Alaska certainly is a state of extremes. Although it was warm (by Fairbanks standards...20 - 34 degrees ABOVE 0)..the snow was certainly noteworthy. About a month and a half ago Valdez had over 4 feet of snow fall in 3 days. AND TAKE NOTE ALL YOU TEACHERS...NOT ONE DAY OF SCHOOL WAS MISSED. THE STREETS WERE CLEAN BY 8 AM EVERY DAY. That being said, there were lots set aside just for snow removal and, as you can
see, the parking lot snow mounds were about 16 feet high. Please note that the first mound is the parking lot snow pile, mirrored by the mountain in the background. This guy is shoveling snow off the roof onto a pile of snow that reaches from the ground to the roof!
As a town of 3000, Valdez makes Fairbanks look quite city like. And although the setting is spectacular, similar to Homer with the sea and the mountains, because it is on the coast, it is gray and snowy much of the time. Not for me! Give me the cold any time.
The trip to Valdez was spectacular. Here is a sample of what we saw:
The caribou and moose were all over!
The frozen waterfalls were blue!
And the lighting was marvelous.
Valdez is the end of the pipeline. Here is the terminal. Unfortunately we could not take any photos of Prince Williams Sound because a squall blew in and there was no visibility over the water!
Valdez is a long (7 hour)...360 mile trip) from Fairbanks but well worth it!
