Aspen Hotel Valdez

... 16 salmon in the most beautiful water in Valdez narrows close to the Shoop Glacier. We had so much fun and laughed and decided that The Good Lord just wanted us to stay a little longer so we could enjoy this day. I came in second in the daily salmon derby for the second largest salmon caught that day. I even earned a "I got an Ass-Chewin on the Circus Circus in Valdez, Ak" from our friends who give this out to those of us that earn it while fishing ...

... as a well-kept 75-foot vessel, with teak and mahogany accents and oriental rugs, but if we slapped an oriental rug on the Nock-Nock, we could claim the same.<br><br>There was a nice snack bar aboard with booth seating. Two female deck hands cooked chili dogs, clam chowder, popcorn and other reasonably priced snacks.<br><br>Even though the atmosphere was not what we expected, we were not disappointed with the ...

... here yesterday to go fishing, it was a drizzly rain, but as we got out further, it was nice and the seas were calm. We have been going out 45 miles. There were icebergs floating in the area where we fished today. They weren't there the last time we came out here. I will send pictures of some of the fish we caught yesterday. Hope I have more news tomorrow. When we leave here, we will head back home and not make the round through Alaska since we have made that round before. Diane

... there until we all had ewed and ahed and took so many pictures. Oh I forgot to tell you that before we got here, we saw some humpback whales. They were just rolling around and lazying around. We stayed there for a quite awhile as we waited for them to resurface time and again. I took many, many pictures. Of course I had to change batteries on the camera and the video. When do you ever have enough pictures? Then we had the popoise ...

... which is transmitted.<br>Glaciers in the Sound are both retreating - shortening the distance form the origin to the terminus - and advancing, increasing in size. Columbia Glacier was the last of Alaska's tidewater glaciers to go into a retreat. It began in 1978 and by 1983 it had moved off it's terminal moraine, losing an increasing amount of ice. In 2002, it had retreated for a distance of 7.5 miles ...

Happy 4th of July everyone! When we pulled into Valdez yesterday there was a cloud that hovered over the city. Today the sun came out and beautiful Valdez came to life. I look out my kitchen window and see snow capped mountains. The other side is a green mountain with a water fall. Friday we went on a 9 hr. glacier and wildlife cruise. Columbia Glacier was the first one but we could not get close to it. It is loosing an increasing amount of ice and there are ...

... dead at the bottom of this run, floating around, and hundreds would be swimming at the bottom as well. This was exciting, but alas NOOOOO!!!! BEARS. It was dinner time, and off to a local restaurant called Mike's Palace, a small diner with good food and prices. It specialized in just about any food ranging from Greek, Italian and a lot of fish of course. Ady and I had the halibut, which was great, Nancy had the shrimp which she ...

... itself, as well as the views of the valley it formed, were stunning. From time to time we found very small streams caused by melting ice. Those streams made some wonderful shapes in the ice. Standing at the top of the glacier looking down felt like being on top of the world. For me, having passed an open heart surgery less than two years ago, it was not obvious being there. Two years ago I found it ...

... down at about 5:50 and ask if Rick was the skipper or going on the boat. Rick tells them he is not the skipper and has paid for a charter trip on this boat, which apparently is better than them they had yet to pay but were booked. Well the skipper (Dave) wanders down at around 2 minutes before 6, climbs on board and checks the oil and does some prep before he announces that boarding can commence. Rick (being himself) climbs on first and the others follow, the Skipper asks if he ...

... Exxon-Valdez went aground in 1989) The trip in was a comfortable one with the shared driving making it easier for us. Again we begin to question Mandy or is it Karon and her directions to Mandy, We took a turn left at a point about 7 miles from our destination and ended up in a secure restricted area where the Alaskan oil Pipeline terminates. Gee just as well we practiced those U turns. Not a big deal and we all do have a sense of humour, we ...