Trip #1: Valdez Fly-In (May 7-9)

Destination: Valdez, Alaska
Miles roundtrip: 726 miles
Driving time roundtrip: 15 hours 30 minutes
Similar trip distance/time in lower 48: Minneapolis, MN to Chicago, IL
Weekend: May 7th to 9th

So the beginning of this crazy summer of adventures all started out with a last minute decision to check out the bush plane competition I had heard about, officially known as the Valdez May Day Fly-In.  I debated for the last few days of the week and then decided what the heck, why not.  So Friday at 4:30 PM I hit the road going east to Delta Junction, and then south to Valdez.

The drive was simply Spectacular!!!  Mountains everywhere... rain showers with beautiful double rainbows... moose, caribou, eagles, bunnies, and lots of ducks...

Double Rainbow

Friday night I crashed in the backseat of my car at a pullout along the highway just outside of Valdez.  It was just a wee bit chilly that night, temperatures got down to 31 degrees so I was happy to start the car and let her warm up in the morning before driving into town.  On the way in I pulled over next to Horsetail waterfalls just outside of town... so pretty!!

Horsetail Waterfalls

[Video of the roadtrip]

Upon arriving in Valdez I was once again in awe of the beauty of yet another Alaska coastal city snug in between the towering snowcapped mountains and the sea.  I pulled into the small airport and parked next to the terminal before walking out onto the runway to set down my chair and get a front seat spot for the STOL competition.

The staging area was packed with rows upon rows of bush planes all tied down, some with tents tied down right next to the planes.  Cessna's, Maul's, and Beaver's.... I had walked directly into Bush Plane Heaven!!  And the view for the competition was a runway right next to and surrounded by mountains!

View from my seat as the morning Era flight was leaving Valdez for Anchorage

Soon after I settled in I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to find none other than my favorite crazy bush pilot friend from Fairbanks that I refer to as "Crazy Steve"  haha.  This guy is exactly what you would imagine as the classic bush pilot... about early 40's... slightly crazy but always there for a good laugh or smart ass comment... divorced a couple times and still looking for a lady to settle with...

If any of you have ever been up to Fairbanks on a tour or vacation trip... you've probably been on the Riverboat Discovery cruise down the Chena River to the Tanana and watched the bush pilot demo... the pilot that you watched was none other than... yup you guessed it... "Crazy Steve".

Sidestory about "Crazy Steve"...
So I met "Crazy Steve" during one of my first few weeks in Alaska.  I had gone out that night to "The Pumphouse", a nice local restaurant and bar, with some of the other graduate students for Wednesday night karaoke.  Being very shy at the time and not knowing anyone in Alaska I was pretty quiet at first, but he happened to be at our table... every one squished together in the bar area on Wednesday nights because karaoke is very popular.  Anyways we started chatting along with the others too and he jokingly offered to take me up in his bush plane if I happened to visit on karaoke nights... and eventually I made it back to a karaoke night or 2 and he recognized me.  He hung out there so often the Pumphouse asked him to watch the door and check ID's... I feel like a local now when I walk in and he doesn't ask for my ID.... haha.  For the record he did uphold his end of the deal and we went up flying last summer, taking off from the Chena River in front of the restaurant in his SuperCub. :)

In this competition the best and most daring/talented/crazy bush pilots in all of Alaska show up to take part in contests such as the flour bombing for accuracy, shortest takeoff and landing (STOL), and a poker run (all participants fly to a bunch of bush airports or landing locations ie. sandbars and beaches to draw a card at each location... at the end of the competition the pilot with the best poker hand wins).  Everyone shows up to watch the short takeoffs and landings though... these are simply incredible!!

Back to the competition... the best and most daring/talented/crazy bush pilots in all of Alaska show up to take part in contests such as the flour bombing for accuracy, shortest takeoff and landing (STOL), and a poker run (all participants fly to a bunch of bush airports or landing locations ie. sandbars and beaches to draw a card at each location... at the end of the competition the pilot with the best poker hand wins).  Everyone shows up to watch the short takeoffs and landings though... these are simply incredible!!Here's a sampling of highlights from the Short Takeoff and Landing Competition... it was absolutely insane to see how insane these guys were!  Shortest takeoff was around 60 feet!!  These pilots are the guys you see in all of those insane YouTube video email forwards you get from friends and seeing it in person was so neat!!

[Video from the Valdez Fly-In Competition]

In addition to watching the competition I also was able to go up flying over the city and nearby Shoup Glacier!!  Here are some of my favorite photos while up in the air...

Valdez from the air... between the mountains and sea

Beautiful calm day... 

Shoup Glacier calving

I felt so lucky to have this opportunity!!  I absolutely love flying!

So after the competition was over for the day I drove into town to find a spot to set up my tent for the night.  Unfortunately the only real camping places in town that were opened seemed to be RV parks, but that was alright.  I found the Bear Paw RV park and picked out a spot for the night... cooked up some dinner and started a campfire.  Not long after someone stopped over to visit and invited me over to their campsite to visit.  Turned out to be a very entertaining evening... haha.  

I'm simply amazed by the people I meet in this state!!  One of the reasons I actually really enjoy roadtrips and camping alone is that I get to meet and talk with lots of random people... on this particular night I sat around a campfire with the following group of new friends from Anchorage:

a) An engineering student, early 30's, divorced, not working the entire summer and living off of savings to spend a summer making memories while camping with his son he doesn't see often

b) the engineering students's 8 year old son up for the summer visiting his dad

c) the crazy black lab of the engineering student

d) one of the group's friends... this guy seemed normal and nice until he shocked me by saying he was out on bail and would probably be going Back to jail for a few years... he didn't do it of course... lol

e) the relatively normal guy in the bunch... i think he was a construction worker

f) normal guy's girlfriend... such a nice friendly gal

g) normal guy's girlfriend's little chiuaua... with a broken leg in a cast .. the result of falling down a set of stairs

Being raised in a small town in central Minnesota I was never exposed to such a broad variety of people!  And the oddest thing is just hearing people's life stories around a campfire over a couple beers.  Some of you may sound shocked but I was never uncomfortable or scared.. as a matter of fact, hearing their stories of hardship and success actually made me even more greatful for my own life, family, and experiences.  

Sunday morning I jumped back in the car for the drive back to Fairbanks... the drive back was nearly 8 hours with only gas stops, but the views are breathtaking... and I actually enjoy just listening to music and driving on long roadtrips by myself... I call it my "thinking time"...

Moose on the side of the road on the return trip

And so concludes the first of many summer adventures... I'd be amazed if anyone actually read this whole post... haha... thanks for reading :)