Day 35

Rain, rain, and even more rain. We must be in Alaska! We loaded up the trailer in the rain and took off at 9:52. We assumed (incorrectly) that we would eventually drive out of the rain when we got away from Valdez. It rained all day – everywhere.

On the trip to Valdez, we took pictures of Worthington Glacier but didn’t go on the hiking path that led to the base of the glacier. We figured we would do that on the way out, silly us. We were bound and determined to do it no matter what and we did. It was so cold with the wind coming off the glacier and the rain didn’t help a bit. We laughed at ourselves for being so goofy but, in a sick sort of way, it was fun. Jerry & Nancy had better sense; they stayed in their truck with the heater running. But by golly, they don’t have any pictures of the base of the glacier.

We were so grateful for the sunny day when we got to take lots of pictures. There was so much fog today that you couldn’t see any of the mountain ranges. I said earlier that people really need to drive this road because it’s so beautiful. We found out today you need to drive it when there’s sunshine or you won’t be able to see the beauty.

There was a loop road off the main highway that went to a town called Copper Center; we decided to take that route and eat lunch at the lodge. Copper Center is a very small town with a museum, some shops, and, of course, a salmon fishing charter company. The lodge is very old and quaint and our lunch was great. For being such a small town, we were surprised to find the lodge restaurant was almost full. I guess it’s a popular fishing spot. When we arrived at the lodge, a tour bus was just leaving so we asked our waiter if they get a lot of tours. Three days a week, they get a tour bus each hour. They don’t all eat at the restaurant but they do go to the shops and museum. It was a nice stop for lunch, would be a good place to stay and fish but I don’t get the attraction for tours.

Jan noted the little town of Paxson on the map and thought it might be a good place to spend the night. It was in a pretty area with a number of lakes. There was only one RV “motorpark” near there and the picture of it in “Mileposts” looked really nice. Oh my gosh! It was a dilapidated motel with some gravel parking areas that looked like no one had parked in them for years – there was even trash lying around in the parking spots. It was really a creepy place. Jan went back to “Mileposts” and found there was a BLM campground just 5 miles farther down the road. The park was beautiful, sat right on Paxson Lake and the camping fee was $5.00. You can’t beat that.

It finally stopped raining around 5:00.