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Well friends, here we are in Valdez. It's seven days since Ron climbed his mountain in Seward and the FIRST day he hasn't complained about the pain. That's all I'll say on that subject.........

"Situated in a majestic fjord, where the 5,000-foot-tall Chugach Mountains rise from Prince William Sound, Valdez is often called Alaska's "Little Switzerland." (Frommer quote)

It is also the end point of the 800 mile long Alaskan Pipeline. The oil that fills our gas tanks is piped through the pipeline and fed by gravity into tanks or directly into waiting oil tankers.

We all remember the Exxon Valdez disaster. After 10 years and billions of dollars, there are now more fish here than ever before.

The bay at low tide when green moss covers the rocky bottom.

Kayaks lined up waiting for customers

Everyone knows that salmon are genetically engineered to return to their birthplace to spawn each year. Here in Valdez they "swarm on the hatchery in a blizzard of fish. There is no stream for the salmon to return to so they try to get back into the hatchery, crowding together in a solid sea of fighting muscle." (Frommer's again -- he's much more eloquent than me)

Hey, you try taking a picture of "sea of fighting muscle". It's not that easy......

I guess I shouldn't have told you how easy to is to catch these fish......

We took a tour boat out to see the Columbia Glacier. I call this one "The Titanic".