True Alaskan adventures

Well, we went away for another weekend! This time to Valdez, AK. This town is about 7 hours away and as I was thinking about 14 hours round trip in the car I was not too excited. However, I would have stayed in the car for a whole 24 hours if I could continue to see the scenery that was on the Richardson Hwy.

 

 

 

When we got there we saw, what is typical of most towns in AK, a small town with just enough to do to last us about...oh... 1hour. It is a good thing we found out about the kayaking/glacier hiking tours so we had a cool way to spend our time. They completely outfitted us with awesome looking waterproof gear and we were on our way. We kayaked into this little glacier fed lake and paddled around icebergs for a while eventually making our way over to the glacier. It was substantially colder near/on the glacier with the wind coming off the ice. We ate lunch on the glacier, and I was so grateful that our guide had the forethought to bring hot water with him. He made us all tea, or hot chocolate, or hot apple cider. I opted for the apple cider and I have never felt so good as when I held that warm cup in my hand. Normally, I am very sensitive to hot drinks, but I was able to drink this one right away! After lunch we hiked on the glacier for a while and it was so fascinating to look down and see the blue ice under the rocks. 

We returned later that afternoon, and went by what they call "the beach." There was a salmon hatchery at the beach and the salmon were beginning to return to lay their eggs. Apparently, this is the best time to see wildlife in the area because the animals all come around for the easy meal as the salmon make there way up stream through the gauntlet of seals, sea lions, and eagles to where they were born.

 

On Sunday we did the long, but beautiful 7 hour drive back to Fairbanks. This Hwy is definitely on my list of top five best drives!