Whittier where just about everyone lives under one roof

I've heard of Whittier, Alaska,

but now I get it....

Whittier didn't exist until World War II,

our government decided to make a secret port,

so the Japanesse wouldn't know about it,

really, I didn't make this up, it gets better,

first they blasted a 2 and a half mile tunnel through a mountain,

to get to the port of Whittier,

but it still gets better..... For a long time this was the longest tunnel in the world,

now it is the longest train and car tunnel that is fully automated,

today it costs $12 to drive through it,

it is the only way to get to Whittier

You line up like for a ferry,

in the green lite line,

and wait until the readerboard says you can go,

it is only one lane,

cars from the other direction could be coming through,

or, a train could be coming through

You get an instruction leaflet

and a little talk about the do's and don'ts while in the tunnel,

don't stop, drive with a flat if you get one, don't go over 25 mph,

and in case of a problem there are stations that are fire proof,

7 of them, at regular intervals

The computer regulates you so that there aren't too many vehicles in the tunnel at a time

There are two turbines on either side of the A frame, for ventilation, and fire trucks in the bottom right and left side

And away you go, there is very little light, so the pictures are blurry because it took so long to take them with no light,

but here is two and a half miles at 25 mph

Notice the train tracks that you drive over

The walls were rock, of course and water was seeping through them, you are required to have a helmet on, if you are riding a motorcycle, and your top up, if you are in a convertable

You finally see light at the end of the tunnel

We come out in Whittier, and here is the lineup for the "E" ride back

One of the reasons for Whittier being built was

a fueling depot or the Armed Services,

and here it still is

Glaciers, remember we are only on the other side of the moutain from Portage Glacier, Whittier gets 24 feet of snow every winter
There are 186 people who live here full time,

more people come to see it in the summer than live here,

when the government built it

they built it for about two thousand,

and they built a place where they would all stay

This is one of two buildings that the govenment built during World War II, this one still houses most everyone who lives in Whittier
This is the other building, it was built as a city by itself, it had it's own stores in it, restaurants, bars, recreation, you never had to go out of the building, there wasn't enough people to fill both buildings after the armed services stopped using it so they voted to only use one and let the other fall into disrepair
In it's prime, all the armed service people who entered Alaska,

came in through Whittier

30 years ago, when Cindy came to Whittier this building was still functioning, there was nothing else in the town, nothing on the waterfront, just these two buildings

This is the grocery store today, and the museum,

we didn't go in it, wish we had now

The waterfront is bustling now, cruise ships stop here, and all kinds of tours leave from here, fishing, whale watching, etc.

This is the building they all decided to live in, I asked someone why they didn't just build their own homes and he told me that there is no land, the government owns it all

There was one gas station and the prices weren't too bad
There are some hotels and motels going in, so someone must have some land

This is one of the Cruise West boats, that cruises some of the places the big ships can't get to

The port is used to load up containiers on a barge, looks like they ship seafood out

This seemed to be the public transportaion, there really wasn't many places to go to, if you went out of town, it would be the train

They partitioned some containers for storage units, think I'll do that, seems like a good idea

Lots of little cafe's and tour hutches, and gift stores for the cruise passengers, of course

Beautiful harbor

This is where we ate dinner, the best crab cakes I ever had,

and fresh halibut to die for

The nature cruise ship, it goes out everyday

This waterfall comes down from the glaciers,

they really do have glacier fed water

These two boys were reading the bumper stickers and laughing over them

For having everyone living in the same building it's a pretty busy town, at least in the summer, with 24 feet of snow, maybe not in the winter

The train station in Whittier, and the train is getting ready to go back under the tunnel

Coming back we have to wait for the train to use the tunnel, wonder how much they have to pay to use it

The train goes into the tunnel

The last of the train sneaks in to the tunnel and we await our turn

We catch up to the train coming from Whittier, on our way home to Anchorage

One more tunnel to go through, but not as long a tunnel

During the 1964 earth quake the ground dropped and seawater rushed in, killing these trees

On our way back to Anchorage the fog had lifted a little and let us get a better look at the mountains

With 41% of all the people in Alaska living in Anchorage, they all have beautiful views while there, Anchorage sits at the base of the

Chugach Mountain Range

Come to Alaska, fish in solitude

The salmon don't have a chance with all these baited hooks