Wasilla to Williwaw USFS CG (near Whittier), 91 miles, July 21, 2010

We left Wasilla and headed down the Glenn Highway towards Anchorage.  Boy we haven’t seen this much traffic for a long time.  We  then continued on the Seward Hwy out of Anchorage a few miles.  Amazing views.  Straight ahead is a glacier.

Notice our new mode of entering and exiting the RV.  Since our steps are not fully functioning the stool works great, it does have a rope to pull it in when we are in the coach.  When parked though, Bob secures it open with a wire so no extra step is required.  We  had fun making a short video of how the auxiliary step works.  We stopped at a RV repair shop, we were told it would be better to wait until we were on the “Outside” to get either parts or new steps.  Loved the term “Outside” to refer to areas outside Alaska.

Before long we exited to the Whittier/Portage Glacier Access Road, traveled about 4 miles to the Williwaw USFS Campground, with Bob’s Senior pass the rate was $9.00/night, asphalt pad but no hookups.  We settled into our campsite and then headed off to visit Whittier, just about seven miles away.  But this seven mile entailed driving though a 2.6 mile tunnel, the longest tunnel in North America. 

The toll for cars was $12, and up from there for trucks, motorhomes, and semi’s.  Here we are lined up, we ended up not knowingly arriving early.  The tunnel is one lane and  is shared with trains so they do  control the traffic, to Whittier on the half hour, from Whittier on the hour, trains get to go through whenever they arrive.  Our first trip through the tunnel had us leading the pack.  Yikes, speed limit 25 MPH, so here we go, enter the one lane railroad tunnel and as you can see, exit safely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whittier is very small, population about 175.  One cruise ship does visit a couple days per week, we lucked out today, no cruise ship.  Our purpose of coming to Whittier was to check out the cruising tours from the Prince William Sound Glacier Cruises.  We had a 2 for 1 coupon, but there was a problem, that cruise only went on Fri-Sat-Sun, and their Fri tour was full.  So after some discussion at their office, we ended up booking a longer tour than the coupon would have provided for tomorrow (Friday) for a pretty good discount. 

We explored some of the roads in Whittier and found this secret cove, beautiful!

Back through the tunnel and to the RV spot.  Enjoyed a great evening and dinner out by the fire.  Bob was proud of himself, he found a pallet behind out behind our site and had fun cutting it up for firewood.