I am speaking of the chair, not me! In our travel trailer are two lazy boy chairs, normally faced inward, but when the views get great we turn them around facing the large living room window and beyond. Such is the case for us in Hope, Alaska. Yesterday we picked up stakes at Wasilla where we spent the last week relaxing, touristing (Is that a word?), and enjoying a RV Bar-B-Que potluck. The mountains surround Wasilla reminded us a bit of some we have experienced in Colorado. With anticipation and excitement we broke camp, drove through Anchorage and headed to the Kenai Peninsula! At the end of the freeway just out of town we turn slightly and moved out of the trees to find ourselves surrounding by increasing grandeur of the Prince William Sound and an area known as Turnagain Arm. Just traveling on the highway we saw a dozen or more glaciers, some so big and steep that the snow/ice folded on itself almost like waves frozen in time. My dad, Floyd, keep exclaiming, "holy smokes!" Around the next turn or twist of the road a new set of mountains or valleys came into view and more exclamations of the same were pronounced. I was so taken by it all that I exclaimed, "I think I might be having a spiritual experience!" Of course, family so familiar, took it upon themselves to say it was about time and they welcomed it, all said in jest, I hope.
Since we have a few weeks we can spend on the Peninsula we decided to take the first paved road off the main beaten path to Seward or to Homer, favorites among fishermen. We traveled the 16 miles and found Hope. If you are seeking hope, we found it! It is a small community on the edge of other side of the Prince William Sound. We found a little RV park at the end of the main street on the edge of solid ground with an unfettered view of the mountains that come down to water's edge. The Sound is perhaps five miles across at this point and we can see the traffic of the highway, the same highway we traveled to get the Peninsula.
Louise and Floyd had already called it a night, but I was duty bound to head out and walk across the grass covered mud flats to see the sights I only experience in a limited manner the day before. The driver must keep most of his attention to the road, or at least a safe driver should. The tidal action is the central feature of the Sound, water rushing like a river. We have never seen such a sight. The sound was that of the seashore and the water of the sound is a muddy brown from the silt and glacier effluence. Nevertheless, it was a sight to see. The sun was still up, well beyond 10:30, breeze blowing, water rushing, sea gulls careening through the air. Resurrection Creek, a small body of water flowing next to Hope rushed into the sound. I spent the time basking in the experience spending no little time taking pictures, some in panorama. Breathtaking. We are spending the day here to visit the museum, the library, to tourist shop ending the day in the one local gathering spot, the bar, not so much for the beer, but for music and songs from the locals, a weekly event every Thursday evening through the summer.
One last thing about this town. The 1964 earthquake, the largest yet recorded in North America, lowered the Prince William Sound by six feet which was not a good thing for the town of Hope. Spring runoff meant that half the town was flooded. Where we sit at the edge of Main Street was the new edge of the Sound. Old historic buildings were moved upland. Seven decades later, the water's edge is several hundred yards away from us now, the result of a general uplifting of the whole land, perhaps waiting for the next Big One. In the 64 Quake, this town shook for four minutes.
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