DAYS 24 AND 25 JUNE 10 AND 11

Day 24. We woke up to overcast skies and a low cloud deck--just a few hundred feet. It was cool and a bit depressing after the gorgeous scenery we had seen just the night before. So we opted to do something we had been talking about for a number of days: we washed our sleeping bags. The drying took forever... But after sleeping in them for three weeks, it was time. We also saw a movie on the making of the Alaska pipeline. What a monumental undertaking. It was constructed from 1974 to 1977; do you remember what you were doing or listening to progress while it was going on? We drove around Valdez Bay to the entrance of the pipeline terminal, but that's as far as you can go. We were told that along the bay drive you can see lots of bear, but we didn't see any. We have plenty of time for more wildlife viewing.

Day 25. Today is equally overcast, but there are some glimpses of blue sky. We're hopeful that as the day goes on the skies will clear. We want to see another movie today on the 1964 Alaska earthquake. It was the largest on record in North America, somewhere between upper 8 and lower 9 on the Richter scale. It totally wiped out the town of Valdez. The current town was rebuilt after the earthquake and resulting tsunami about four miles further up the bay. We also have laundry to do and final arrangement to make for our daughters' arrival tomorrow. We drive to Anchorage tomorrow and they arrive around 6:30 p.m. It will feel different sleeping in a bed after sleeping in a tent the past three weeks. I hope we don't get spoiled!