On the Way to Prince William Sound

Chugach National Park Mountains next to Wasilla.

Spent one last day in Tea Party country (Wasilla) visiting the Alaska Museum of Transportation and Industry.  Interesting collection of cars, trains, planes, farm equipment and other technical devices.  Most were not restored nor documented.  A lot were outside where I suspect they will dissolve into rust heaps in a few years.  But the building did have some nicely restored cars.

A Wall of Fame of telephones.  Russ and I figured that the earliest phones we remembered in our homes appeared about 3/4's of the way across the wall.

Who remembers having one of these in their home?  I do! This is very similar to the machine we had until I was in 5th grade.

Never been in a museum that had a display of chainsaws.

Left on a rainy day (what else is new?) and drove south along Turnagain Arm towards Portage Valley.  We had visited Portage glacier a couple of weeks ago and now we are going back down to check out the visitor center and see what else there is to see before we go through the Whittier Tunnel to Prince William Sound. There aren’t any decent campgrounds in Whittier so we are staying in Portage Valley.  Our campground has some amazing views of hanging glaciers and there is a nice little trail nearby that goes to an overlook of a creek where salmon are spawning.  Saw only a handful of salmon though.

Leaves are starting to turn - Fall is coming!

This area is an arctic rainforest - lots of ferns.

The trail had beautiful boardwalks that cross over small streams and wetlands.

The Begich, Boggs Visitor Center is right on Portage Lake and has a beautiful view of the glacier, or at least it did ten years ago. The glacier has receded significantly and it has now disappeared around a bend in the lake. There is a great video on the valley and some good interactive displays.

Begich, Boggs Visitor Center is named after a House Representative and the House Majority Leader who disappeared on a plane trip in 1972.

One of the glaciers visible from the visitor center and very near to our campground.

Russ' new best friend!

Also spent a couple hours at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.  This is a home for wildlife that have been rescued after being abandoned or injured.  Most will never be released to the wild because they are now habituated to humans.  The Center also has a restoration program for wood bison which were hunted to extinction in Alaska.  Canada gave them a bunch about ten years ago and there is a pretty good size herd now that they plan to start reintroducing to Northern Alaska in 2013. Got to see all of these animals upclose and personal.  The bears were separated from the humans by, in my opinion, a flimsy looking fence.  Russ backed up a bit when the bear started walking towards him.  That animal is intimidating!

The weather forecast says that tomorrow will be a nice day for our day cruise in Prince William Sound.  Keep your fingers crossed.