Nothin's flat here 'cept the tire

May 29 had us stay at a campground owned by a couple from Russia. There are quite a number of Russian folks in that area. While the camp itself was ok, the experience of eating real Russian food was fantastic !!!! We also saw 4 extinct volcanoes one of which was over 16,000 ft. The 30th had us attempt to walk on a glacier ( Worthington), however, deep wet snow prevented us from getting to the face. On the way to Valdez, we passed through Thompson Pass at 2,678 ft, then begin a desent of 7 miles through spectacular snow covered mountains....this is what Alaska is supposed to look like. There were 3 pretty waterfalls, 2 at Bridal and one at Horsetail.. The camp called Eagles Nest in Valdez, could not have been better, surrounded on 3 sides by mountains and the harbour on the 4th side. The small craft basin had 100's of boats in it ranging from pleasure boats to charter and fishing boats. The daylight now is 18 hours....11:30 pm setting and 4:30 am rising. On Monday the 1st, we toured a couple of the local museums. In 1964 there was a 9.7 earthquake which caused the harbour in the original town to sink into the sea. There was a ship, the Chena, which brouht supplies etc to the town. It was tied at the dock and people always came to greet it. When the quake hit a, 4,000' X 600 ' part of the harbour disappeared taking with it the complete dock system and the 32 people on it. The tidal wave that followed, had the Chena hit the ocean flooras the sea retreated, rebound on the incoming wave, rode into town on it and returned to the sea. All this while, a sailor filmed the event on an 8mm movie camera. Followinfg this disaster, a number of the homes that survived the quake and tidal wave ( 40 ft high), were moved 4 miles to the current town site. Those that were too badly damaged were burned. It is now a major shipping port, mainly for oil from the Alaska pipeline. Today ( Tuesday June 1st) had us start the trip towards Archorage. WE are staying at mile 108 of the Glenn Hwy. All highways here have names and distances are always refered to by the mile number. EWe experienced a flat tire of the trailer, caused by a piece of steel by the looks of it. The tire could not be repaired, so another was bought. It happened at the "right" spot, as there was a turnoff that allowed us to get off the road. It was a short drive to Glenallen ( after unhooking the trailer) to get the tire replaced....the spare was also flat ( must remember to check that more often).