The End of the Pipeline

Last Friday we waited in that line I was telling you about for the Whittier Tunnel. You know, the one that both vehicles and trains use....one at a time. It's a very precise schedule, but we got in!

Then we drove onto the Ferry to Valdez. It was a six hour ride but the ferry has a cafeteria and showed "Inside Out" for the kids, so it was pretty peaceful. The rest of us looked out the windows hoping to see the scenery through the rain. The Alaska Marine Highway is one of the most gorgeous "commutes" in the world.

When I was a kid the only reference I had for "Valdez" (pronounced val-deez) was the oil spill. I pictured industrial factories, dirty streets, and rivers with a fine rainbow sheen on them. After being in Valdez, I can confidently say that nothing is further from the truth. In fact, of all the places we've seen in Alaska to date, the Valdez area is the area where I sat on the edge of my seat most to absorb every detail. It was gorgeous!

Valdez, itself, is a small fishing village surrounded by glaciers and waterfalls. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline may end there, but you can't see it like you can on the route to Deadhorse.  In fact, this is the only visible evidence we saw of the pipeline in town.

The rest of Valdez is mostly small town and waterfront.  

It takes less than five minutes to reach the end of town from the boat launch. Just outside town you'll see a tunnel that was started during the railroad era, but never finished due to a disagreement that ended in a gun fight. "The Iron Trail" by Rex Beach describes it, according to a nearby sign. I haven't read the book yet, so can't recommend it one way or the other. If you've read it, let me know if it's any good!

The road after that is all waterfalls, mountains and glaciers. It's breathtaking! Some people snooze on road trips. You wouldn't on this one! You'd probably look more like a kid on their first trip to Disneyland! It's that fantastic. I mean, just look at our road views!

We were there for a few days, so we decided to spend one of the days going to McCarthy, which is famous for the Kennecott Copper Mine,  the native Athabascan people....and a few other things. We spent some time at the Copper River, where the worlds most delicious salmon spawn. We even saw a few fish wheels being used by native Alaskans. I think it's silver salmon (Coho) season right now.

The road to McCarthy ended up being more treacherous than the Dalton, and a few of the kids weren't feeling well, so we decided to stop and turn around. We had a delicious lunch at the historic Gilpatricks Hotel in Chitina (pronounced chit-nuh). I ordered the reindeer sausage, which is served on a roll with sauerkraut and mustard, German style (makes my mouth water even now!). Then we headed down the road to the Kenny Lake Fair.

Kenny Lake is a very small farming community. Once a year they all get together on someones property and have an old fashioned fair where people bring animals, homemade items, and produce to be judged. They offer freshly made goodies, like buttery crusted blueberry pie and ice cream. They also beckon to you to play games for prizes and have booths set up to sell items they've made throughout the year, like dream catchers. Needless to say, I was in Heaven. Everyone knew everyone. Kids and adults danced with each other next to the stage where the local band played, and kids walked around asking if anyone wanted to buy their Alaska-grown peas or play a game for the local high school fundraiser.

When our trip to the Valdez area ended, we drove home in order to see a different route and get a stamp on our National Parks Passport at Wrangell Elias National Park. There we learned about the Athabascan people, animals and vegetation in the area, and were able to touch actual animal pelts. I think my favorite was the beaver pelt. It was a lot softer and thicker than I thought it would be. This is a very large national park, filled with all kinds of amazing things. I recommend visiting it if you're in the area.

We had lunch in Glennallen and then stumbled across the most unbelievable part of our trip. We had planned to stop to take pictures at Matanuska Glacier, since we are living in the MatSu Borough, but when we got to it we found out that you can actually pay a fee and go in to WALK ON THE GLACIER!! You can touch it, stand on it, listen to it crack and creek, and see the effects of global warming up close and personal. Of course, we signed our lives away on the waiver and went in!

This was definitely a bucket-list item for me. We all had fun. The kids especially liked throwing caution to the wind, jumping over fissures in the ice. Walking in, it was surprising how fast we went from mud to ice without even realizing it. It's not often you get the opportunity to see the view from the glacier point of view. It was the very definition of awesome.

The only thing that was disappointing was seeing a cigarette butt that someone had dropped and left on the glacier. So disrespectful and disgusting! Do us all a favor and leave every place you visit cleaner than you found it.

After all that activity, this week has been pretty calm. I met with a local quilt group and they were all very welcoming and friendly. Not to mention talented! It was nice to work on my state flowers quilt with them. I also finished the Ahtna Athabascan Beading project. As you can see here, I restarted and collaborated with the kids (and their beads). Hooray for completion!

The trees have started to turn colors, so I guess that means Autumn starts in August here. I'm curious to see what the weather will be like when we leave in the middle of September. Until then, I'm savoring every moment.

Have a great week!

- Jen