The weather was supposed to be a little better today and Monday.
We drove about an hour to Portage Glacier boat ride parking lot.
11:17 Alaska time 12:17 California time
The boatride to see Portage Glacier, which I got to see from the air
We did not go on the boatride, it looked pretty miserable.
We instead hiked up to Byron Glacier
11:58 Alaska time 12:58 California time
Byron Glacier
We did the easy flat 1.5m roundtrip hike to see Byron Glacier
12:13 Alaska time 13:13 California time
Byron Glacier
After Byron Glacier we visited the Begich Boggs visitor center, which
is remarkable in that you now can no longer see Portage Glacier from
its own visitor center...
We then drove through the one way rail / paved tunnel to Whitier.
Tunnel was interesting - one lane railroad tunnel that was modified in
2000 to allow vehicles.
13:37 Alaska time 14:37 California time
13:40 Alaska time 14:40 California time
Whittier tunnel west (drier) entrance
13:40 Alaska time 14:40 California time
Whittier tunnel
13:57 Alaska time 14:57 California time
Princess cruises depart from Whittier.
Couldn't find easy parking in Whitier, decided
to simply turn around and come back.
There's almost nothing there and
we agreed with the guidebook that says it simply is not a nice
place.
It is a harbor with even less charm than Pillar point, don't need to
get rained on to determine that.
14:35 Alaska time 15:35 California time
there's a hanging glacier hanging out of the clouds
14:59 Alaska time 15:59 California time
Kathy and I stopped at Bird Creek to watch people fish for salmon.
16:29 Alaska time 17:29 California time
Ate at Kathy's pick Mooses Tooth pizza / Broken Tooth brewer.
Guidebook says it can have up to 2h wait.
It has been ranked as one of the top ten pizza places in the US and is
ranked as 5th best place to
eat in Anchorage on TripAdvisor.
We arrived at 330pm expecting it to
be relatively empty and it was packed with lines outside, but we got
seated immediately since there's only 2 of us.
16:30 Alaska time 17:30 California time
Amazing pizza and good
beer, about 25 of their own on tap, sampled 5.
The blueberry heff was
a miss (almost no flavor) but the rassberry heff was excellent.
Apa,
ipa, and tripel were nice.
17:01 Alaska time 18:01 California time
19:55 Alaska time 20:55 California time
View south from our room - the cemetary!
Ray's pic from Flagstaff
12:33 Alaska time 13:33 California time
Ray: 1:20 to top of Elden
Ray: I still got it
Ray: :)
12:34 Alaska time 13:34 California time
Paul: Just to Flagstaff for the day, or are you staying up there?
13:40 Alaska time 14:40 California time
Ray: Coming back tonight, after Ballet show ar 4:30 and dinner
Ray: Just finished hike: 2:20 total
Ray: I'm not unsatisfied
13:43 Alaska time 14:43 California time
Paul: Looks nice and cool
Paul: It was 85 here today with 70 percent humidity
Paul: Seems like Houston, not San Diego
Paul: According to Forbes, the ocean around San Diego is at a 102 year
high temp
13:46 Alaska time 14:46 California time
Ray: A gorgeous 84 here, 33% humidity
Ray: Not too hot at all
Ray: A little warm
Ray: Lots of shade
Ray: The shorter hike to Montserrat was hellish compared to this - also
84-86, but 2x aa humid and no shade - made a huge difference!
01:55 Alaska time 02:55 California time
Kent: Nice Ray! Elden is a very cool mountain
Kent: I'm going full tourist and headed out of the cool
mountains
Kent: Murten for at least one night
Kent: Supposedly, good skating area
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Friday August 3, 2018
El Granada to Anchorange
