Valdez

We spent three nights at Alison Point.  The views of the Sound and the mountains were breathtaking.  On our first day the fishing boats were anchored, waiting for the window of time for fishing.  Several tied themselves together so that they could visit while they waited.   

At the opening hour they all began to drop their nets, their dinghies pulling the large purse seines out and around until the two boats met to form a circle with the nets.  The crew started to pull the nets in until the large purses filled with salmon were lifted into the boat.  As soon as the net was emptied and stowed the boats headed to the cannery boats and the fish were vacuumed into the hold of the larger boat.  The fishing boats headed out again, dropping their nets once more. I wonder how many thousands of pounds of salmon were caught that day?

They didn’t catch all of the fish.  Bre and the other men camped along the Point went down to the rocks to catch fish also.  Bre caught some nice salmon which were grilled for supper that night.  They also made great fish tacos the next night.

We drove back on the Richardson Highway to photograph the many waterfalls along the road and then visited the Worthington Glacier.  There is a very nice park at the Glacier with boardwalks and hiking trails to view the glacier.  We visited for a while with a couple from Utah who were traveling in a truck camper.  He was also a Vietnam vet, having served with the Marines in  ‘62 through ‘65.  It should not be a surprise that many of the people we meet along the road are Vietnam veterans.  A large number of men who are now retired and still healthy enough to be on  the road are within a few years either way of Breland’s age. 

We rarely eat out on the road but enjoyed  a meal at an excellent Chinese restaurant one night and an Italian one the next.  While in the Italian restaurant we eavesdropped as a German tour director negotiated a meal for the 28 people aboard his bus.  His bus was in Anchorage for repairs and he had to feed and entertain his group until they were able to get on the road again.  Those big German tour buses are amazing.  They are very tall and have sleeping and cooking space on board for everyone.  The tour director was upset because he would typically prepare all of the meals for the group on the bus and taking everyone out to eat three times a day was very expensive.

Even though the weather was rainy and overcast we hated to leave Valdez.  It is a very beautiful place and we had a great time photographing the mountains, eagles, seals and boats.

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Solomon's Gulch

Sea Otter

Seal with Lunch

Hauling in the Catch