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Today we took a glacier cruise in Prince William Sound. The tour was on a fairly large catamaran. The boat was very new and nice. We cruised to the Columbia Glacier. The last 2 or 3 miles traversed lots of ice and icebergs. The temperature dropped 15 degrees or so from the 65 deg F of Valdez so you really needed your heavy coat. The Columbia Glacier has retreated since 1980 and now is actually three separate glaciers. The largest face is ½ mile wide. The ice at the face is 200 feet high above the water and 900 feet below the surface of the water. It is pretty amazing. On the way to and from the glacier we cruised near the coast to spot wildlife. We saw Bald Eagles, Tufted Puffins, and Horn Bill Puffins. We also saw many Stellar Sea Lions and quite a few Sea Otters lounging on icebergs. Maverick did great by himself as usual and was excited to see us return. After a walk to stretch his legs we went back to town and ate at the Wheelhouse restaurant that is part of the Best Western. It was quite good and had a lovely view of the marina. We had a great time today and would highly recommend the cruise.

First thing this morning we checked out a kennel for possibly leaving Maverick while we go on a glacier cruise tomorrow for 6 hours. We chose not to leave him there and decided he would be happier in the coach. We drove back to the Worthington Glacier to check it out. We stopped along the way in the Keystone Canyon again to enjoy the waterfalls. The glacier face is very close to the highway so is a pretty short hike up the mountain. Being a state park we were able to take Maverick. First on leash, then off-leash. Maverick had an amazingly good time. We were able to climb right up to the ice and very cool river coming out from underneath the glacier. Maverick, of course, had to play in the water and dig in the powdered granite. In short time he looked liked a chocolate-dipped dog. Maverick could not have had more fun.
Once back in Valdez, we ate lunch at Nat Shack food truck. We had really good steak quesadillas though the service was slow. Nat Shack is right on the marina and we enjoyed eating outside. When we returned to the coach we had to wash Maverick immediately.

The drive today is just over 2 hours. The Richardson Highway has speed limits of 65 MPH but we couldn’t go more than 55 due to the rough roads with the dreaded frost heaves. The last hour of the drive was amazingly beautiful One of the prettiest drives anywhere. You drive close by the Worthington Glacier and we plan on going back to check it out while in Valdez. As you get close to Valdez you drive through the Keystone Canyon with Bridal Veil and Horsetail Falls. The canyon is amazing the falls are right on the road and really beautiful. We had booked the Valdez KOA because the parks closer to town were all booked weeks ago. I didn’t realize this park doesn’t offer sewer. Oh well, we can’t run the clothes washer for the next three days. We didn’t even setup before we headed into town for lunch. We chose the Old Fashion Diner for lunch. We each ordered our own burger and fries but quickly wished we had shared just one as usual. The food was very good and portions large. It didn’t take too long to check out downtown. On the way back to the RV park we stopped at the Chugach National Forest Information Center. We stopped because there was a cool waterfall just behind the building. Maverick and I enjoyed a short rock climb 20 or so feet up the waterfall. The waterfall is very pretty and like many in the area starts as a creek many hundreds of feet up very sheer mountains. Valdez sits beautifully between very sheer mountains and is one of the the more picturesque settings of any town we’ve seen in Alaska. Unfortunately the town is a little small and so doesn’t have quite as much to offer as some of the other towns. This afternoon Donna booked us a Glacier Cruise for Sunday.

Our target today is the town of Glennallen. There really isn’t anything at Glennallen but it is halfway to Valdez. The drive was very beautiful and it took us about 3 hours to get here. We booked the Northern Nights RV Park. Only a small number of sites have full hookups but since we reserved ahead we got a super nice back-in with the works. Once settled in we took off for the Wrangell, St Elias National Park Visitor Center. The visitor center is about 10 miles out of Glennallen. We checked out the roadmaps and checked with the rangers. The main road in the park is to the Kennicott Visitor center down a 60 mile rough gravel road that takes about 3 ½ hours one way. We definitely didn’t have time for that now, but will consider if we want to try that on the way back from Valdez. We did try out the short trails around the visitor center with Maverick. They were nice short trails with no one else on them. Maverick enjoyed running off leash for a while after being in the coach all day. On the way back we stopped at a scenic overlook that had a beautiful, elevated view of the Wrangell mountains that form the centerpiece of the National Park. Temperatures are about 70 deg F with intermittent very light rain.

Today we went to see an early movie. We saw Ant Man and the Wasp. Not high-brow but entertaining none-the-less. We took Maverick to what I thought was a Dog Park on Google Maps but realized when we got there it was Bog Park! Oh well, the park was in an average neighborhood but had trails through wet lands and trees. Maverick really loved exploring the trails. We ate dinner at Texas Roadhouse again to try to hold us until we were back in the lower 48. We also stocked up a Walmart since we would be in the boonies again for quite some time. By the way, most of the time in Anchorage we had high temperatures in the mid-60’s. We did have intermittent light rain some time most days here in Anchorage.

Yay, today is mail day. We have the kids send our mail to us about once a month and we received our mail at the RV park office. It always surprises us how little of one month’s mail means anything. The mail did generate a few minor actions and we took care of those this morning. We saw a Bass Pro Shop near the RV park and decided to drop in. Cabela’s and Bass Pro are both dog friendly so we us it as a chance to walk Maverick. We ate fast food and drove out to see a nice neighborhood of houses on the mountain overlooking Anchorage. The houses were neat and had a spectacular view of the Anchorage area. We stopped at a ski area that doubles as a park during the summer. Maverick got lots of time exploring trails off leash. In the evening Donna got a massage while I camped out in Starbucks for some high-speed internet.

The plan for today was to check out the Alaska Zoo. The zoo was a pretty nice but small zoo. About 80% of the animals were native to Alaska. After the zoo we ate at Chili’s, another favorite of ours. It is nice being in a little bigger town with some of our favorite stores and restaurants. After lunch we walked the Dimond Mall but didn’t buy anything. We took Maverick back to the dog park with the lake. Because it is Monday, Maverick didn’t have any friends to play with but still had a great time.

We weren’t in any hurry to leave Cabela’s today because we would arrive at the RV park before check-in time. We ate lunch at Smash Burger on the same parking lot as Cabela’s. Donna discovered that there was a small conservation trail park on our parking lot between Cabela’s and Target. Not large but Maverick got to run off leash without having to drive anywhere. Very cool. We had reservations for 4 nights at the Golden Nugget RV Park in Anchorage. Golden Nugget was only 7 miles from Cabela’s. I was very pleased with the park and we had full hookups.  After we were setup the RV tour caravan rolled in.  24 RV’s all touring Alaska together.

We originally thought we might stop in Portage on the way back to Anchorage but instead decided to drive all the way to Anchorage. We didn’t have any reservations so we camped at Cabela’s. Cabela’s is a RV friendly chain that always has RV parking that can be used overnight for free. Because we arrived by noon, we didn’t have any problem finding a good parking spot. By 8pm there were 20 RV’s and no possible room for others. We ate lunch at our favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse. We found a nice dog park with a lake and took Maverick. Being Saturday, there were many dog friends to play with and Maverick had an amazing time. At one point I jokingly told Maverick if he were a good retriever he would bring me a duck. He immediately took off swimming straight toward the ducks across the lake. Wow. Uh, now what?! Donna and I yelled at him to come back we were joking. Maverick turned around and swam back. I should say that Maverick doesn’t normally swim much beyond wading distance. To see him take off into deep water for a long swim completely floored both Donna and I. I don’t know how much English Maverick understands but it is a lot more than I gave him credit for.

Today was a fairly chill day. We ate at the Smoke Shack. The Smoke Shack is a restaurant located in an old rail car painted in Alaska Railroad livery. The food was fair and we had to sit outside due to the crowds. Afterward we drove out to Kenai Lake. We checked out the Trail Campground and the lake. It was beautiful and Maverick really enjoyed getting to romp on the beach.