Day Eight: 4th of July, Valdez

We are bringing the good weather with us!  The weather forecasters predicted rain all day today but we haven’t seen a drop!  We’re sleeping very well at night but still waking up too early; this morning around 5:30 a.m.  I got up this morning, took a nice hot shower courtesy Eagle’s Rest and did a load of laundry.  You know, you really do not have to separate your whites from your jeans.  They all come out just fine.

Bill was slow to rise this morning.  He still sounds horrible and like his cold has settled in his chest.  I was hopeful that the Nyquil was a miracle cure but it was not.  When he was done showering we took a stroll to the trail head of Dock Point Trail.  This was just a fairly easy 1 mile loop trail just on the city limits.  Although we saw several piles of bear scat (poop if you prefer) we did not see any bears.  We did watch a bald eagle for a while though.

The big Valdez 4th of July doin’s were scheduled throughout the day today.  What a great day for a celebration; sunny and in the 70s.  After our hike we got back into town early enough to witness the Valdez 4th of July parade.  This is called making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.  The parade led off with the Coast Guard Color Guard followed by the Every-Kid-In-Town-With-A-Bike Regalia.  There was a group of probably 30 little peeps bicycling their hearts out all bedecked in red, white and blue.  I had to chuckle as one mom on the other side of the street called to her tot to slow down!  Mom did not resemble “physically fit” in any definition of the word and apparently her child was leaving her far behind.  This was a serious effort after all.  A few odd floats, music blaring out of a float-pulling truck or two, all followed up by the Valdez police and fire department.  On the one hand, it wasn’t much of a parade unless you looked up.  Something about all those mountains made it the most incredible little parade ever.

After the parade we checked out the Ice Age Creations shop in town.  This shop carries some beautiful Alaskan-made pieces carved from antlers, whale bones, walrus teeth, etc.  Two of the artisans were there and were happy to describe each piece to the customers.  I nearly lost my mind and purchased a beautiful large jade carving of an orca whale set in with a background of fossilized bone.  It’s really hard to describe but suffice to say, I did not think it over priced at $240.  I did think my purse to be under stuffed!  I did make several purchases for others here.  I purchased a carved hunk of caribou antler for my son, Taylor.  The end of the antler is carved into the head of an eagle.  I also purchased a little puffin carved from a walrus tooth and set on fossilized bone for my mom, and a soapstone carved Eskimo for Keenan, my oldest son.  This shop was full of beautiful pieces.  I could literally have spent a fortune there.

We headed back to the campsite with our purchases; stopping at the grocery store to pick up a few items as well as some more medicine for Bill.  After grabbing a little sit-down time we headed back to town where there were live bands, buffalo burgers, and festivities galore.  On the way to town we walked by a group of fellows cleaning fish at the campground fish cleaning spot.  They reminded us that those very fish would be fried up and served this evening at a campground potluck.  Bill and I visited the Valdez Museum at a reduced holiday price of $3 a piece – bargain!  I was impressed yet again by the many, quality exhibits of early Alaskan days.  From there we went to the sister museum of Old Valdez.  This town of Valdez where we are camped did not exist until after the earthquake of March 27, 1964.  Old town Valdez was about 4 miles away.  When the earthquake struck the quake and tsunami sucked much of the shoreline out to sea.  Over 30 people lost their lives as well.  After consulting with the Army Corp of Engineers it was decided that the whole town should be moved to its current location.  They say very little of the original Valdez can now be seen.  We’ll drive by there tomorrow.

We returned “home” in plenty of time for a quick catnap prior to the potluck.  At 6:00 p.m. sharp folks just started streaming to the main office.  There were several large griddles set up all cooking what the locals call “pinks”; salmon.  We joined them with a meager offering of chips and salsa.  I must confess that salmon was much better than the Homer salmon and incredibly it was free.  In fact after we had stuffed ourselves and visited with several other couples, the cooking crew encouraged us to take some of the left-over cooked fish home.  I was afraid of becoming a total glutton so I passed.  Bill did too.  It didn’t occur to me until much later that we are not allowed to store fish in our RV fridge because they can’t get the fish smell out when it is returned.

We actually watched a movie on our tiny little television as an attempt to stay awake until 11:00 when the town of Valdez set off their fireworks.  We hoofed it back down to the other side of town and prepared to be underwhelmed.  It seemed a bit odd watching fireworks in nearly broad daylight.  But then again, we’re in Alaska and celebrating the 4th with the locals.  Not a bad deal at all.  Party animals that we are, we finished up the fireworks and headed back to our bed.  It’s midnight right now and Bill is outside taking pictures.