Incidentally, there is no SouthWEST Alaska. Owing to alaska's unusual shape, the part called southeast is a kind of needle-shaped piece that sticks out dramatically from the main part. To the west of that is nothing but ocean and some islands. You could probably say that the long Aleutian chain of islands is southwestern Alaska, but it's not known as that.
Anyway enough eighth grade geography. Yesterday, as mentioned, we were fogged in all day, and it drizzled rain continually. And, we were out in the more open water of the Gulf of Alaska, so the boat rocked all day long. So kind of a slow day. Lots of reading, dozing, and game playing. There was one couple that seemed to be playing Yahtze all day and night, with charts of scores and data from, I imagine, their previous games. They seemed serious enough about it to,earn the nickname The Yahtze Nazis.
We're here in Whittier for about twelve hours, waiting for the 6 pm train up to Anchorage. At least two people had mentioned to us that Whittier is the "armpit of North America" or maybe the world. I really don't get that. It is tiny, and a good chunk of it is railroad track. But it has a pleasant little harbor, a nice lodge/hotel, a cafe, a fishing charter, and a couple of kayak outfitters. And oh yes, the air may be damp but it's clean. What else do you need?
More importantly, Whittier sits in the middle of a rather breathtaking setting. It's surrounded on two-plus sides by rugged mountains cloaked in rich green forest with snow around their tops, and several narrow waterfalls streaming down to the sea. What's not surrounded by forested mountains looks out onto Prince William Sound.
So I could easily name you a hundred towns that would put Whittier to shame in the category of armpittery. All we are saying is give Whittier a chance.
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