July 11th to 14th - Seward, Wasilla, Valdez

July 11th – Wed – Seward
I got up early this morning to make coffee & sandwiches for Terry to take on his fishing trip today. It was rainy & windy when they left so they weren’t sure if they would be going out. Sure enough, about an hour or so later they came back and said there were 15 foot swells and 25 mph winds out in the gulf where they would have been fishing. They had coffee & doughnuts while Marv decided if they would go or not.
I was still in bed reading when Terry returned so he turned on the furnace & hot water and crawled back in bed to wait while the rig warmed up. We were lazy and sat around drinking coffee, watching the rain and waiting for the computer to connect to the internet. Actually, I did get decent reception for a while, paid a couple of bills and cleaned up emails.
We had just eaten a sandwich for lunch when Margo came over and said that she had called and found out that our wildlife tour was still going to happen. Shortly after 1, Dave drove us to the boat docks (raining too hard to walk!), we got our boarding pass and waited a while in a shop. We asked if they were giving refunds and they said the whales didn’t mind the rain and that there were about 40 people on the tour boat. It was pretty hard to take pictures through the rain on the windows and most other wildlife did mind the rain! The waves didn’t roll the boat too much until we headed out the end of Resurrection Bay in search of sea lions. Then the captain said the swells were about 10 feet and she was waiting for the right combination of waves to turn the boat around comfortably and head back. We ended up seeing Dall’s porpoises play in front of the boat (you had to brave the wind & rain like Margo did to be out on the bow to really see them), humpback whales, sea otters, puffins and bald eagles. The captain told us a lot about the history of the area.
While we were gone, Terry filled a propane tank and he & Dave b.s.’d the afternoon away. We phoned when we got back so they could come pick us up as it was still raining. The reason we didn’t just drive a vehicle is that there is very little parking in that area and paid parking is $10 for any part of a day.
We had a drink while we discussed our day and went our own way for dinner.

July 12th – Thurs – Seward
We wanted to walk to Exit Glacier today but thought we would wait a bit and see if the weather cleared. Not our best idea but I don’t think it was sprinkling much more when we finally went.
Before we went I convinced Terry to get a waterproof jacket. He stood outside talking to neighbors last night after they borrowed his ladder and he was soaked.
We walked all the way to the foot of the glacier but couldn’t get onto it as it was too crumbly. The clouds lifted enough for good pictures. On the way back through town, we stopped for ice cream.
After a bit we all went for a walk to the “snagging” bridge. People had caught fish but no one was getting anything when we were there and there was a cold wind so we came back. Dave & Margo brought their drinks over and I got spaghetti sauce simmering. They had some steaks that needed to be cooked so we did our own thing for dinner.
Terry has a cold starting to I dosed him with cold capsules and we went to bed early.

July 13th – Fri – to Wasilla
We returned to the Big Bear RV park in Wasilla as we didn’t want to drive 430 miles to Valdez in one day. We stopped for breakfast at IHOP in Anchorage and waited a long time for our food to arrive. Terry’s friend Marv told them how bad the customer service is in Alaska and we are starting to agree with him.
Margo & I took advantage of the nice laundry room to do a couple of loads each. I love Color Catchers so I can mix all the colors together when I just have a few clothes to wash. We all went to WalMart to get a few groceries and I got plastic bins to put in the freezer to contain some of the smaller items that want to fall out each time you open the door.

Terry got a couple of bundles of firewood as it was nice enough to sit out and enjoy a fire. The wood turned out to be wet but Dave chopped it all into small pieces and we shared the fire with some neighbors. Unfortunately, I caught a cold as well and was not feeling like putting steak on the BBQ at 9 when everyone left. So I made a fajita from leftovers for Terry, I had toast & peanut butter and went to bed after taking a couple of cold capsules.

July 14th – Sat – to Valdez
Our early start at 7 got a little bit delayed when I checked a tire on the 5th wheel that was wearing unevenly and found a small split. Terry took the time to change it to the spare rather than ending up changing it on the side of the road. Dave was leading today as he needed to stop for gas and we didn’t want to pick the place. We also topped up when he stopped and then he continued leading which was good as he doesn’t drive as fast as Terry and a lot of the road was bumpy. We stopped for breakfast – had another wait longer than we expected! – and then came up behind a bicycle ride. Turns out some of the entrants were going to Valdez to ride 400 miles so we passed bicycles for miles. Luckily there is not a lot of traffic on the road because some of the bicyclists would ride 2 & 3 abreast in narrow spots.
We made a couple of phone calls when we stopped for pictures and found a campground (Bayside) that had 2 sites for 3 nights. The campground on the water where we stayed 5 years ago is no longer in operation so we have a mountain view instead of a water view.
After we got set up and Terry tuned in his 42 cable TV channels(!), we went for a drive with Dave & Margo to find where people were catching silver salmon. We went as directed by the campground owner and found a lot of people fishing from big rocks on the shore. We saw a couple of nice stringers of salmon carried up the bank so I think Terry & Dave will give it a try tomorrow,.
We went to have a drink with D&M and then Terry pulled out the BBQ to cook the steaks. It didn’t rain too much today but a breeze is making it very cool and it was drizzling a bit for Terry to BBQ. Dinner, cold medication, TV and to bed early.