Next up: Homer

The view of the Homer Fishing Hole from the front of our RV

Always a favorite of mine, to see a cruise ship. Homer is not a big cruise ship port, maybe one every week or two. Really fills up the bar with the confused and uninformed.

Ice cream in Homer. 60 degrees on a good day and it stills seems like a good thing to do!

Andrea was always on the hunt for Otters! She checked all the boat ramps and was a bundle of energy, keeping her grandparents young!

Still hanging out with our kids....

Driving along the Sterling Highway.

Grandpa's Big Bus. That's what Andrea called it when she was 3 years old. Works for us.

 Exit Glacier

Thru the tunnel to Whittier

Dog bite update: the stitches came out and Les is healing beautifully.

The short drive from Portage RV Park to Whittier takes you through a single lane tunnel. It is the very same tunnel the train travels to and from Whittier. After a number of years of train use, it was re-purposed to allow vehicles to use as well.  At the top and bottom of the hour cars use the tunnel for 15 minutes, and the rest of the time is reserved for trains.

Our granddaughter Andrea was with us for a couple of days. She brought her parents with her as well. Andrea fell in love with all of the otters and the sea life.

Our daughter-in-law Cheryl with Andrea in Whittier.

Grandma had a great time talking about cruise ships with Andrea, who had never seen one before. Her parents have been remiss in getting Andrea on a ship to explore the world!!

It was one of the clearest days we have ever seen in Whittier, usually low clouds and rain. But in honor of our visitors it was perfect!!

The harbour sits perfectly against the glacier and snow capped mountains. Lots of boat traffic in the Prince William Sound always give you something to watch.

Our kids came for a visit

We left Valdez and our fantastic RV spot on the water and drove to Grand View, AK. We traveled on the Glen Highway and the views along the way were spectacular.

Grand View RV Park in Glacier View, Alaska. 

We only stayed one night then headed to Portage RV Park.

We picked up our son Brad, his wife Cheryl and almost 9yr old Andrea in Anchorage. Our first outing was the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.

This eagle lost a wing and has to spend its life here.

We hiked the Byron Glacier Trail.

 

Then the snowballs started to fly.

Strangely the weather was warm and sunny. Not what we're used to in Alaska as a general rule.

Lu Lu Belle Cruise out of Valdez

We spent the most beautiful day on the Lu Lu Belle boat with Captain Fred.

The water was pretty calm most of the day

Humpback whale's were sighted, but the popular shot of their tail's eluded us`

We brought our own ice chest, it was a nice day to have a cold beer out on the water

This could have been a Christmas card photo, they had a sign that said Merry Christmas on it. But we opted for the boring LuLu Belle

This one makes us look taller and thinner :)

The Columbia Glacier calves all day. The seawater is getting under the glacier and rapidly melts the ice. We read that the Glacier will be in a place by 2020 where it will only be over land and the calving will stop. 

Captain Fred got us very close to the wildlife, and the rocky shoreline!
Noisy sea lions:

 We highly recommend the Lu Lu Belle.

Valdez, Alaska

What a beautiful town.

The first two pictures were taken from the front seat of the RV.

 Tide out.

Tide in

We drove out to see Bridal Veil Falls and Horsetail  Falls. 

So, which is which?

Shall we tell you?

The top is Bridal Veil and the bottom is Horsetail.

Next we went to the fish hatchery and fish weir.

The disturbance in the water is hundreds of salmon trying to return to the river or hatchery where they were born.

Waiting for the salmon today were 4 large sea lions

Beer with a view.

 This might be our best RV spot ever!!

Awesome view.

Drone pictures

We really enjoyed Valdez, the town the scenery.
Our kids came to visit and that's why we haven't blogged in a while.