Overland towards Valdez
August 8:
This day was also reserved for recovery. It began with breakfast at a popular bakery, Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop. Barbara and I found a healthy breakfasts: a ham and egg croissant and a blue berry muffin, but seating was nonexistent. I finally asked a guy seated by himself if he would mind if we joined him. He smiled and welcomed us. He was very unassuming as he described his job with Universal Studios. He (Josh Lawson) stars as Dr. Bruce in the NBC series, St. Denis Medical. He and his brother, Ben, are actors from Australia. Josh knows the realities of show business: "I make it while it lasts; save for when it doesn't."
After Josh excused himself for some business, we were joined by a local high school junior, a cross country runner, violinist, and German student. Her father is a school administrator. We met her mother, a nurse practitioner, when she came to give her daughter a ride to an appointment. We wished both of them good luck in hosting a German exchange student during the school year.
About 10:00 I decided to drop by a college buddy's home in Anchorage. I had his address but no working phone number. As we drove by his home, we saw him and his wife with their grandchildren with their backs turned to us entering their driveway. We decided to leave them alone with their grandkids and not to expose them to whatever illness we had.
This left us time for another scenic drive towards Valdez. A car ride would keep us warm and dry and give us a chance to see another part of Alaska. Soon we were taking pictures of the Matanuska River, nearby mountains, a lone fisherman trying his luck, and steep mountains feeding glaciers.
Most impressive was the Matanuska Glacier, the largest roadside glacier that we had seen. In contrast, we saw copper colored mountains and hills with gypsum deposits. We stopped to take pictures of other tourists in convoys of trucks, cars, and RVs including our own. One tourist from Switzerland in the convoy was impressed by the number (60 near Anchorage; 100,000 total) and scale of the glaciers in Alaska.
We pulled over for lunch at the Eureka Summit. I tried the halibut and chips; Barbara, the BLT. Our appetites were recovering. After taking a photo of the 1936 Roadhouse and a large glacier across the road, we drove to Glennallen where the road splits towards Canada, Fairbanks, and Valdez.
We toured a local visitor staffed by a local teacher. School starts next week. His $51,000 salary is typical of the area. Teachers who work in remote areas that can only be reached by plane make more money, but the cost of living is higher. We retraced our tracks towards Anchorage and made a quick stop at a Fred Meyer grocery store on the way: a simple bread, wine and cheese dinner would follow.
Anchorage revisited
Next: Anchorage Museum and Home