Valdez: The Town and around
The Valdez Museum , 217 Egan Drive (summer daily 8am-6pm; $3), carries just the right amount of detail on the Gold Rush, glaciation, the oil pipeline that supports the town's economy, and a display on the oil spill; and an annex , 426 Hazelet St (summer daily 9am-4pm; $1.50), covers the 1964 earthquake at length. Oil industry aficionados will want to take the two-hour Alyeska Marine Terminal bus tour (summer 2-4 daily; $16; tel 907/835-2686), which leaves a small visitor center at 212 Tatitlek Street and takes you around the fjord into the $1.4 billion Alyeska pipeline terminal where crude from the arctic is pumped into waiting tankers.You'll need transport to get to the Alaskan Cultural Center , at the airport (daily 9am-6pm; $4), with its astounding collection of carved ivory and an assortment of dead beasts, including a couple of moose hides with Alaskan scenes burned into them by an early pioneer. If you fancy something more active, mountain bikes can be rented at Beaver Sports, 316 Galena St (tel 907/835-4727), and Keystone Raft and Kayak Adventures, at Mile 17 on the Richardson Highway (tel 907/835-2606 or 1-800/328-8460), can take you rafting ($50) along the Lowe River as it surges through Keystone Canyon. Out in the Sound, Anadyr Adventures (tel 907/835-2814) offers sea kayaking among the ice floes and whales from around $90.
While here, you should take a cruise out into Prince William Sound, principally to see the spectacular Columbia Glacier , nearly four miles wide at its face and towering three hundred feet above the sea. Unfortunately it is receding rapidly and the fjord is now so choked with ice that you can't get close to the face. You can see it at long range from the Alaska Marine Highway ferries running between Valdez and Whittier, but for a closer look at this calving giant go with Prince William Sound Cruises and Tours (tel 907/835-4731 or 1-800/992-1297, ), who pick their way through a floating icefield and point out such sights as Bligh Reef, where the Exxon Valdez ran aground. Choose between a nine-hour cruise that includes a salmon bake, for $119, and a six-hour cruise at $74.
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