This tunnel was hand cut in the solid rock of Keystone Canyon and is all that is left of the railroad era when nine companies fought to take advantage of the short route from the coast to the copper country. However, a feud erupted progress a gun battle was fought and the tunnel was never finished.
We found lots of facts about Valdez that make it a true success story. The whole town was destroyed by fire before it became a state. It rebuilt better and stronger. Then the earthquake of 1964 again totally destroyed the town. A couple of townsmen that owned property just four miles in that was on more solid ground donated the land for everyone to rebuild. The town was moved 4 miles. Then they had the Valdez oil spill that again was a huge setback. And in 1980 they showed their true colors when a ship sank off shore and they help rescue all the people on board. They increased their population by 10% overnight and donated whatever was needed. This year Alaska is celebrating their 50th year of Statehood!
We toured a couple of museums in Valdez and then drove around seeing which houses had probably been moved after the earthquake and which ones were rebuilt. Very pretty town.
On the way back we decided to stop at the Worthington Glacier. It is one of the few that you can walk on.
We were able to walk right into a cravass. We were standing on ice and had ice all around us.
After hiking back down we were resting and a lady asked us if we had a camera. I was thinking huh? You want us to take a picture of you, then what? She said you look so relaxed that I think I should get a picture of you. Hehe
Don’t know how relaxed we look, but we sure were hot after hiking in and out of there.
Another thing we noticed on the way back is the Alaskan sense of humor showing again.
In case you can’t see, it’s a snowmobile on the rooftop with a blood stain. Anyway, we’re glad we made this daytrip to Valdez and glad we took the toad because this is the road with a lot of frost heaves. Not too bad in a car, but yuck in the rv
Mon & Tues 7/21&7/22
Travelled from Glennallen Alaska to Whitehorse Yukon Territory. The roads were horrendous to say the least. Most of the trip was at 20 to 35 mph and even that was rearranging the cupboards. There were about 5 miles of construction where you had to follow a pilot car through to the other end. Very time consuming. We made it through, enough said.
