Life is Grand: Black Rapids, AK

We had a very long ride to Black Rapids and spent most of the day in the car. The landscape in the interior is very different from the South. The mountains are not jagged, rocky and snow covered. They looked a bit more like the Smokey Mountains. We followed the Alaskan Pipeline the entire way. It was considerably warmer and rains a lot less. We also gained some additional daylight time. In the area we were in, the sun rose at about 5 am and set around 11pm. The night never got pitch black dark though, it always looked like twilight.

AJ was very nervous because we were staying at a recently renovated road house. The owners lived there and there were 10 rooms available. They also cooked all meals for you. This was the only option for food. There was nothing around us for more than 40 miles. AJ didn’t like that we were basically staying at someone’s house. A roadhouse is where you can find hot food and accommodations while travelling. In the early 1900’s all of the road houses were positioned about a day’s travel apart. When you reached the next roadhouse, you knew it was time to stop. We were pleasantly surprised by the accommodations. I think this is the nicest place we stayed for the whole trip. The food was good, they had Alaskan Amber on tap and they even had a dog. Nothing like some good hospitality for some weary travelers! This was by far our nicest accommodations of the entire trip. AJ was a little miffed that there was no tv or internet.

Below are some photos of our trip to Black Rapids Lodge:

Coming up to some waterfalls after leaving Valdez, AK.

Bridal Veil Falls

Worthington Glacier

Worthington Glacier and glacial runoff.

Richardson Highway and Pipeline.

Glaciers

Volcano

Richardson Highway and Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

Trans-Alaska Pipeline

Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The pipeline is designed with withstand a 9.0 magnitude quake,
which is what Alaska experience in the 1960's that brought the tsunami to the coastal communities.