11. Glennallen & Valdez

Glennallen was a central location from which we could head south to check out Valdez and Kennicott before heading west to Anchorage. Our phones could not find a signal, so a kind woman at the Visitor Center made a few calls and found a local campground that had a small (very small) cabin available, which we grabbed. It was cozy, though we definitely raised our eyebrows when the desk clerk gave us tokens for the shared shower. One token = 7 minutes. Haha.

Upon securing our cabin, we headed south to check out the fishing village of Valdez, located on Prince William Sound. Valdez Harbor is the southern terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which transports oil 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay in the north. The name Valdez didn't mean anything to me until you put the word Exxon before it. Yup. That was the ship that infamously struck a reef in 1989, spilling almost 11 million gallons of oil in the sound. Dang.

The town was pretty quiet. Lots of ships in the marina, but not much happening otherwise. Maybe its slow on Mondays.Read more