It seems the
farther south we travel, the colder it gets. Believe it or not, our warmest
days so far were when we went rafting north of the arctic circle. We awoke to
another beautiful coastal Alaska spring morning – a steady rain and temperature in the low 40’s.
Today was a
travel day. We checked in for the Valdez to Whittier auto ferry at 6:00AM and
had a relaxing light breakfast in the car while waiting in line to board. All
was quiet and serene, except for the sound of the ancient VW camper idling
ahead of us, with its exhaust gently wafting into our air vents.
As we pulled
away from the dock, the mountains were partially hidden by the fog and the
rain.
We rode on
the 235 foot long ferry, ‘Aurora’. The trip from Valdez to Whittier is 77
nautical miles (90 statute miles) through Prince William Sound, a distance we
covered in a leisurely 5 hours and 45 minutes.
The first
thing we saw as we came in close to Whittier, was a bright neon glow off in the
misty distance. Through the binoculars, we could see the hazy outline of a
hulking structure with a huge digital screen display on top. After several
minutes, we were near enough to see that it was a Princess Cruise ship docked
in the harbor. It dwarfed everything else, including all the buildings, in the
area. Coming into the harbor, it reminded me of the sensation you get when you
drive across the desert and start to get close to Las Vegas. First you see the
glow, and then you see the skyline way off on the horizon.
We squeezed
our way down to the auto deck and somehow found our car packed in between all
the campers and RV’s. It was still raining and even a little more windy when we
drove off the ferry.
Our wait for
the Whittier tunnel was only about 30 minutes.
Before long, we were at the
Portage Visitor Center just in time for Karen to visit the pelt display.
Although there were some initial barriers,
she was able to 'break on through to the otter side'.
It continued
raining steadily all the way down the Seward Highway. Also, we are now noticing
a lot more traffic than we’ve seen anywhere else on this trip. The scenery,
however, continues to dazzle us.
Next: Kenai Fjords National Park Boat Tour
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