Drive back to Soldotna

We drove to Soldotna and back today. After being in that area for 2 weeks we didn't really want to return but things worked out so we needed to. We had ordered some things to be sent to us general delivery Soldotna, expecting that they would easily arrive by Tuesday. But it turns out the company was late in shipping so they weren't there. At that point we were ready to leave and didn't want to just wait on mail, so we moved on to Seward, reluctantly agreeing that we didn't want to go though a timely process of having them forwarded to get to us eventually. So when we were sure that would be there we went back to go to the post office. In the meantime another reason come up. We have been dealing with Tom Tom trying to get our GPS working right. After a number of phone and email exchanges and trying various fixes, they authorized a warranty replacement. In order to get the replacement we needed to UPS the old one back. Turns out there is no UPS office in Seward but there is in Soldotna, so we went to the UPS office while we were in Soldotna and shipped our malfunctioning GPS unit back.

Of course Soldotna hadn't changed much in the 2 days we had been gone. But we were surprised at the amount of smoke in the air during the second half of the trip there. It was much worse than near Seward. It turns out that there is a wild fire reported to be in the Funny River Road area west of Soldotna. We believe that is the source of most of the smoke that covered the sky at at time was irritating to us riding in the car.




This fire was on Funny River road where we were camped for over a week, guess we got out of there just in time.


We also checked a bit more about Salmon fishing while we were in the area but without success as the information is that they continue to be between runs.

Alaska Sealife Center and Aquarium

Today we went to the Alaska Sea life Center and Aquarium. It is a well designed and interesting center. It was an interesting way to spend a morning. The stars of the show are the sea lions, sea otters and seals.


This young sea lion really put on a show for everyone, she would do anything for a fish.






Barb really enjoyed all of the birds. The puffins are really cool looking birds.

There are two kinds of puffins, this is the horned one and he is dark in color but so pretty.




These puffins are really colorful in the bill area and neat to watch them dive in the water sometimes about 200 feet to catch fish.



I cant remember the total name of this bird except part of it was dinosaur something. This one was raised by humans and will approach people, he will also try to follow you out of the bird section when someone opens the door.

Seward, Alaska

Today we left Mel and Barb Gibb's place on the Kenai river and drove to Seward. It is only about 100 miles but it is not a fast trip. We stopped at Fred Meyer's in Soldotna to empty our holding tanks and fill our fresh water tank, which took a while as there was a line. It was a pleasant drive over half of which was backtracking to the Seward Highway. We headed into the town of Seward where we had decided to park in one of several city parks. We choose Resurrection Park on Resurrection Bay as it is the largest park and appeared to be best suited for a larger RV like ours. It was a good choice. We were able to get a bayside non-hookup site. We are parked facing the bay and are able to view aquatic wildlife and boats through our windshield as we sit here. We are however noticing a haze in the air which is apparently a result of the wild fires in the Denali National Park area close to 300 miles north of here.

This is our view in the front of the bus, it is really wonderful. we watch all of the boats coming and going on the bay.

This sea otter was diving under and getting clams, coming up and laying on his back tossing the clams into his mouth. Really cute!

We took a walk along the small boat dock, looked at the boat dock and daydreamed about owning one of them.

Moose on the loose for Olga

This afternoon we took a drive along the Kalifornsky Beach Road loop. It was a very pretty drive, Roxy loved going with us. On our return part of the loop this young bull moose was on the side of the road and Dennis was able to get several pictures of him.

We continued our drive to the Cook beach., While walking Roxy on the beach, we spoted a large bird sitting on a rock out on the mud flats. Barb walked up closer and was able to get this shot as the bird took flight.

Before heading back to the camp, we decided to go into town and fill the car with gas. As we were headed to the bridge over the Kenai river, there was a caribou grazing in the meadow. Of course we just had to stop and get a picture our very first caribou on this trip, good ending to a very nice day.

Today we left Soldotna and said goodbye to our friends from Texas, Olga and Tommy Wood, who we found out were also traveling in Alaska. After several tries we finally ended up at the same campground. Barb spent time with Olga helping her get their blog started Olga is a really fast learner, she is doing a great job. Olga also taught Barb a new craft of making suncatchers with beads, thanks Olga. Today is Olga's birthday, have a great one.

We moved to Barb and Mel Gibbs place today, they were kind enough to let us stay here for a couple of days. The property is on the Kenai River and it is a really beautiful setting. Thanks, Barb and Mel. Hope to see you this winter.

Roxie made friends right away, We think she will really like this place.

She also decided to take a little swim, mostly because Patch, the chocolate lab did. We were afraid that she was going to chase the baby ducks.

Skilak Lake and Russian River

We got up early this morning for a drive to look at more of the Kenai. Specifically we took the Skilak Lake Road Loop. We had been informed that this was a good area to for seeing wildlife, especially bears. The best times, of course, are around dawn and dusk (which would be something like midnight and 3 a.m. We aren't that dedicated but we left about 7. We saw a lot of pretty scenery, but not much wildlife (one moose which stood and looked at us while we took pictures, many rabbits, and a chipmunk). Above and below are pictures of lakes we passed.

Another reason for the drive this morning was to check on Salmon fishing in the Russian River. Although we are staying at Soldotna which is said to have some of the best Salmon fishing in the world, they are between Salmon runs. There is a limited period when the fish are running and the fishing is excellent, then it stops. We got here just after the first run and the second is likely to start in a couple of weeks. People here have been driving about 45 miles to the Russian River as a run of "red" salmon is going on there. We have talked of giving it a try but didn't get around to it until today. We went to a place called Gwins which we were told would help us get set up with what we need for a reasonable rate. We had planned to go after the holiday weekend, but found that the run is ending quickly with fewer fish each day. So we will probably not be able to go, as it is a bit expensive and we don't want to fish if the fishing is not good, so we will have to try another time or another place. Below are what are left of much larger crowds that were fishing this area just 2 or 3 days ago.

Another lake view.

We thought this sign was interesting.

A picture of one of a lake and one of the many boats.

Homer Again

We took another day trip to Homer. On the way we stopped at the Baycrest Shell station and RV park. What a great view. We had some second thoughts about not driving the bus down to Homer.



We went back for another viist to the Islands and Ocean Center. Later we went up to Skyview Drive and saw great views of the glaciers and views of the city and the spit.



We went out on the Homer Spit for ice cream and coffee and viewed boats unloading a days catch.

The night before, we took a drive into Kenai and visited the dock in the city, hmmm, saw my boat, what a shock!
Just a little bit out of shape like me!!!

These look much better!