Today was an open day with only one planned stop and a final destination of Glacier View, Alaska as our final AirBnB. We learned 2 things this morning. First, Leo can sleep through anything. We all got up, talked, had coffee and cinnamon rolls, and he never even rolled over.  And second, we are not ready to cook from an Alaskan Cookbooks. Halibut Lasagna, anyone? Moose liver? Although the Caribou Stew looks kind of good.

This is our cabin owners’ dog and he just walks around monitoring everything. He has no idea he is as big as he is because he’s as skittish as a mouse.

At first we thought we were going to be all rained out but we could see the sun trying to peek out.

The only pre-planned stop of the day was Wrangell-St Elias National Park and Preserve. This is the largest national park in the United States, but only a small portion is accessible by paved road… we were not ready to drive 2+hours on gravel.

The Visitor’s Center, Exhibit Hall and Theater were really interesting with lots of examples of animal pelts, and a model showing the massive size of this park.  Wrangell- St Elias is larger than Vermont and New Hampshire combined, and boasts a glacier larger than the entire state of Rhode Island. While the park may be large, the population is not!  In the 1790’s approximately 1.200 people lived in the Copper River Basin. There was a peak in the 1920’s following the gold rush up to 2,850 people.  And now, over 200 years later, there are only 3,500 people in this area!

 

The Theater showed a movie explaining the history of this area, especially regarding its formation and the glaciers.  

The glacier flour acts as a filter/cleaner for the glacier water.  Initially, it is cloudy and gray, but as the silt settles, the water clears.

 Since it has rained for last day or so, we decided the long trails were not for us. A four hour drive with wet & muddy feet is not my idea of happy. Instead, we hit the Loop Trail that leaves from the Visitor’s Center and includes a few beautiful overlooks. 

 Back on the road, we decided since it was 12pm and we had a whole day free, let’s head down to Valdez, Alaska.  Because when are we going to be back here??? The weather absolutely cooperated and the views, again, were gorgeous!

It really is hard to explain how beautiful Alaska is.  You see one view and think “this is the most beautiful view” and then you go around a corner and think “No, nevermind this is the most beautiful.” Happens over and over especially today since we are traveling on the Richardson Highway which is one of the most beautiful drives in Alaska. Without a doubt, I can 100% agree with this statement. 

As we started going up in elevation we were nearing Thompson’s Pass. This area gets upwards of 42 to 46 FEET OF SNOW every year! Thompson’s Pass also holds the record for highest snow fall in one day: 62 inches! The clouds settled in and it looked at times like we were driving into oblivion! Then it would clear to show massive crevices created by the glaciers. And again, the views! The boys said it looked like cold Hawaii!

 

Then we entered Keystone Canyon.  The canyon was formed by the Lowe River and it is one of the most beautiful places we have ever been! The number of waterfalls and cliffs was staggering. (Just a warning, there are going to be a lot of pictures to follow.)

We could just stare of these views forever… well, not really because we were getting hungry so headed to Valdez. All along this journey, we had been watching the roadways and tree line for bears – the one animal we haven’t seen in the wild. (We wanted to see one in the wild but from a safe distance.) Back to our story, we are driving to Valdez, looking at the window and we see a black dot moving… Turn the car around!  Mike does a U-turn, and BOOM!  There’s a big ol’ black bear!

 

Welcome to Valdez, Alaska! 

 

The resturants in Valdez have great names… first, we tried the Potato, but they were out with food truck for next half hour.  So we wandered into town, and after stopping for souvenirs, the owner of the shop suggested we try the Fat Mermaid. We’ve had good luck with restaurants with FAT in the name (Miso Phat in Maui was ahhh-mazing!) so we took his advice. IT was fantastic!

Downtown Valdez is a neat town, but not very big so we covered it within an hour or so.

 

The drive back was just as awesome, and maybe more so because we were just waiting to see what was next!  All the guide books and websites said to make sure you see Bridal Veil Falls and Horsetails Falls ✔️✔️

We made a quick whip-in to one parking lot to read about the Railroad Tunnel of 1905. We loved the story of the railroad dispute between NINE railroad companies. The dispute became so heated that guns were drawn and the railroad building just stopped!

And of course, then we had to see how close we could get to the falls.  Im sure it was just to meditate, right?!

 

The snow along Thompson’s Pass was crazy considering it is JUNE!!

 

I think we stopped at almost every overlook, because why not? When will we be here again? But man, it was getting colder by the minute. As soon as the sun went behind a cloud, you remembered you were in Alaska. 

 

But honestly, how could you ever forget with this in front of you? Even the clouds make it more beautiful?

We finally made it to our last AirBnB.  The Bear Den is in Glacier View, Alaska and feels like you walked back in time to your grandma’s mountain house in 1970. We unloaded and since we are still full from our Fat Mermaid early dinner, we just had snacks for dinner.

And then we started another round of Garbage! We finished another game of all 10 hands, but oh my word ,the trash talking! 

 

Tomorrow, we head out for our last activity, but I have no doubt we will find more to do that just one thing!