Thursday July 3, 2014 Valdez, Alaska

Eagles in flight, or is that fight?

Today's only planned activity was breakfast at nine.  We got up early enough to have coffee in the coach before going to the breakfast.

Breakfast was French Toast,  The bread used was the left over hot dog buns from the cook out in Chicken.  That may not sound real appetizing, you must try it to see how good it can be.  The staff also served bacon, orange juice and coffee.  They hit the sweet spot in getting the right crispness and chewiness.

A float plane either coming or going

The first pictures I included with today's blog were actually taken yesterday near the fish hatchery.  There was a lot of eagle activity.  Especially feeding the young in a nest and resolving conflicts between mature and juvenile birds.  The eagles gulls and crows don't seem to clash as much here as we have seen in other places.

The Valdez small boat harbor

After breakfast I spent a great deal of time getting reservations for the trip after the caravan ends in Anacordes, WA.  I didn't get all the reservations I had wanted.  I forget that I could make reservations through Thousand Trails up to 120 days in advance,  The long and short is that we will spend more time than we had planned in the Anacortes area and less time at Seaside, Or.  We will also spend more time at Whaler's Rest near Newport , OR than originally planned.  That won't be too bad, we have RV'er friends there and we will try to get with Walt Myers in Salem.

I also spent some time with a nearby pharmacy getting prescriptions transferred and filled.

In the mid afternoon I got out and found a cache, I also DNFed one.

Valdez harbor from a little higher

I returned to the coach and picked up Gerri.  She wanted to check out a couple of restaurants as candidates for supper.  We drove around the harbor to one of the fish processing plants, and looked over that area.  I had Gerri stop to see if there were any caches nearby.  There was one.  As we started to turn we saw Dave Johnson and his grandson headed that way.  We joined them at the cache and signed the log.  We then went back around the harbor with them and located two more caches.

Dinner time for a Grizzly Bear near the fish hatchery

On the way back to the RV Park Gerri stopped at a restaurant the tour boat captain had recommended.  It was dead and didn't appeal to Gerri.  Gerri figures a busy restaurant is a good restaurant.

We decided to have dinner at the Old Town Burgers restaurant at the RV Park.  We met another couple from the caravan and had a good meal and good company.  Gerri had fish tacos and I had Halibut and chips.  My meal was great but Gerri's was just so-so.  The tortillas were dry and there wasn't enough chipotle sauce on the tacos.

Yum, good salmon

After eating and cleaning up we went to the fish hatchery hoping to catch sight of some bears.  When we arrived in the area there were a lot more fishermen than we had seen last night.  When we reached the point where we saw so many eagles last night, there was already a Grizzly Bear there fishing.  We were within 20 yards of the bear.  He must have caught and eaten 20 salmon before heading back to he woods with a large salmon in his mouth.

There was quite a crowd of people watching the bear.  After he went into the woods we headed back to the coach.  I used the word HE, I have no idea the sex of the bear.  That probably only matters to another Grizzly Bear.

This one goes home for a midnight snack

Back at the coach, I hooked up the Jeep and took down the flags.  Arthur helped me fold them and stow the flagpole.  I also filled the fresh water tank and emptied the grey and black water tanks.  I notice that I slipped into RV jargon there.  Black water is the toilet sewer and grey water is from the shower, washer and sinks.  Dealing with sewage is a minor drawback to RVing.

As I was walking around outside doing these chores, I stopped and gave thanks to all mighty God for providing us with this beautiful world to enjoy. I also am thankful that God grants us the ability to visit and enjoy places like Valdez.  His creation is a constant joy and I thank Him for it.
Gerri went to bed with her Kindle.  I followed her at about 11:30.