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| Walking Around Valdez, Alaska and Loving the Cool Mountain and Sea Air |
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| Colorful Bunnies Abound in Early Morning Quiet at Valdez, Alaska |
Saturday. 8. Our B&B house in Valdez was full of guests last night. Most went out for dinner. We fixed ourselves an early dinner, read for the evening and went to bed just before 11pm. We are upstairs in this large house and it’s quiet. The town is quiet. We left our window open for the fresh, cool air. We woke up and decided to quietly leave the house. We walked about 3 blocks to the earliest breakfast restaurant with seating called Sam’s Spot. It’s located inside the Eagle’s club. Breakfast was reasonable and regular.
Sunday. 9. Worship at the church of Christ in Valdez. There were just a few of us in attendance. Darrell preached and led some songs for the group. A man visiting from Florida led our prayers.
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| Salmon Hatchery Near Valdez, Alaska |
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| Water Teeming with Salmon Near the Hatchery |
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| Seagulls and a Gigantic Sea Lion Feasting on Salmon Near the Hatchery |
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| Ermine or Short-tailed Weasel at the Hatchery |
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| At a Trail Start in Valdez, Alaska |
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| Taking in the View Behind Me |
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| Trail View Above Valdez, Alaska |
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| A Town Mural |
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| Looking Out of Our BnB Bedroom Window |
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| View in Valdez Looking Toward Town from Our BnB |
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| A Fancy Neighborhood in Valdez, Alaska |
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| Crossing an Old Bridge in Valdez |
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| View from the Old Bridge in Valdez |
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| Our Walk Following the River in Valdez, Alaska |
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| Views in Valdez on Our Walk Beside the River |
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| Walking in Valdez, Alaska |
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| In the Valdez, Alaska Museum. An Inventor of Ski Landing Gear for His Plane. |
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| The Actual Plane Skies at the Museum |
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| Welcome to Valdez, Alaska |
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| Marina at Valdez, Alaska |
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| Boarding Our Tour Ship |
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| Comfy Seating on Our Stan Stephens Tour Ship |
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| Tour Map for the Meares Glacier. 120 miles Roundtrip. |
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| Cloud Cover in the Morning in Prince William Sound |
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| Clouds Lifted During Our Tour in Prince William Sound. Calm Waters. |
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| Views from Our Ship |
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| Nice Reflections in Prince William Sound |
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| More Beautiful Scenery in Prince William Sound |
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| Getting Closer to Meares Glacier. |
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| Hey Darrell! |
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| About a Mile To the Glacier |
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| Amazing Meares Glacier |
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| Got as Close as 1/4 Mile from the Glacier |
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| Us at Meares Glacier |
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| Sea Lion Colony on Our Prince William Sound Tour |
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| Puffin in the Water |
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| Heading Back to Valdez |
Monday. 10. 9am Stevens all day tour to Meares Glacier. This was a very nice tour and the weather cleared to blue skies. We had a beautiful day. The glacier was an amazing sight. Our boat got as close as ¼ mile away. We could hear the ice cracking and see chunks of ice falling off. We also saw a bunch of wildlife including: humpback whales, sea otters, sea lions, and puffins. We had calm waters and gorgeous scenery throughout the day. We met interesting people on our tour also.
Tuesday. 11. Day in our B&B and Valdez. Museum. Lunch out. Walk around.
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| Morning Fog Looking Out of Our BnB Bedroom in Valdez, Alaska |
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| Morning Marina Reflection in Valdez |
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| Breakfast at Sam's Spot on Our Last Morning in Valdez. Check Out that Disco Ball! lol. |
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| Heading to Palmer with Gorgeous Views and Weather |
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| More Picture Stops on Our Way to Palmer, Alaska |
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| Glacier Viewing From the Road to Palmer. Manatuka Glacier. |
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| Pull Off to View Manatuka Glacier an Hour from Palmer |
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| Our Airbnb View Near Palmer and Butte |
Wednesday. 12. Check-out day. Drive to Palmer. Breakfast in Valdez at Sam’s Spot for our third or 4th time! We were served by the regular house server, June, who we had a wonderful conversation with. She and I would have loved spending more time together. I learned about how she came to Valdez a year ago in January from near Seattle, Washington. She came with a full-paid college scholarship for Marine Tech. She finished that and kept getting certificates at the college from what I remember her saying. She liked to go to school. She has a current plan to go back to Washington and likely work at a women’s shelter while getting her social work degree. She gave me a hug and let us know that she loved our nomad life and learning about it. After I left, I realized that I would have enjoyed having a picture with her. We were quick-made friends and had some life moments to share in our short time together. The drive out of Valdez was cloud covered. Once we got up through the first mountain pass, the weather cleared to blue skies. The drive on to Palmer was another gorgeous scenic drive. We stopped for lunch in Glennallen. From the highway we saw Matatuska Glacier from a couple of pullout overlooks. We arrived at our Palmer Airbnb about 15 minutes from downtown. We have a smallish 1 bedroom, high-ceiling duplex with an incredible mountain view. We did grocery shopping at Fred Meyer (otherwise known as Kroger) in Palmer before arriving. The prices were more normal from the higher ones in Valdez and the one Safeway grocery there. We unpacked our things, cooked dinner and went back to town for an evening Bible class. We have returned to Palmer since being here in June, and we know all of the people we were meeting with. The most changed person in the group is baby Indy who was maybe 6 weeks old when we were here in June. He’s grown and is adorable as his age dictates! Lol. His maternal grandmother, Cindy, was visiting for the past week from Washington state. We stayed around after the Isaiah Bible study and chatted more.
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| River Next to Palmer, Alaska |
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| Making Rhubarb Compote with Fresh Rhubarb, Wild Blueberries and Boysenberry Jam. |
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| Phone Call with Owen and Esther |
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| On the Phone with Esther |
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| Original Pioneer Rental House in Palmer Where Church Friends Michelle and Rhett Live |
Thursday. 13. Our first morning of exercise after not exercising at our BnB in Valdez for 6 mornings. That’s one of the longest breaks in our morning exercise routine that we’ve taken. We were ready to resume today, and it felt great to stretch before breakfast! After lunch, we drove to take a walk next to the Matatuska river and a wooded path. We also drove several miles to Wasilla Walmart and then back for Darrell to get a much needed haircut. I made a call to my friend Laura in Tennessee.
Friday. 14. Our second wake up here feels more restful as we are used to the place and our bed now. We left our screened window open for fresh air and we both slept and woke up feeling good. The low is about 53 F and the high is upper 60s into the 70s with sunshine and clear skies. I spent the afternoon with two visits with friends from the church. I visited Michelle and her new baby Indy. That family lives in one of the original Palmer pioneer houses. It has gorgeous views all around it and the house and barn are picture perfect too. Michelle and Rhett are renting and have lived here for a year. They may live up here for another year before moving closer to Michelle’s parents in Washington state. Then I visited with Susie at a coffee shop. We enjoyed talking about life for an hour or more. She’s currently a stay at home mom with 3 kids, 4th, 8th and 10th grades. She home schools the two younger ones for now. She’s busy and their family is busy. She grew up near here and it was enjoyable to hear about her life and how she and her husband met.
Nomad Notes.
We’ve been nomads since before retirement in Sept 2020 when we downsized our house and household goods. For our travels in 2027, we haven’t got our plan yet. We have signed up for a 50 day world cruise segment beginning Jan 18, 2028 out of L.A. Knowing this, we need some weeks before this cruise to prepare for being on the ship for our longest number of days ever. Our longest cruise to date has been a 35 day cruise: Ft. Lauderdale to Antarctica and ending in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We were very ready to get off of the ship, and thoroughly enjoyed our cruise too. So, back to our 2027 nomad travel ideas. We will be in Alabama for Dec 2026 and some of January 2027. Darrell decided to look at trustedhousesitters.com for 1 month or longer house sits. He came up with several this week, and we decided to apply to a couple of them. For our application process, there is a process for the home owners to choose from all who apply and then decide. For now we will wait to see if any of possible sits we applied to will choose to interview us as possible sitters.
My current health: Since being in Alaska, I’ve gained about 5 pounds. I think it’s a combination of stress, eating out more, and less tracking. My toes that were affected since May with red swelling, and likely either chilblains or stage 2 frostbite, are much improved. In Fairbanks, I saw a podiatrist who prescribed a steroid cream. I used it twice a day for almost two weeks. It has improved and I’m now using it 1 time about every other day. My toes are looking and feeling more normal.
Emotionally: I’m getting happier as I know our September 2nd day to leave is getting closer. I haven’t missed the hot, humid summer in Alabama, but I have missed our cutie grandkids there, Owen and Esther. I’ve continued my nomad diary. I’ve made regular phone calls with my two sisters who live in Indiana, and I’ve learned all about the summer in Alaska!
Question Michelle asked me: Do you regret any of your nomad life? My answer is no. I don't have regrets. I’ve made my choices to move around with Darrell in this way. I’ve had to adjust emotionally to many of my choices, and to our choices. It’s challenging at times, but I don’t feel regret. I feel grateful for our opportunities for travel and ‘playing our game’ for now. We know that this way of living has limits with our health, our desire to keep moving about, and other opportunities or needs within our lives.
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