Alaska Review! Day 10--Valdez to Sutton

Another travel day, although not as long as Sunday.  Thankfully, our hanging laundry had dried  and we were able to pack it all up.  We had our continental breakfast and set out around 9 or 9:30.  We stopped at the Safeway and here is where I felt the cost of groceries quite a bit--I spent $20 for a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper, a 12 pack of grape Fanta for the kids, and a gallon of skim milk.  12 packs are usually $4 or $5 at home (and sometimes, 3 for $10) and milk is $2.59 at both stores I shop at.  So that was quite a markup, and I'm glad I wasn't doing a big shopping here.

Our first stop on the way out of Valdez was Old Town Valdez.

 There was a huge earthquake on Good Friday, 1964.  The town had to be moved to its present location about 4 miles away.  There isn't much left of the original town.

After that quick stop, we went over to the Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery, with the hope of seeing bears or sea lions fishing.  While we didn't see either of those, we did catch some birds, including an eagle.

 The fish ladder wasn't really open, but the fish were jumping.  You can see a few here that are making the leap.  It was interesting to watch.

 And the birds were all lined up, just watching and waiting...

It's a self guided tour, and we walked through it. 

 And an eagle in flight, which was cool.

And a close up of that beautiful bird. 

And then we hit the road.  More waterfalls, including Bridal Veil Falls.

This last photo really shows why it's called Bridal Veil Falls.  😀

 I'm including a photo of our only encounter with any sort of traffic.   I think we were very lucky, as I've heard of lengthy delays due to construction or accidents.  This was probably only about 10 minutes.

Our next stop was Worthington Glacier.

 This glacier is one where you can drive up to the parking lot and take a walk directly to the glacier.

 We made an error in that it looked like you couldn't walk close to those falls and reach the glacier, so we tried climbing on the shale to reach the glacier on the left side.

 While Trust enjoyed it and was able to carry some of our stuff,

 Imp and I were a bit overwhelmed.  The glacier is behind those large mounds of shale. 

So we turned around and then we realized that you could approach near the waterfalls. 

 That is my foot, proving that I was standing on a glacier (I suppose putting on the hiking boots would have helped us, too.)

Look at how happy Trust is to have arrived at the glacier.

And Imp, 

and Earnest, and

 Chretien and I were happy, too.

 Yes, there is space to walk close to the falls and still access the glacier.

Time to go back.  Glacier is behind us.

We made it back to the minivan and decided to eat lunch before we continued on the bulk of our drive.  Soon, though, we were back on the road.  We were traveling to the area near Matanuska Glacier, as it was a bit of a halfway point between Valdez and Seward.

 Again, is this real?

  We traveled up the Richardson Highway and then took a left at Glenallen to head west toward Anchorage.  We didn't stop at that huge gas station/convenience store as we had on Sunday, and that was fine with us.

This is the Glenn Highway. 

We arrived in the Matanuska Glacier area around 5 PM.  We opted not to do Matanuska.

We were staying at Homestead Guest Cabins.  Sandy is the owner and she is lovely, as is her home.

 Imp loved visiting with Sandy's dog on her deck.

We were staying in this cabin:

This cabin had two bedrooms.  We needed a rollaway for the second bedroom, but it was a great cabin.

 Loved the detail.

This was a nice spot off the kitchen to read or sleep.  There was no TV reception, but there was a TV with a built in DVD player where you could watch a selection of DVDs.  There was WiFi.  We enjoyed our short time here.  We paid $210 for our one night here.  I don't have a photo of the kitchen, but it was a regular sized kitchen with a big table.

 While we had food for breakfast to eat in that kitchen, we didn't have dinner, so off we went.   Sandy had all sorts of information in the cabin, including menus, so we decided to go to Grand View Cafe.  We were told that the Dall sheep were often spotted.

And guess what?  We did see them.  (Well, Chretien spotted them first, of course.  😀

 Those white dots are the sheep!  The restaurant had binoculars, which helped him find them.  It also helped that they were white against the darker background.

 And here is a close up.  Not too clear, but you get the idea.

The food here was enjoyable.  I had a wrap, and the waitress was very kind to bring me some bread when I misunderstood (the food was wrapped in lettuce, and I really needed some carbs to keep my blood sugar up).  We got a few desserts to share while we delighted in finally seeing the sheep.  The bill here was $100.

We headed back to the cabin, and this was the only time we had a pseudo sunset.  I guess it was the clouds that were present that day.

Good night to July 11.