I woked up around 11:30 am again and decided not to go to Kenicott and just walked to the McCarthy "business district" to get something to eat. Valdez is just too far away for me to spend too much time in McCarthy.
Over in the business district, which was approximately a 1.5 kilometer hike from the Copper Point parking area, I stopped at the Tailor-Made Pizza restaurant- the only restaurant in McCarthy, and purchased the veggie quiche special. I never realized what a quiche was until that morning. I said what the heck, I didn't want to eat meat, so I'll try this veggie speical. For a special, it turned out to be very expensive.
Inside, the pizza shop had a very homey, antiquish feel from the few old souvenirs. There were a few suits on the wall- hence "tailor-made." The orange modern plastic chairs contrasted the antiquish look of the restaurant. There were 2 or 3 groups of people sitting ouside eating. The chef was a bulky man and had one of those moustaches which curled upwards at the ends. Two or three other people were working there- probably a family business.
The business section only had about 5 businesses and a museum at a fork in the road.
One of the neat things about the city was the drinking water came from a stream which had signs posted not to pollute it. The stream came from the river, which also acts to seperate the Cooper Point parking lot from the rest of McCarthy.
The shuttle cost to Kennicott was $10 round trip. For that price, a person could rent a bicycle and bike there in about 20 minutes. I wished I brought along my bike, but then sleeping would have been cramped in the back of the Rodeo.
I drove out of the Copper Point parking lot at 1:00 pm, and headed back to Chitina. I listened to the song "Countdown to Extinction" by Megadeth: It's about human nature, killing animals, not caring what we kill, and one day we might be the only creature left on earth; then I thought maybe one day we will be victims of our own makings, and we'll have nothing to blame.
That made me think of the unabomber: He thought that technology was moving to quickly and wanted to slow down or halt it, but how he went about it was wrong- hurting a few people. Because no one person will be able to stop technology. Even if one country banned it, another country would improve it. Technology exists, and one day we may be victims of it, instead of profitting from it. Our lives may actually be more complex instead of simpler. Don't ask me to explain, think about it yourself and form your own opinions.
It's so great to be driving on an undeleloped road on undevloped land. The only things which show any signs of technology are the road itself and the car. Out here a person really can feel like he was away from civilization because there weren't any main roads nearby. This was especially true up north in Alaska and Canada.
I stopped by the side of the dirt road to brush my teeth and cleaned up. Also left a territorial mark. I gulped down the vegetable quiche, bread sticks, and salad like there was no tomorrow. The freshly made breadsticks were very good. Wow. Hadn't eaten anything except some Balance bars and handfuls of Basic 4 cereal yesterday. I think the restaurant left out a soup and another side item, if I recalled the sign for the special correctly. The food was not greasy.
That was the 2nd longest dirt road I've driven. The longest being in the Northwest Territories, Canada. Came to a bridge Kasilinas Bridge was built in 1910 for the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad, it spaned 525 feet, and 238 feet above the river. There was a guy standing in the middle of the bridge taking in the view with binoculars.
The drive to Valdez was a majestic drive after Thompson Pass. Even with the rain, driving between the mountain 800 meters above sea level was so awesome. There were plenty of falls, including Bridal Veils Falls which was nothing but spectacular. I thought Hatcher Pass was incredible, but this area, Keystone Canyon, was even more spectacular.
On a wet day like that things seemed so perfect. Somehow, on a dry day the scenery would have been different- there wouldn't be low hanging clouds and mists in the air. The wet weather also seemed to make the green mountainside even greener, and the trees eventually fade into the clouds. I wouldn't have want it any other way.
Valdez was a port city. I didn't do much but drove around the town a bit. The Sea Otter RV park was at the end of the city. Looked as though the park catered to RVs because there weren't any grass sites to pitch up tents. I was disappointed because I had hoped Valdez had more to offer. But just exactly what I wanted to see in Valdez I wasn't sure....
Highway 4 ended at Front Street in Valdez. Here, there's a subdivision named Cottonwood.
Leaving Valdez, a sign had 360 miles (or 575 kilometers) to Anchorage. That's about a six hour drive.
Before leaving the Valdez area, I made a quick detour to Old Valdez and stopped at the memorial site for all the people who died during the earthquake on Good Friday at the Prince William sound area on March 27, 1964. One plaque described the old city: "For more than 7 years, in the town of Valdez, the Spanish dominated exloration of Prince William Sound during the early years of European investigation in the north Pacific. Accredited with discovering and naming the site, expiditions under Quadro, Martinez, De Haro , Manispina, Hildalgo, all visited the area. The latter naming Port Valdez in 1790. A trading was established sometime before 1897 when gold was discovered in the Canadian Klondike. Then some prospectors headed for the gold fields from Valdez. The seekers had to cross the treacherous Valdez Glacier or the forbidden Chugach Mountains. Then in the severe winter of 1899, US army troops were sent to Valdez to aid the miners who attempted these routes. The army established Fort Lisem near Valdez 1920 to maintain order amidst the gold rush excitement. Then stayed until 1922, during this time the town of Valdez developed...."
From this point, I estimated getting home at 1:00 am in the morning.
Almost ran out of gas by the time I reached the city of Glenallen. At $1.54/gallon for the cheap stuff at a Chevron, that was the most expensive gas in Alaska. Even the little town of Chitina had cheaper gasoline, but then the pumps at Chitina looked dated.
Nothing eventful on the way home except a moose and her 2 calves were crossing the road. I stopped in Eagle River to fill up and purchased some vegetable quiche for tomorrow. Too bad I don't have a microwave to warm it up.
When I arrived home I immediately went to bed after a lot of driving.
