Valdez Air Show

I know I've been rather absent the last few months.  The weather this winter was unfavorable to outdoor activities - it was pretty mild with minimal snow.  Because of that, we were only able to get out on the snow machine once and out skiing once as well.  The mild weather has continued into spring which has been amazing!  It has been sunny skies for the last 6 weeks or so :)

This past weekend we drove down to Valdez with our friends for a camping trip and took in the air show.  Valdez was a 5.5 hour drive from Anchorage and is most notably known for being the end point of the Alaska Pipeline [and the Exxon Valdez oil spill.]


The entire drive was quite beautiful and made the time pass quickly.  The main sights were the Matanuska Glacier, the Wrangell Mountains and Thompson Pass.  About half way into the drive, we spotted a black bear posing alongside the road.  That was my first bear sighting while up here!  Just outside of Valdez we even caught a glimpse of the gigantic avalanche and it's destruction that occurred back in January.

The view coming up over Thompson Pass

Once in Valdez, we took in the air show all day Saturday.  It was a picture perfect day with blue skies and mountains as the backdrop.  There were some old military planes, aerobatic planes and then the planes which participated in the competition. They competed to see who could take off and land in the shortest distance (STOL competition.)  The winner was able to take off in 41 feet and land at just 35 feet.  It was pretty impressive!  After the air show finished for the day, we set up our campsite, played some games, and relaxed around the fire.  It was a fantastic weekend!

As in the past, more pictures can be found on shutterfly :)