Day 20: I'm on a Boat!

Today was quite nice, quite nice.

First off, we went to the Valdez Museum. Here we got to learn about the Native people who live in this area. We also got to learn about the gold rush around Valdez. The first rush was actually tricked here. They were told there was an easy track up to the interior and the gold. That was a complete lie. This area was (and still is) practically completely surrounded by glaciers. Fail. Eventually the Army came through and built a road. In fact, that road is 111 years old this year. It felt 111 years old driving down it the other day. We also learned a lot about the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The most interesting thing I learned is that the Valdez ship has changed names and jobs since 1989. It is now the Mediterranean which hauls coal and ore. It was banned by law from ever returning to the Prince William Sound.

After the Museum we went on a boat adventure around the Prince William Sound. We traveled on the Glacier Spirit with Captain Amanda and crew members Ebo, Jake, and Culton. We saw the end of the pipeline from Port Valdez. We traveled down the Valdez Arm. We saw a whole bunch of sea otters. They just kind of float along, just like you see in pictures, flat on their backs. They'd roll over on their tummies, but they like the back stroke much better. Some Dall Porpoises came and played in the wake of our boat. We saw puffins and seals and sea lions. We sailed all the way out to about 3 miles from the Columbia Glacier. You can't get any closer because there's floating ice all the way out 3 miles. We traveled among icebergs!

All of this is way more exciting in the pictures. I'll get those up in the morning. I sleepy. :)