Day 50 17 September Valdez

This Alaskan city has just under 4,000 people and was named by the Spanish in 1790. It was a gold rush town at the end of the nineteenth century, largely the result of a scam that promoted that it had a better route for prospectors heading off to the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. The glacier trail was twice as long and steep as reported, and many men died in its crossing, in part from scurvy, the long cold winter without adequate supplies.

We arrived at dawn and saw this. 

...and we saw this sea otter.

Valdez suffered catastrophic damage during the 1964 Alaska earthquake and tsunami. The earthquake had a strength of 9.2 which is enormous, and the tsunami was 9.1 metres high. They moved the town several miles to a more secure position. Just north of Valdez, the notorious 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill occurred which greatly impacted the wildlife and economy. Today, it is the terminus for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Their museum had lots of good exhibits.

It may not make the cover of Better Homes and Gardens.

Weatherproof clothing of the indigenous people living here.  On the left it is fashioned with bear gut and on the right, it is seal.

The Whitney Museum. An amazing collection of artefacts and taxidermy.

All things dead and furry.

A Wolverine...a strange looking critter.

Not so much as Meals on Wheels as Snacks on Slats.

He's behind you...

We visited the annexe to the museum and our shuttle buses were school buses.

The civic theatre perched on the hill, which was nice inside, with the obligatory tsunami sign outside. 

As we bid Valdez goodbye, light rain had begun, with low cloud rolling in, obscuring the spectacular surrounding mountains; meanwhile Elizabeth spotted another otter, but we didn't get a chance to take a photograph.  Museum-wise this town punches above its weight. It is good to see small towns coming up with excellent local museums.

Tonight, we have a lecture on the North-West Passage. A lot of people were looking for something that didn't really exist.