Driving In To The Valdez Fly-In - Part 1

This is something I've wanted to get to since I first heard about it on my vacation here in 2010. As we were driving along the Richardson Highway toward Valdez on that trip, we met a woman at one of the overlooks who told us about the Fly-In, and it sounded like a great typically Alaskan event. It turned out this year I (and a friend) had a long weekend off from work at the time of the Fly-In, so we drove to Valdez and enjoyed the event (since we didn't have a plane to fly in ourselves!). This year we've had a very late spring, with snow still falling in mid-May. So the views were extra snowy the whole way!

Since I took way too many photos on this trip, I'm going to break this into two posts. The first will be the sites along the drive, and the second will be photos from the Fly-In itself. So without further ado... our trip to the Valdez Fly-In!

Just beyond Matanuska Glacier...

The view of Mt. Drum driving east through the Copper River Basin

More of the Wrangell Mountains

This is still quite a bit of snow left for mid-May!

Remember these? There are still a few around Alaska! Not sure how current the phone book is though...

Thompson Pass... It's all downhill to Valdez from here!

Beyond Thompson Pass, you drive through Keystone Canyon, where there are two pretty neat waterfalls. The first is Bridal Veil Falls, which we found to be completely frozen still! No water was flowing (that we could see) at all. Impressive!

The other waterfall is Horsetail Falls, which still had a fair amount of snow/ice on it but was definitely flowing.

An adolescent bald eagle

At the small boat harbor, the snow piles were still taller than me! Valdez gets hundreds of inches of snowfall each winter, so this isn't an unusual amount of snow for them, but it is unusual how much is still left at this point!

These two eagles were a challenge to photograph with the lights on, but a sign helped me out. :)

We ended up staying at Robe Lake Lodge, which is on Robe Lake (I know, that's shocking!). Trust me... there's a lake there!

Such pretty views!

A video panoramic of the view. Just stunning! I can only imagine what it must look like here in the summer with everything lush and green. And listen to the birds singing away, especially toward the end. Makes it feel like spring despite so much snow remaining.

This is the lodge itself.

Downtown Valdez

I think I'd enjoy living here, actually! I would supplement my shovel with a snow blower though... as much as I enjoy shoveling snow I think this would do me in in that respect. Otherwise, bring it on!

Some migratory waterfowl. This is a Common Goldeneye.

A mixture of water fowl.

Northern Pintail

Mallards

The road to the fish hatchery (the blue buildings are the hatchery)

So regal!

Got a bit of melting left to do!

Matanuska Glacier

The Matanuska River

Livin' life on the edge... I'm told that wasn't like that a year ago!

The Matanuska River has been in the news lately because it is changing its course (as it naturally does) and is causing homes to fall into the river. Without getting into the details, I thought it was interesting to see this one that fell in last summer still sitting out there in the middle.

And upon zooming in, it's easier to see what's on the roof: "THANKS MSB" (MSB is Matanuska-Susitna Borough, who is according to some responsible for but not helping people who are losing their homes).

And on that note, we've made it to the end of the "other" photos from the Valdez Fly-In. In order to end on a happier note... let's see a prettier photo to conclude this post! Here's a preview of the next post:

'Til next time...