Sights Around Valdez

Good morning, my friends. I'm writing fast this morning. Happily, I was able to move our Lu-Lu Belle cruise from tomorrow to today in order to take advantage of the better weather. We'll still probably spend the day under cloud cover, but we're not expecting any rain.

Yesterday we toodled around Valdez for a bit to see what's going on around town. In the image below, you can see that it claims itself as a Coast Guard town with that sign on the right side of the arch.

And sure enough, there's where the Coast Guard office is. We looked for their boat, but didn't see one anywhere.

This is just a small shot of the harbor. It was a large harbor. Big ships of all kinds come in here, including ferries, oil tankers, and cruise ships.

This is the tour we'll be taking this morning. 

Turning around in a large lot, we saw this bird. It's a boreal chickadee.

Valdez is like Homer in that it is surrounded by mountains.

In the image below, you can see the end of the Alaska pipeline. It's terminus is the Valdez Marine Terminal.

There's some art work around town. I liked these metal sculptures lining the sidewalk. My picture doesn't show it well, but they're fish in various stages of jumping.

On one building was this mural.

Also, there were several wooden carvings around. This jellyfish was about eight feet tall.

Just around the corner was this mermaid.

Around another corner was this prospector.

Here was a statue honoring the men and women who built the Alaska pipeline.

Here is the accompanying plaque.

And don't worry...tsunami warning sirens are posted around town. Hopefully, we won't need to see if they work. Still, you know I always like to let you know how you could die today.

Offshore, a tug boat.

We'd pretty well seen the town by then, and so we did our grocery shopping and then headed back to the camper for lunch and naps. It was nice to have a leisurely day. 

Today's tour will last about 7 hours. Here's a description from their website:

The cruise can vary in length anywhere from 7 to ? hours. The iceberg conditions at the Columbia Glacier are always changing, and the glacier face has moved approximately 14 miles from where it was in 1979 when we first started doing our cruises. There is no way to predict how long it will take to get to the glacier face; but if any boat can make it to the face, it will be the Lu-Lu Belle. Please don't watch your clock, because the crew does not. 

The Lu-Lu Belle is in a class by herself, with her plush atmosphere of teak, mahogany and oriental rugs. Captain Fred Rodolf hosts each and every one of the cruises, sharing with you information it has taken him years to acquire. 

The crew prepares fresh baked goods in the galley during each cruise. A snack bar is also available throughout the day. You will enjoy friendliness and gracious hospitality aboard this beautiful yacht. It's no wonder that people refer to the "Lu-Lu Belle" as the "Limousine of Prince William Sound".

Sounds like fun, no? And with that I'm off to experience it first hand. I'm hoping I'll have lots of pictures for you in tomorrow's post. 

As long as we're talking about tomorrow, I should tell you I might post later in the day. The A/C in our truck has stopped working. We don't really need it in Alaska, but we'll want it when we head south next week sometime. Mike thinks it may have leaked out all of its refrigerant or else the entire unit has stopped working. Depending on what ails it, it might be an easy fix, or we might just have to bite the warm bullet on the way home. Fingers crossed it's something minor.