13 July. On to Valdez Alaska.

Famous for the Valdez oil spill Prince William Sound lived up to its reputation for beauty.  We took a short drive from Seward to Whittier though the Whittier Tunnel, a one lane affair that is open one direction for 30 minutes, then the other.  Railroad tracks are embedded in the asphalt.  It was a little squirrelly driving on them in the tunnel.  Then we hoped on one of the ferries that's part of the Alaska Marine Highway ... the Aurora.  The trip was 90 miles in 6+ hours, but saved 380 miles of driving.  It was expensive.  We are not sure we'd recommend it. 

Lining up for the ferry ride. We arrived at around 9:45 for a 12:45 departure.  There was a lot of standing around.  Hurry up and wait.

We were near the last to drive on.  ...lots of vehicles, RVs and motorcycles ahead of us. Dory and Bean had to stay below decks. I was able to check on Bean half way through. He was fine. 

As we pondered the Exxon Valdez disaster we imagined how much one tanker, even a huge one, could damage this sound.  I had imagined for years, some kind of bay swimming in oil, when the reality is a "sound," 100 miles lone and about 15 miles wide.  There is, in plain terms, a LOT of water.

Glacier after glacier.  The views were mind-boggling.

By now we are tired of seeing glaciers.  To paraphrase Ronald Regan, "...seen one glacier, you've seen them all."

Artsy photo required. John, Pam, Richard, Mary and scenery all captured in this one.

We got lucky again with the weather. In an area of North American that sees rain and low clouds more often than not, we had blue sky.

There were a lot of salmon fishing boats in the sound. This one was pretty representative.