Whether to weather the weather or not, that's the question. Or is it? Anyway, we woke to cloudy, threatening skies this morning and a typical temperature around 10 deg. We packed up our gear and got onto the road in record time. We had travelled but a few miles and lo and behold, the sun was trying its best to make itself known to us. Once we crossed the pass across the coastal mountain ridge, where it was very foggy due to the low hanging clouds, the weather started to clear right up and we were enjoying bright sunshine. It lasted for most of the morning after which the clouds returned and then just before we arrived in Tok, it cleared up again. So, if you don't like whatever weather you have, just wait a few hours and it'll be different. Anyway, enough about our favourite topic.
Last night around 8:30pm, we decided to explore the town of Valdez a bit more. We went to the harbour and strolled around there to look at the boats. The harbour area is very nice and there are a lot of restaurants and commercial places where you can charter boat excursions such as sea kayaking, fishing, etc. We observed a bunch of guys filleting their freshly caught catches of fish, mostly halibut. The harbour provides special public fish cleaning stations w
ith troughs and running water to clean your fish catch. It even supplies carts to carry your catch from your boat to the cleaning stations. Very interesting for the landlubbers like ourselves. Of course there were a lot of gulls hanging around as usual looking for scraps to steal.We also saw a bold as brass raven sitting on a fence. We took a 
picture of the lad but he didn't flinch an inch, just looked at us as if we owed him something or other. Being this far north, it really doesn't get dark hardly at all. When we go bed around 11 pm it is still very much light. It never gets totally dark at night actually even if the sun is down by 11:30 or so. Very strange indeed. Most hotels have fairly heavy drapes so that helps when going to sleep.
picture of the lad but he didn't flinch an inch, just looked at us as if we owed him something or other. Being this far north, it really doesn't get dark hardly at all. When we go bed around 11 pm it is still very much light. It never gets totally dark at night actually even if the sun is down by 11:30 or so. Very strange indeed. Most hotels have fairly heavy drapes so that helps when going to sleep.We once again enjoyed our road trip today. Although we were travelling the same road back to Tok, it all looks totally 
different when you travel in the other direction it seems. We took a few pictures of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to show you the unique design of this gigantic construction.
different when you travel in the other direction it seems. We took a few pictures of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to show you the unique design of this gigantic construction. When we got settled in our hotel in Tok, we found out that there have been extensive wildfires raging in the area since end May. Apparently there are about 700 firefighters here to fight the forest fires. As you can imagine, Tok being the major town here, the hotels are all booked full.
After dinner, we decided to drive out to where the fires are still ragin
g. We saw the recently burned areas and the smoke hanging in and around the mountains here. We didn't get far enough though to see the actual fires, they were still quite a long way off. Here's a picture of what it most likely looks like though.
g. We saw the recently burned areas and the smoke hanging in and around the mountains here. We didn't get far enough though to see the actual fires, they were still quite a long way off. Here's a picture of what it most likely looks like though.
One of Annie's d
elights is the wide variety of wildflowers here. We've been taking pictures of all the wildflowers that we've come across. Near Valdez, we found many, many wild Lupen along the road. This is truly a unique thing. We've found that in BC, the Yukon and Alaska there are often abundant masses of different colourful wildflowers all along the roads that we travel.
elights is the wide variety of wildflowers here. We've been taking pictures of all the wildflowers that we've come across. Near Valdez, we found many, many wild Lupen along the road. This is truly a unique thing. We've found that in BC, the Yukon and Alaska there are often abundant masses of different colourful wildflowers all along the roads that we travel.Well, that's about it for today. Tomorrow we get back to Canada again and loose 1 hour.
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