmon trip instead, which only goes out about 14 miles into the ocean, vs. the Halibut trip that went 50 – 70 miles into the ocean. They each caught the daily limit of 6 fish, so we had plenty of Salmon for dinner and to ship home. They saw sea lions, porpoise, seals, sea otters and eagles and also a spectacular rainbow came out while they were on the boat. On one hike, a black bear came onto the trail, about 100 yards in front of us. He looked at us and then went into the woods. We were glad he wasn’t any closer!
We also did a great helicoptor tour of the mountains and glaciers. We saw seals from the air, laying on huge chunks of ice floating in the ocean. We landed twice on the tour – once on a beach that had lots of ice on it from nearby glaciers, and then we landed on a giant glacier named Shoup Glacier. It was absolutely amazing. The pictures do not begin to capture the vast landscape we saw. None of us had ever been in a helicopter before and it is amazing what you can see when riding in one. We have seen a number of glaciers on our trip so far, but what we see from the road or from a hiking trail is nothing compared to what they look like when you go way up and back into the mountains and land on top of one. An experience we will not forget.
You’ll be happy to know we continued our bakery quest while in Valdez…. and I can report we found a great bakery right on the harbor front, in a converted 1950s camper. Super cute and very good. We went every day we were there. Guy declared the breakfast croissant with ham and the blueberry scones “one of the best things I have ever eaten!” The very nice young lady who was the owner even baked us 2 loves of bread – multigrain and a beautiful round loaf of rye. We had asked about bread, she said she was done making it for the season, since she was closing in a few days. Then she said she’d make some just for us – it was delicious!
We cooked tons of seafood while Guy was here – crab legs, scallops, shrimp, salmon, halibut. Now you know why we hike even in the rain….we have to work off all the bakery goods, delicious dinners and ice cream! We didn’t find any great ice cream shops in Valdez, but the grocery had plenty!
Sharing a part of this adventure with Guy was great. No one is prepared for how big and beautiful Alaska is, and I think Guy really enjoyed exploring a little bit of it. He’s the last of our visitors for the summer – it was so nice having everyone – we are loving our RV lifestyle and are so thankful to be able to do this, but we do miss family and friends. Visitors help bridge the gap a bit.
Guy, we love you and are so proud of you and the happy, healthy life you are living in Minnesota. Thank you for coming to visit and sharing this experience with us. Life is good.
Pictures at these links:
Hiking: https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0pkkIi-rWnzsvAFatq
Helicopter: https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0pkheVp9beEjy7lnJd
Salmon Fishing: https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0pkiPmWB61Ys8oyjZw
Valdez: https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0pklLl_bjzOJlcdG_Z