July 15th to 17th - Valdez

July 15th – Sun – Valdez
I didn’t sleep very well last night so by the time I got up & going, Dave & Margo had already left to attend a church service on a boat which actually left the dock and slowly cruised around the harbor.
It poured rain last night and continued most of the day today. After a late breakfast, I put a couple of small pork roasts in the crock pot – one would have been enough but I wanted leftovers and I needed to make space in the freezer. None of us did very much today – just visited and complained about the weather! We went to Dave & Margo’s about 5 with our drinks which was the first time that I stepped outside.
Margo made the rest of dinner so all I had to do was slice the meat and open some applesauce. After cleaning up the dishes, we came home as I was feeling puny from my cold and Terry ran out of steam.

July 16th – Mon – Valdez
SUNSHINE!! We all went for a walk around town as it was beautiful today. We strolled along the docks, stopped in a couple of stores and climbed a lot of stairs to a viewpoint on a hill in the middle of town. Dave talked to a guy this morning so he & Terry decided to go fishing early tomorrow morning. Then we discovered that fishing licenses were for 24 hours rather than a calendar day so they bought licenses that started at 4 this afternoon so they can fish this evening and tomorrow morning.
We came back to BBQ hot dogs for lunch and the guys dug out all the fishing gear they needed. At 4 we drove to the fishing area about 5 miles from town. There is a fish hatchery and the salmon return to spawn here. The streams are full of silt from glaciers and the fish cannot survive in them so the hatchery funnels the spawning fish into fish ladders into their facility and starts the hatching & fry rearing process again. Margo & I drove separately in case we were bored and wanted to come back but it was not boring at all. Dave & Terry started catching fish right away but Dave’s line was too light and he kept breaking off the fish and losing lures. Margo & I walked and watched lots of eagles, seals and otters. A mother bear and 4 cubs has shown up here regularly for a few days so after Terry caught his limit of 6 salmon and Dave ran out of hooks – including some of Terry’s – we hung around a bit to see if the bears would show up but no luck.
Dave & Terry filleted the fish and then cleaned up their gear before putting a salmon on the BBQ. Margo had made a potato salad and I added a green salad for an easy dinner. Dave & Margo came in for a bit after dinner until Terry stared snoozing in his chair and Dave said he wanted to go home so he could go to bed like Terry. We were amazed to see it was 10 o’clock!

July 17th – Tues – Valdez
Another clear sunny day – love it! The temperature probably reached 66 so it was very nice.
Dave & Terry went fishing again this morning while Margo & I went to a bakery for goodies. I told Terry he could not keep any more fish as there is no more room in the freezer. When we got to where they fishing, they were having a great time pulling in fish and letting them go. We set up a couple of chairs and watched them, the wildlife and the scenery again.
When we got back, the guys put away fishing gear while Margo & I made sandwiches for lunch. Then we took a drive to Keystone Canyon to take pictures of Horsetail and Bridal Veil Falls. We drove through town and stopped at a bar named the Fat Mermaid for a beer as Dave likes to stop at bars with weird names.
Back at the park we relaxed and did our own thing for a couple of hours until D&M brought over drinks & snacks. We finished just in time to drive back to the fish hatchery hoping to see the bear & cubs. Sure enough, there were a lot of people on a bank looking across a creek where the mama bear had brought her cubs for dinner. She waded into the water and grabbed a salmon which she took back to the cubs on the rocky bank. They all gathered for a mouthful of fish and then they all ambled off and out of our sight. Of course a couple of the cubs were being typical kids and played as they were following mom.
By the time we ate dinner it was already after 8 so not much left of the evening.