July 22-26: After we sent the parentals off, we decided to take it easy and walked around Valdez to see what kind of trouble we could get ourselves in, lol.
We found an ice cream shop and they offered pup bowls! So, the pups got a treat!
We found the cruise dock and meandered around until they took off for their next stop.
We made it back home and I worked on a puzzle while Sean watched his Youtube channels.
Sean and I were itching to get out and about on some of the hiking trails around and decided on Shoup Bay Trail. We decided to walk to the trailhead. In doing so, we got to see some of the housing developments that most tourists don't see.
Mineral Creek bridge view toward the bay.
There was a meadow that features lots of wildflowers and berries.
Beautiful views surround us.
This was near where we had to turn around because the trail was getting very overgrown and the steep sides were making it impossible to walk safely. Naturally, I took this chance to pick salmonberries!
We back in time to watch the next cruise ship leave the dock space.
And, found a very interesting boat with a helicopter on it....???
We decided to go to the Overlook Trail behind the Parks & Rec Admin Office. There is a great view of the oil terminal from here and a great view of the town.
Mineral Creek Trail was the next that we explored. We tried to go the entire way on our bikes.
Then, there were large water crossings, lol.
Luckily, neither of us ate it like I was scared we would, but it was a bit unnerving and I walked the next couple of water crossings we came to.
We hiked to the very end of what was safe to hike to. As you can see in this panoramic picture, there was a raging Brevier Creek with a vehicle water crossing that looked unsafe for even vehicles to cross...
You get an okay view of Mineral Creek Glacier in the distance.
Trying to find the Stamp Mill in the trees...
...found it!
Waterfalls everywhere!
Toward the end of the trail. It was definitely a picturesque trail and we had a great time.
That night, we went to Dayville Rd. to look for bears and finally caught a glimpse of one.
Valdez black bear video on Dayville Rd.
The next morning there was rain predicted, so we decided to stick around and read, then go eat lunch at the Fu Kung Chinese Restaurant.
The food was good, but made us miss our local Asian restaurant in Littlefield...
The fog stuck around through the day into night. This photo was taken at 10pm.
The next day, we needed to get a few essential groceries. We got back and unloaded the truck, got the groceries put away and were going to take the pups for a walk. Everyone and the pups were outside and I close the door behind me. We forgot to grab the trash to dispose of in the dumpster, so Sean went to open the door, but he could get the handle to unlatch. He asked me if I locked the door, which I had not. He replied the handle must have broke, and I told him that I think the thing we have feared might happen has actually happened... the dogs locked us out...
You see, there's a certain very poorly designed little switch that is just the right height for one little dog to hit it (which she does quite often while we are driving). Luckily, we planned for this situation... now we need a new plan because everyone knows our old plan now, lol.
The little dog in question...lol. She still denies hitting the button.
Once the disaster of potentially being locked out of our house was averted, we took the truck to the end of Dayville Rd. and got our bikes out to ride up and down the road one last time. In this picture, you can see the weir is below the level of the water and the salmon are able to pass by. The sea lions were still hamming it up for the tourists.
Now the weir is back up. No less than 5 minutes after we had arrived.
The salmon that got past the weir.
Again, no bears, but we were glad we got to see one in the previous days. Unfortunately, Scott and Tammy missed seeing any bears while they were with us.
There was a commotion by the harbor, so we walked down to see many fishermen weighing and taking pictures of their catches.
Yellow-eyed Rockfish. Talk about google-eyes!
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