Stop 1 - Valdez

 Deanna and I flew to Anchorage on Saturday and spent the night there.  

Sunday, we left town on the 6hr drive up and over to Valdez.  Views on this route are pretty awesome, like most of AK. 

On arrival in Valdez, I was very sad to discover that the salmon usually dont arrive this early, and will be a week or so late this year because of all the snow/ice buildup over this better-precip-than-average winter.  We ate at the "Potato", which offers somewhat famous garlic french fries with rosemary. 

Our lodging in Valdez was a "tiny house".  Indeed.  it's an "efficiency" if there ever was one.  I'm guessing it's about 10' wide and 12' long.  Really, just a "built out" shed, but it works if you keep your stuff put up.  Left to right on the back wall are: toilet, shower, washer/dryer, stove, sink. Very efficient. Good news is..... I can lay in bed and watch Deanna shower.  Bad news is, she can lay in bed and watch me deuce. 

I woke up early on Monday, then fished the harbor for a while (no luck) before heading to the local outfitters supply and getting good fishing counsel from Joshua, a local kid.  I then spent pretty well all day fishing off the ferry dock catching polluck, which fillet okay. While doing that, I also made new friends in Wayne + Amber Miller from Florida.  They are both avid fishermen and were happy to borrow a spare rod and fish with me.  After just 10-15 minutes of trying, Amber caught a small halibut.  Very nice.  By the end of our fishing outing, Wayne insisted that they take Deanna and I to dinner, and eventually, they invited us to come visit them in Florida.  I love the people on trips like this. 

On Tuesday, Deanna and I went back up the Richardson Hwy (4) and viewed a "drive up" glacier.  Easy viewing, and then we visited Blueberry Hill lake.  Then we came back towards town and visited the original town site of Valdez, which got wiped out in the 1964 tsunami after the famed Alaska earthquake.  After that I cooked Deanna "fish and chips" using the polluck I'd caught the day before.  

Wednesday was our last full day here.  On our way to town, Deanna spotted a bear.  After further inspection..... it turned out to be a momma bear with two cubs.  The cubs spent most of their time up in a tree while momma grazed on grasses in the ditch. We watched the 3 of them for a full hour, before heading on into town. Unfortunately, a ferry boat was in which means all the stores were pretty jammed, and I couldn't fish off the ferry terminal, either.  So we went on a long hike up to Solomon Lake, just south of Valdez Bay.  After our hike, I convinced Deanna to head to Mikes (restaurant) so I could BUY a salmon meal.  

Tomorrow, we leave for Gakona.  I sure hope I can fish for reds on the Copper River. Rumor has it they are "in".  Stay tuned.