167. Tsunami warning

Friday, 7 June 2019

Whittier, Alaska, USA

Have hired a car from Hertz. I say ‘car’, it’s more of a beast. 5.7 litre Dodge Ram 1500 SUV. It’s huge. Even I have to climb up into the cabin it’s that tall. Got some oomph. Shall savour driving this.

But first a few odd jobs to do in Anchorage. The sort of mundane stuff that every traveller needs to stop and do once in a while. Post office. Haircut. Souvenirs. Lunch at an excellent little shack selling halibut tacos.

And then we’re off. Back the way I came a few weeks ago. But there’s a difference now. Last time I drove the Seward Highway northbound, I couldn’t see a flipping thing because of the heavy rain and low cloud. Now, however, realise what I missed. The sun is shining. The sky is blue. An awesome day.

Alaska keeps on giving with its snow capped mountains, rivers and inlets. The views are magnificent.

Instead of heading straight to Seward, the biker boys I met in Coldfoot persuaded me to overnight in Whittier. But to reach Whittier you have to drive through a single track tunnel, which is over 2 miles long. Built in the 1940s as a rail tunnel spur to the port of Whittier to aid the American war effort, it’s now a combined rail and vehicle tunnel. Southbound cars travel through it on the half hour. Northbound on the hour. Trains as and when.

There’s only one decent place to stay and that’s the Inn at Whittier (http://www.innatwhittier.com/). Yet another room with a view. Of snow capped mountains.

If I thought Seward had nothing to offer then Whittier has even less. Blimey. It’s a bit of a one horse town. If you could call it that.

Everywhere I look are signs for ‘Tsunami Hazard Zone’ and ‘Tsunami Evacuation Route’. There’s even a weekly test siren at 1700hrs on a Friday to test the tsunami alarm. Serious stuff.

Short walk between the marina and the rest of the town in the pedestrian tunnel under the railway line. Whittier used to be a US Army base and the old buildings have now been converted for use in the fishing industry. Does have an excellent small museum charting its history as a gold rush town, then as a US Army base in World War 2 followed by the Cold War. Russia not being too far away.

The ‘boardwalk’ is a small number of shacks selling tourist tat and food.

And that’s all Whittier has to offer.

Also a cruise port for Princess Cruise ships. One of which docks during the night and makes you realise how big these ships are when it dwarfs the hotel you’re staying in.