Palmer, AK and Hatcher Pass

On the way out of Valdez, we saw a mother bear and 3 cubs! What a thrill. It takes a very healthy female bear to have three cubs. Having seen all the salmon swimming upstream in the Valdez area, it shouldn’t be a major surprise to see her with three cubs.

Palmer was established about 1916 as a railway station. Before that it had been a trading post used by the Athabascan Indians starting in 1890. In 1935, as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal, Palmer was planned and established as an agricultural community in the Mat-su Valley for Alaska. 203 American farm families, struck by the dust bowl and the Great Depression, were hand picked to start farms on 40 acre plots in the area. They were offered one of 5 floor plans. They houses and funding for furnishings and other goods to start a new life were put into a 30 year mortgage for them to pay off. With the long summer days, they grow amazing and huge vegetables, and the flowers that grow nearly everywhere are amazing.

In Palmer, we saw a new concept that we liked. At the Tesoro Alaska Gas Station, they were offering “Gas for Grades”. I think that would be a great idea in the “ lower 48” ( as the Alaskans refer to the rest of us) .

We drove to Hatcher Pass out of Palmer and saw some amazing views of mountains and the Independence Mine. There were some steep grades, but the views were stunning. The locals were in the mountains picking blueberries. We also saw some beaver dams along the way in the water.