THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE Day 49 July 4, 2009 Valdez, AK Day 2

We got up fairly early this morning, had a big breakfast and then hit the bike path. Well not quite, first we had to bike over to the grocery store and get a few supplies. Once we completed the shopping we headed down the Richardson Highway to the original townsite. The town was devastated in the 1964 earthquake and was relocated 4 miles down the road after the US Army Corp of Engineers declared the town condemned.

There is actually very little left of the old town. The foundation for the Post Office is still there with a few signs to give you a little history of what happened. The Post Office was officially opened by JFK only two years prior to the earthquake.

Other than the Post Office Foundation the only pieces left are part of the main dock and a couple of sub docks.

It's hard to believe that only 32 people lost their lives that day when the entire town was destroyed. They say the main reason is that it was on Good Friday and most of the business and schools were closed.

After leaving Old Town Valdez we headed up Airport Road to the Valdez Glacier. We ran out of bike path prior to reaching the glacier. Since neither of wanted to chance the road and we were close enough to get a picture, that's what we did.

After taking a picture of the glacier we started back and hoped to finish the final 5 miles without any mishap. Kathy decided as a reward we needed to hit the local Expresso and Ice Cream stand for a treat. We sat and had our expresso ice cream, well Kathy did. I had a good old fashioned root beer float. It was gooooood. We then headed back and I started up the BBQ and we had ourselves a feast of lamb. It was also goooood.

After supper we headed to the docks and walked around for about an hour. We needed it after the ice cream and lamb with all the trimmings. We finished our walk and headed back to the campsite for an early evening. Tomorrow we go on a 6 1/2 hour boat ride in Prince William Sound with a stop at Columbia Glacier.