Sunday 14 July
Got up early and headed down to the dock to catch up with Sarah (Peggy’s daughter) and catch the ‘Lu Lu Belle’, a boat chartered by the First Baptist Church in Valdez, where every Sunday they head out of Valdez, and into Prince William Sound for a brief service, before their main church service back at their church at 11am. Great experience, awesome to sit in God’s creation, just looking at the scenery, singing some (old) worship songs/hymns, and then a short message on Integrity. They stopped the message to point out the Otters and Sea Lions.
We had a wander around Valdez with Sarah. The town had all been rebuilt following a 9.2 earthquake on Good Friday in 1964, 15 miles below Prince William Sound, halfway between Anchorage and Valdez. The initial quake caused landslides killing 32 people and collapsing the town and the docks. Nearby, a 27-foot (8.2 m) tsunami destroyed the village of Chenega, killing 23 of the 68 people who lived there; survivors out-ran the wave, climbing to high ground. Evidence of motion directly related to the earthquake was also reported from Florida and Texas.
We went to the information centre where we did some research and booked our trip to Kennicott Mine for tomorrow, and then went to the supermarket to get dinner. We drove past the ‘old town’ as we headed out of town.
Sarah recommended a visit to Alison Point where the salmon were running and there were lots of RV’s and people fishing. We then carried on to Bridal Veil falls. While we got ready for our walk, Chris went to attach the bear spray to the day pack but pressed the wrong button and released some bear spray which sprayed out onto the ground and on her hand (thankfully not directly towards her or anyone else). She then went to the cab of the truck to get the wipes to wipe it off her hands but as she did that Tayla got down out of the camper and walked around the side of the truck and into the bear spray and got it in her eyes and mouth. Meanwhile Josh and Danika also walked around that area and felt the pepper in their throats. Ross was a way off and came over wondering why Tayla was on all fours choking. Once she had recovered, we started our walk but Ross had touched her water bottle and then rubbed his eyes, which meant that he was escorted back to the truck with his eyes too sore to open so we could bathe them in water – oh dear – only something you can laugh at later! Everyone recovered but had a pepper taste and tingly lips for a while. We continued our walk up the side of the canyon for nearly an hour, to a really nice stream where a previous flood had washed out a footbridge. This track was originally cut by explorers to gain an alternative access route into Valdez, rather than going over the Valdez Glacier. We ate Salmon Berries on the track. Then back to the car and up and over Thompson Pass again where we briefly stopped at Worthington Glacier.
We got back to Carla’s at Kenny Lake and Danika cooked roast potatoes and yams to go with the roast chicken and broccoli. She kicked us out of the kitchen so we wouldn’t get bear spray on the chicken 
We sat down and played “Double Solitaire” and had pop tarts for the first time, for dessert.
