The Road to Valdez

After we left Homer, we decided to do a side trip to Valdez to check it out.  There were some incredible sites to see on the way to Valdez.

 

Here’s a semi up close and personal view of the Worthington Glacier.  I am really taken with glaciers and the thought that they’ve been around for so long.  And, this is another one that you can actually get really close to.

 

If you check out the lower right hand corner of this image, you can see how close you can get to this glacier.  Look for the red jacket!  The other thing this image does is give you a good perspective of how huge this glacier is!

 

Last winter, on the road we drove over, that was the only road going into the town of Valdez, an avalanche occurred. The road had to be dug out and there were some visible effects of the avalanche you can still see.  You can barely see the top of a tunnel in this image.  It’s almost buried!  The good news is that this tunnel seems to be an old train tunnel and isn’t used any longer.

 

This is really cool that looks a bit odd.  You can see the waterfalls in the upper left corner of the image.  That’s the water that’s flowing out the lower right corner of the image.  The tunnel is not made of rock or stone – it’s the snow from the avalanche!!  And, the green on top is grass showing thru where the snow has melted.  This is really a rather amazing image!

 

Another really pretty sight was the Bridal Veil Falls that flowed right next to the road.  I got over on an angle on the shoulder of the road so that I could capture some of the outward flow of the water as it came over the various rock ledges.

 

As I looked at the falls, I decided to focus on just one tiny area of the falls, a series of mini-falls, if you will.  Look at the cool abstract pattern made by the water flowing.  I slowed down my shutter speed as much as I could and still have a hand-held shot come out clear and in focus so that the pattern is more visible.

 

Here’s another close up of one portion of the Falls, where you can really see how the water sort of shoots out from the rock wall.  It really gives you an idea of how fast that water is flowing.  This is not some gentle lazy peaceful waterfall.  This is a waterfall that means business!

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Old Town Valdez

Many folks remember the town of Valdez as being the site of the big oil spill in 1989.   Well, 25 years before that, on Good Friday, 1964, a huge 9.2 earthquake occurred about 45 miles from Valdez.  It was the second largest earthquake in recorded history.  Being so close to the epicenter of the quake, the town of Valdez was literally wiped off the map by the subsequent tsunami, due to an underwater landslide, and 30 people lost their lives.  When the town was rebuilt, it was rebuilt further down the shore, and the original town site was left in ruin.  They have marked off certain parts of town in an open grass area and I captured what I could to just reflect on the history and sorrow of what happened on that day.

 

This is a view of New Valdez from the town site of Old Valdez.  The green growth speaks to the idea of rebirth, both in land and in human spirit.

 

This site was identified as “Village Morgue Bar and Liquor Store”.  The building was actually out on the pilings that remain.  It’s one of the few tangible remnants that still exist.  I’m not certain about the name, tho – was it a morgue, bar and liquor store, or was that someone’s clever name back in the 1950s and early 1960s?  Nothing remains that explains the name, and I choose to see it as a light moment in this somber memory.

 

The Standard Oil Tank Farm burned for several days after the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.  This is the way that fiery site looks today.  Fire seems to be the last thing you’d think of engulfing this site now.

 

And, finally, I couldn’t resist ending with a focus on rebirth and regeneration.  Beautiful fireweed growing on another part of the Old Valdez town site.

Enjoy!

New Valdez Port and Harbor

After visiting Old Valdez, let’s check out what Valdez looks like today.  I applied some effects to make them look like paintings or drawings and create the feeling that I felt while I was there.

Here’s the port at Valdez done as a pastel drawing.  I loved the look of the business on the end of the pier and the feeling I had was that this was sort of the perfect port portrait.

The name of this boat is the Resolution, and I loved the feeling of yearning for the sea that I imagine the boat would feel, if boats felt anything!  Anyway, this boat really looked out onto some crude oil tanks across the Prince William Sound, but the impressionist effect sort of blocked that out.  Not reality, but artistically, it works for me.

 

We had lunch at the small boat harbor and I loved this view from out the window.  The colorful blue boat is balanced by the blue covered plank in the background and the colorful kayaks across the image from the boat.  It’s a lovely image that just speaks to a relaxing lunch in the summertime.

Enjoy!