July 26, 2018
Rained off and on today, but still had to get out.
On the back road that my campsite was on, there was a road that comes to a dead end right beside a glacier. The place was quite beautiful and with the low clouds made for some very interesting photo’s.
I met and talked with some lovely folks from the southern states and then made my way into town.
I had to stop at the Information Center to get a few suggestions of places to visit. While there, I mentioned about wanting to see some old dilapidated buildings and Lesley mentioned a boat that was along the coast that had been abandoned. She told me to be careful where I park the vehicle because of the tides. Lesley said that just last week, someone parked near the coast to do a hike and a few people saw a red truck floating out into the bay! LOL
I visited the salmon hatchery, that did not have the ladder open yet. The salmon were plentiful and making every attempt to get up the river. A few managed to get to a certain point and a few were on the side that did not survive their effort. Talk about a lot of salmon.
I met a gentleman, Joe, who was quite interesting to talk to. Like me, he was retired and now is a photographer from Anchorage. Even though many have told him to write a book and publish some of his photo’s, he told me the photo’s are just for him and his enjoyment. He shared a few places for me to visit to possibly get some photo’s of wildlife.
I visited the Old Valdez townsite, which was the original location until the earthquake of 1967. All that remains is some foundations and street signs, but the area has grown in with bush.
I visited the old original cemetery of Valdez where there were about 60 graves, but only about 32 that were still marked. The local community had to update the headstones as the others were almost completely rotten. They wrote the same inscriptions on the new wooden headstones.
It was an easy going kind of day, but still accomplished a great deal.
