Last Day in Alaska

7-30-09 Today was our last day in Alaska. After cleaning our accommodations at Meier Lake we packed our vans and Deacon Ann's car and headed for Anchorage. Dwight and Cathy took a van and headed directly for the airport to take Liz to her 11 AM flight. Ally, Nastia and Becca went along too for a day of shopping in the big city. Cathy caught a flight around 3 PM. The rest of us headed for Whittier to see the Prince William Sound. What a spectacular drive down the Seward Highway! Really hard to express as the mountains plummet straight down to the water. To get to Whittier you have to travel on the only single lane automobile/train tunnel in North America (I believe). Vehicle traffic actually drives straddling the rails. The tunnel changes directions every 1/2 hour and closes to automobiles when a train passes. The tunnel is 2.6 miles in length and perfectly straight. As we approached the tunnel we saw a black bear on the tracks about 50 yards from our car. Emerging from the other end of the tunnel we were in Whittier and another world. Heavy fog, rain, wind. There is a daily tide change of about 15 feet in height. The trip home treated us to a wild sheep perched on the cliffs along the road. We were able to meet the other van in Anchorage for dinner at the Arctic Roadrunner.

Now we sit at the airport waiting for our flight. It looks we will be about 1/2 hour late in our departure. See you soon in Virginia.