Chapter 9 – Alaska – Kenai

Oh my dear readers, we had been looking forward to the cooler temperatures that coming with being this far north. But I don’t think we were quite prepared for what it would be like if fall rain came along with the cooler temps. This past week has been one of the most normal (slower?) weeks we’ve had since we left Arizona!

We left Anchorage to the rain falling. Dale has had a hankering for DimSum for quite awhile. So we found this highly acclaimed place in Anchorage for lunch. We literally waited in line for them to unlock the doors! Despite its book cover, it totally lived up to the hype. Delish. We left with stars in our eyes, hopes of seeing lots of wildlife and an expectation that the peninsula would feel as empty and big as everything else we had just traveled through. Well we were wrong.

We had stopped at Girdwood on the way to Hope, because we had discovered a beer from their brewery in Palmer, and were advised to stop by. It was a cute little ski town with a yummy brewery, but our stop was very brief…and it just kept raining. It took us no time at all to find the campground in Hope where we had prepaid to be there three nights. We were literally looking across the Turnagin Arm at the main highway that leads to Anchorage. Hope is a historical town, but unfortunately, its truly one step away from ghost town. We were a bit shocked at how small the camp spots were for the price we paid. We gave it the benefit of the doubt until we realized that EVERYONE else there was for one reason – fishing for salmon at the mouth of the river. And I’m sure this will shock some of you, but river salmon fishing is not something Dale has any interest in. About the best thing that came of our stay there was the brief visit to the only open business in town – the gift shop. I posed in an empty phone booth by the building and we were informed its a prop from the 2013 movie Frozen Ground starring Nicholas Cage, another movie about the search for a serial killer in Anchorage in the 80s. We’d never seen it, so we spent the evening streaming it trying to find that phone booth. Have to say, it was entertaining!

We had NO PROBLEM leaving Hope the next morning. Our challenge was we had two more nights to find someplace to stay before our next scheduled stay in Kenai. And there isn’t that much distance between Hope and Ken. We had thoughts we might be able to get into the Russian River Campground – but little did we know that it was primetime for fishing in that area. Everything was BOOKED! There were so many anglers, on shore and in float boats, that it was almost comical. Dale called it combat fishing – an additional strike against his desire to fish for salmon that way. In the end we found a lovely little campground, found a great spot right on the river, and essentially had the place to ourselves. an important thing, since we had no hookups and it was raining nonstop, so we were able to run our generator with no concerns. and while we were able to get out and take a few leg stretching walks, it truly rained for two days straight. our campground turned out to be one of the boat launches for anglers, so there was lots of salmon carcasses in the water. Thank goodness it was raining and the rivers were running high, because Im sure the smell would have been atrocious otherwise. There wasn’t much there that made that particular angling experience look appealing.

We moved to the Diamond M Ranch Resort for our next three nights…..and it just kept raining. We managed to stop at the local movie theater in Soldotna to see Deadpool and Wolverine. And it just kept raining. We took a nice little hike in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, while it just kept raining, and got sopping wet while seeing no wildlife. But I got an extra stamp I didn’t expect!. Our last day there, we took advantage of a small break in the weather and went golfing, tho it kept raining, then a beer at the Kenai River Brewing Company. The weather finally opened up enough that we took advantage of the viewing deck at the campground, and had fun spotting the Caribou hanging out below! We also visited their little farm animals who are obviously used to folks feeding them. They were very freindly but the emu bout took off Dale’s finger for the carrot he was holding out.

It came down to a week of reading, movies, Olympics viewing, and eating all the wonderful dishes Dale whipped up for us. This state is beautiful, but its a whole lot prettier when the sun shines upon it! We are off now to spend the week in Homer, AK. Cross your fingers, dear readers, that the weather improves!