Valdez

We've been on the road now for 8 weeks and 3 days, and I think I've found my favorite area in Alaska. Valdez, and the road driving in, has some of the best scenery I've ever seen. Canyons, waterfalls, glaciers, mountains, the bay and harbor; WOW!!

Even I look good here!

Can you guess what hat I'm wearing?

A shot of the Worthington Glacier.

We don't know the name of this mountain or lake, it was one of many beautiful shots coming into town.

The small boat harbor is very busy and extremely picturesque.

Valdez is 100 miles from the nearest turnoff of the highway. You drive south to the port city and once you're here, there is nothing else in the area. It isn't big enough to have cruise ships dock here. Consequently, there isn't a lot of traffic, either from tourists or Alaskans. The town itself has a population of only 4100 people and it shows.

However, they have an average annual rainfall of 64", and an average annual snowfall of 325".There are lots of waterfalls around here. They have their own Bridalveil Falls, not to be confused with the famous falls in Yosemite.

It was raining really hard when we came into town yesterday, but as you can see, today is very nice indeed. Tomorrow is forecast to be even better, but even if it is, I think we'll be going for a bike ride.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

ds