Palmer to Valdez Day 1

We are a few days shy of celebrating 4 years living in Alaska. Up until now, we have not been on the Richardson Highway to Valdez which is arguably the most beautiful highway in North America. I had some time off this week so we booked some lodging and shoved off today. I dropped Daisy off at the kennel at 9:00 while K and S packed at the last minute. It was noon before we were loaded and out of the house.

We took the Glenn Highway out of Palmer northeast and lunched at the Long Rifle Inn which has a spectacular view of the Matanuska Glacier. The restaurant and inn are not much to look at from the road, but the inside is pleasant, rustic, and filled with animal trophies. The french fries were super crispy. At this point, we were just shy of halfway to Glennallen which is the junction between the Glenn Highway and the Richardson Highway. Travel was fast through Eureka Pass as there was little traffic. The occasional Winnebago was a cinch to pass as the road was pretty straight on this stretch. Glennallen was a hole and not worth stopping at.

Our destination for the day 15 miles south of Glennallen was Copper Center at the junction of the Klutina and Copper River. The historical marker reads: "Founded in 1896 as a government agriculture experiment station, Copper Center was the first white settlement in this area. The Trail of '98 from Valdez over the glaciers came down from the mountains and joined here with the Eagle Trail to Forty Mile and Dawson. 300 miners, destitute and lonely, spent the winter here. Many suffered with scurvy and died. Soon after the turn of the century, the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System, known as WAMCATS, the forerunner of the Alaska communications system, operated telegraph service here between Valdez and Fairbanks."

We stopped at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park visitor center barely before they closed. They had a nice 1 mile trail exhibiting the features of a boreal forrest (and nice blip material). We stayed at the Copper Center Lodge which was established in 1898 and was surrounded by historic buildings and settler artifacts. Up on a high bluff a few miles away was the Copper Princess Lodge (a part of Princess Cruise Line) that is only a few years old and has all that one expects from modern hotels. We ate a fancy high priced meal there because we felt like it. From the Princess Lodge, we had a view of the Alaska Pipeline. I even gave a whirl with a TTTTV of sort (through the tourist telescope viewfinder). On the way back, we spotted an unusual cemetery with wooden picket fences of various ages and degrees of disrepair about the grave sites. We also happened upon a burnt out cabin that made for some interesting photos. We settled in to our non-modern cozy (read small) lodge room for the night.

Now I submit that this blip is of a burned out cabin rather than flowers, but If that doesn't cut it, I guess I'll let the GMGBLAFPT comments fly.

Here's a Picasa link to other select photos on our first day.