Carol G. Guest Blogs About Alaska Trip

Carol in a show with a cute puppy.

Bridalveil Falls is along the highway just as we arrive at Valdez.

This is a veiw of Prince William Sound from the salmon hatchery. The silver salmon are coming in now, and there were so many salmon that they were piled on top of one another.

We also saw the Columbia Glacier, the second largest tidewater glacier in Alaska. There are glaciers everywhere in Alaska, but it is pretty impressive to paddle through the ice flow, very "otherworldly".

I went on a cruise in the Sound, while Jim when kayaking. We both saw humpback whales. Fantastic!

Puffins--very cute!

Alaska is huge and even though we drove 900 mi in 8 days, we saw just a small piece of the state. We flew into Anchorage, then drove to Valdez on the Prince William Sound where we spent the most time. The area around Valdez is amazing in its beauty, but its famous for some pretty bad things. In 1964 the largest earthquake ever recorded in North American occurred in Alaska and Valdez was wiped out. Then 20 years ago, the Exxon Valdez grounded in Prince William Sound and spilled millions of gallons of oil for the largest environmental disaster ever. Valdez really deserves to be remembered for much better things, like waterfalls, glaciers, humpback whales, and puffins.