After the temple we went to Valdez, which is about six hours away, so that we could fish. It was a long drive, but we made it and we really enjoyed being there. We stayed at a little bed and breakfast there it was nice. We fished in the Prince William Sound for the pink salmon that come back there every year to spawn. There were sea lions in the water eating a lot of the salmon, it was so cool to see them so close up. We caught a lot of fish and Cloe really enjoyed being outside. We fished for two days there and on the second day, we had an unexpected visitor. Bears are very common this time of year in Valdez because they head down to the ocean for all of the salmon that are coming up. A black bear walked down to the beach to do just that. We were on the beach fishing when a man walked down the hill to let us know, we were VERY grateful because the bear was coming our way. We made it back up the hill just before the bear got to us. Ben got his shotgun out and loaded so that we could help get everyone else up the hill safely. Everyone made it up ok. I put Cloe in her carseat so that she would be safe. We had lost site of the bear when I spotted him not five feet from our car where Cloe was. I was really scared, but there bear went back down to the beach to keep eating. Needless to say, we had to stop fishing earlier than we wanted to but it was awesome to see a bear that close.
We left to go back to Fairbanks and stopped to fish in a glacial river for red salmon. We didn't catch anything, but it was really a beautiful area.
We didn't get home until about 3:00 am and we were dead tired, but it was great to get out and see some of this wonderful place that we live in.
Cloe trying some of Grandpa's Jello
Kiana and Olivia REALLY enjoying fireworks.
