Keen Eye on the Kenai

When will we ever stay home? I don't know but the sun is shining here in Fairbanks, a welcome sight after 3 days of rain in Soldotna. We just got back from visiting Virginia and Tim in their new house on the Kenai River near the Funny River Road in Soldotna.

We left Wednesday night and got as far as the Sheep Creek Slough, a free slough-access campground far enough from the road to not hear the cars and trucks. The mosquitos were glad to see the fresh meat and the jerk with the music on loud and long should take care. Once I was camping in Delta Junction in a tent and awoke in the middle of the night to a gunshot followed by silence. Someone got really fed up with an RV generator running during the night and delivered his own form of justice. He shot right into the generator compartment. I really just wanted to play some good loud waking up music when we left on Thursday morning, but the memory of that shotgun was just too fresh.

Although we did a lot of visiting and eating, just to be sociable don't cha know, we also got out and enjoyed the local sights. The first night there a neighbor told us there was a bear in the neighborhood, but it jumped in the river and swam across. The prospect made us more alert though. On Friday, neighbor Lee (thanks, Lee!) took us out in the boat fishing. Chelsea, the dog, had a taste for bait and we all had to supervise our rods closely. She did manage to score some shrimp (microwaved for firmness) and some salmon eggs right off the hooks, but when her nostril got snagged, it made her slightly more cautious. She also jumped onto shore when we got close at one point, but some gentle persuasion shortened her pit stop. Tim and Virginia both caught fish- dollies and rainbows only, I caught some rays and Paul caught some flak. We baked it and ate the fish that night.

On Saturday we went into Kenai and did the walking tour. You pick up the map and info at the Visitors Center and then take the 2 hour walk, seeing the old houses, the cemetery and the Russian Orthodox church. At Scout's Park, you can look down and watch seals in the delta. With no salmon running right now, we only saw one. Then we had a tasty burger at the Burger Bus and headed home for dinner with company.

On Sunday, we ate at Sal's Klondike Diner (heart attack menu) and then hiked around the Kenai Wildlife Visitor's Center. The mosquitos loved us and we saw some semi-fresh bear scat on the trail which made the hike even more aerobic.

The 11 hour drive home gave us some fantastic views of the mountains and a heart-stopping view of a wrecked car....the two lane road for 300 miles is always challenging.
(photos by Virginia Fernholtz)