Reuniting with the main highway, we headed south, merging with the great Alaskan oil pipeline, to the town of Valdez. As we crossed the pass over the Chugash Mountains, we stopped to see the Worthington Glacier and several waterfalls pour out of the jagged mountain peaks. In the winter, these mountains catch the wet, sticky snow coming off the Gulf of Alaska and enable extreme skiing on 50 degree slopes. It was raining again as we checked into our hotel next to the small boat harbor and we washed up for a nice fish dinner. The next day we took a boat tour of the Prince William Sound and the Columbia Glacier. We passed more bald eagles and saw cute sea otters lying on their backs nibbling on crustaceans. Years ago boats were able to cruise by the glacier wall, but warmer temperatures led to more calving ice and the bay is filled with bergs, some two stories tall. Our boat motored through the outer reaches of the bay, scraping by some of the smaller blocks of ice (what happened to the Titanic again?). We returned to port passing the infamous reef where the Exxon Valdez ground ashore, spilling millions of gallons of oil which is still oozing up on shorelines today, twenty years later. Our next stop was Anchorage for Aili's conference at UAA. We were welcomed with a cocktail reception the first night, then headed out for some drinking with colleagues at the Blue Fox - a classic Alaskan bar with a stuffed cougar mounted over the "Extreme Hunting" video game. On Thursday, I explored downtown during the conference then joined the group for a tour of Crow Creek - an old gold panning operation on a rapidly flowing creek 20 minutes out of town . The next day, I climbed to the top of Flat Rock mountain... the guide book says, "in Hollywood you drive the Sunset Strip, in Paris you walk the Champs Elysees, in Anchorage you climb Flat Top Mountain." The first third is a steep stroll through the blueberry bushes, the next third is a series of steps built up through the tundra, and the final part is a serious boulder scramble up the scree and rock strewn ridge to the top. Sure enough, as tough as the trail is, locals bring their parents, pets and even three and four year old kids up the trail - I guess it proves you have to be tough to live in Alaska. On the last night of the conference, the group went out for Karaoke (again at the Blue Fox) and stayed out late. Tomorrow we head north, to Denali National Park.