#ProjectAlaska: Valdez Part 2

I arrived in Valdez to find the skies gray and rainy. However, I discovered quickly just how bright things can be in Valdez. I spent some time driving around and getting more familiar with my surroundings. I visited the docks first, as you saw in yesterday's pictures. One of the grandest sights to behold in mountainous terrain is a glacier. To realize that most glaciers worldwide are shrinking and melting due to climate change means that NOW is the time to go see them before they disappear. The glaciers in Glacier National Park will be gone in a few years, so you'd better hurry. Check out this video:
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/151021-glacier-national-park-melting-vin
This article makes it clear that the glaciers there will be gone much sooner than expected:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090302-glaciers-melting.html

For me, my rendezvous with Glacier National Park will come later in my story. For now, I shall focus instead on a different glacier: the Columbia Glacier. While I stayed in Valdez with another friend, I went on a cruise to see the glacier up close (for additional info, go here:
http://www.stephenscruises.com/columbia-glacier-cruise/). I was very grateful for this opportunity as well as the cruises around town to museums and being shown the old town (destroyed in the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake).

Boarding the boat for my first trip on the Pacific Ocean!

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Valdez before I began the long trip to Anchorage.