Anchorage to Valdez, Alaska

We left this morning and drove east of Anchorage to Palmer where we continued on the Glenn Highway to Glennallen, then headed south on the Richardson aka Pipeline Highway to Valdez.

We stopped early to see the Musk Ox and Musk Ox farm. There are about 60 animals there they raise for their inner layer of wool, which is extremely warm and delicate. They obtain the wool by combing the oxen. They say they like it because they are living in a warmer climate here than they are suited for and they know they will get cooler when the combing is finished! But it was not to be as the farm doesn't open till 10 and we were about a half hour early. Since we had a long day on the road, we decided to continue on.

This highway through Alaska was quite good and was very picturesque, with mountains, lakes, rivers, etc. A lone bull moose crossed the road in front of us. We saw the Matanuska Glacier along the way and stopped to look at it. We enjoyed our journey. But about three miles from the intersection of the highway we were taking south, we hit road construction. Not just construction, but they were tearing out part of the road. . . it required a pilot car to get us through it. We also were at the very front of the line which means we just missed getting through the previous run, so we had to wait about 25 minutes. I don't begrudge them working on the roads, it has to be a monumental task up here. I know we have road construction on-going in other states as well, but in Alaska, they deal with a lot of washouts, etc., and avalanches which we saw as well. But we did have to sit and wait a spell. Once we got moving, we had to stop at the intersection for fuel which we had planned to do. It ended up well, as the road had cleared by the time we both were done and they were not stopping southbound traffic to Valdez.

Along the road to Valdez we stopped numerous times to photograph waterfalls. One glacier, the Worthington Glacier, had waterfalls off to the side which we could see from the road. There were numerous glaciers some up high and others lower. The closer we got to Valdez, we saw more waterfalls and more glaciers. It is raining today, however, so everything was overcast and as we came down off the mountains into the valley where Valdez is located, we passed through some dense fog. But it was shortlived and there wasn't a lot of traffic, so we made it fine.

We are parked at the Eagle's Rest RV Park, a decent park by Alaska standards. Most of the RV parks here are no frills and we have full hookups here for $33/night which is the cheapest we have paid for FHU this entire trip. And the showers are nice and clean. We are here for three nights and we hope to see a lot here. It is a small town, but we needed a place to sit and wait out the July 4th celebrations, so we will be here till then.

Till next time. . .

Dale