Favorite Places in Alaska???
Different strokes for different folks but thought it would be interesting to see what your 3 or 4 favorite places (or least favorite) in Alaska are. Some go for the scenery, some for fishing, whatev...
Forum Discussion
I mentioned earlier that Valdez is one of my favorite places in Alaska, but New Valdez is now a scenic, mature, 50 year-old town in a completely different location than Old Valdez. My first trip there was only 8 years after the 1964 Earthquake. A few parts of Old Valdez still existed while the Valdez we see today was still under construction. And back then most of the old city blocks were covered with stacks of 48" steel pipe for the planned, but not-yet-built, Alyeska pipeline.
When I recently returned to Valdez, I drove all the old city streets that are still open to the public and read the information signs about the earthquake. But most RVers who visit there probably don't even think about the old town or its demise. In fact, many probably weren't born when it occurred, so 1964 isn't even a memory for them. But it is sobering to drive those old streets and realize that the wreck of the Exxon Valdez wasn't even of the same "magnitude" as the damage and death caused by the earthquake.
It's now hard to find evidence of the earthquake in other heavily damaged places like Seward, Whittier, and the Turnagain Heights area of Anchorage, but Old Valdez is still there for those who look for it. And you won't find many other towns in the US that were so successfully moved to a completely new location after a natural disaster!
When I recently returned to Valdez, I drove all the old city streets that are still open to the public and read the information signs about the earthquake. But most RVers who visit there probably don't even think about the old town or its demise. In fact, many probably weren't born when it occurred, so 1964 isn't even a memory for them. But it is sobering to drive those old streets and realize that the wreck of the Exxon Valdez wasn't even of the same "magnitude" as the damage and death caused by the earthquake.
It's now hard to find evidence of the earthquake in other heavily damaged places like Seward, Whittier, and the Turnagain Heights area of Anchorage, but Old Valdez is still there for those who look for it. And you won't find many other towns in the US that were so successfully moved to a completely new location after a natural disaster!
