Thompson Pass Mountain Chalet Valdez

... cashed in my gift certificates that I received from the fishing derby and resupplied our groceries and we will be leaving in the morning. We hooked the 5th wheel up this evening and will be ready to roll in the morning. When I went to settle up with the RV park, the owner told me that they have a breakdown rate of just $15/night. What wonderful people there are in the world still especially in Valdez. They took good care of us and made us feel like family.

... and talked, and after a while, I think we were all wishing he would put a sock in it! <br><br>On the way back to port, Art and I played cards with Charles as his wife, Julie, looked on.<br><br>It was a magnificent day (at least 7 hours) with our Gulfstreamer friends with sights of otters, puffin, a humpback whale, porpoise, sea lions, eagles, salmon, glaciers, icebergs, mountains, waterfalls, fishing boats and more.

... Glen and Lois took their daughter and neice and great neice halibut fishing today and they caught their limit again. We drove over to watch for the grizzly bear again. We sat from 7:30 till 9:00 pm, but he didn't show. but while we were there, the eagle was there sitting so confidently and arrogantly. We saw the Canadian geese feeding and would you believe that when we gave up on the grizzly, as we drove off, we saw a beautiful black bear feeding on the salmon just up ...

... because I was wearing my Alaska coat that I had bought the last time we were in Alaska. The only thing cold on me was my hands and my nose of course. I kept running outside on the deck because there was always another picture to take. Just couldn't get enough. He finally turned around and had to pick his way out of the ice and then we returned to shore. We were all tired and he was still talking. I think he just about talked us all to sleep.

... on a rocky beach, and what a noisy bunch they are! The Harbor Seals like to play on the reef-marker buoy. <br>They served a nice lunch of chowder (I had the minestrone) and a bagel w/cream cheese and some Oreo cookies. This was the half day trip (6.5 hours) and I must admit when we turned around, I was ready for my nap and very happy we had not chosen the 9 hour trip! <br>Tomorrow we hit the museums.

... humpback whale, sea otter, harbor seal, dall's porpoise. Valdez has a full schedule for celebrating the 4th that we will take part in. The campground is hosting a pot luck dinner at 6:00. They supply the halibut and we bring a dish to pass. We will be there for sure! The fireworks will take place at 11:00pm. (Not sure Fred, Evelyn & Bill will be up for it. ha!) More History: The Alaska pipeline is 800 miles in length from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. More later!

... as close as we had last week. We did see some seals on the icebergs though.<br><br>The rest of the day was spent reading, napping, and eating. Not bad work if you can get it. <br><br>I've yet to see it dark here. Even at midnight there was been enough light that you could take pictures outdoors without flash. I'm not sure I want to get up at 2am just to check either.<br>

... The one at the end of the fjord was the most breathtaking. We were one mile form the face of it and it still looked huge. It is 1.3 miles across at the face and 300 feet high. It's hard to put into perspective just how big this is. Think of a building 30 stories high and three blocks wide all made of ice.<br><br>I did get to go on a walkthrough tour of one of the kitchens on the ship. This kitchen is over 3000 sq ft and is ...

Through the night the ship sailed out of Whittier and arrived at 6am the following morning at the mouth of College Fjord. It is so named because the first explorers there named the glaciers they found after various Ivy League schools from back home (notably the ones they attended). Katrina and I had a lovely breakfast while watching several majestic glaciers roll by the windows. <br ...

... around the town and museum, rain had settled in so their afternoon was a relaxed movie time, while Rick was out on the calm clear sea with only one rain squall and the rest of the time as written above, having a good turn. Rick cut the fish up and bagged it for the freezer and Karon cooked some for our dinner, it is a beautiful fish and just tastes great and melts in the mouth. It was arranged with the RV park owner to put the 40 lb of fish into the Parks freezer overnight ...