Alaska- Seward

August 9- Totally Alaskan

We woke to blue skies, a first!… that quickly turned cloudy… We packed up and caught the 9:00 ferry back over to Homer to get our car and pick up our bear spray.

Mission accomplished, we headed north. We were able to catch a somewhat cloud obscured view of the volcanoes across Cook Inlet.

Looking at a map we detoured along a side road thinking we would have a nice view of Cook Inlet but instead, it was blocked by trees. We did, however, find a moose on the side of the road happily grazing away on the thick vegetation- totally Alaskan!

By the time we reached Soldotna, we were very hungry so we decided to forgo all other plans in order to grab lunch. St Elias Brewery was choice #3 after choice #1 & 2 were closed and it did not disappoint. Our sandwiches were made using their pizza dough instead of rolls or wraps- so yummy!

From there we stopped at Fred Myer (basically a walmart super center) for some provisions. I have been in three different markets since we have been here and all three have the worst seafood selections I have ever seen – pretty surprising considering we are in Alaska.

After loading the car we drove back from the direction we had come, to the visitor center where we parked and walked down to the Kenai River. There were tons of people standing right on the edge of the river fishing for sockeye salmon.

We struck up a conversation with one of the locals and he explained how you fish for salmon. Unlike so many other species that you catch on lures or bait or flies, sockeye won’t take any of those, instead, we were told while they swim they are opening and closing their mouth so you throw a hook with a weight out into the water and, as the local put it, “try to floss them through their mouths.” If you snag them anywhere but their mouths, you must throw them back. Not surprisingly, Billy has zero interest in this kind of fishing! I will say it was crazy to see how many fish were being caught this way. One can only surmise that they were stacked in there like chord wood but because of the milky hue the Kenai River has, there is zero transparency to it to actually see them. This was a cool experience though – totally Alaskan!

As we made our way back to the car it began to rain and wouldn’t let up for the remainder of the day. We took another dirt side road in hopes of seeing bear but no luck. The views were pretty and again, we could only imagine they would be stunning if we could see them in their full glory. It has been a bit of a bummer that we know we are completely surrounded by majestic beauty but still haven’t been able to realize the full scope of it.

We made a few u-turns on our continuing drive – because remember it ain’t a Merrick road trip if we aren’t doing u-turns! First one was for a fly shop Billy saw – I think he is getting jazzed to start doing some trout fishing. The second was at a pull off that had two signs- one said “wildlife viewing” (a sign we are very familiar with seeing while road tripping), the other said “fish viewing” (a new one for us). There was a small trail that lead to a gin clear creek with a small viewing platform and in the creek were loads of bright red, ginormous, humpbacked, salmon with huge beaks. What a sight! We watched as they were clearly mating wondering why there were no bears here for these easy pickings but one must assume in a place like Alaska, everywhere has easy pickings! Another totally Alaskan sight!

We found the driveway for our lodging for the next three nights – a completely off the grid cabin right on the shore of Kenai Lake. When I went to the office to check in, the owner greeted me and gave me the lowdown on everything. The last thing he told me was how to reach him if there was an after hours emergency but then turned and said, “But please…no after hours emergencies.” To which I responded, “Oh, no worries. We don’t ever have after hour emergencies. Unless of course I run out of wine.” He chuckled and said, “Well then you will have to drive 20 miles to Seward.” But I assured him, “Oh not a chance I’d drive to Seward, if I run out of wine then I’ll break into the bourbon.” To which he had a good laugh.

We barbecued burgers for dinner on our little porch using a kettle grill and charcoal, something we haven’t done in 27 years, and sat at the table looking out at the lake. After dinner Billy decided to try his hand at fishing while Jenny and I played a game of cribbage. The throwback to simple times was really quite enjoyable. In all the crazy remote places we have ever stayed in, I don’t think we have ever had zero connectivity to the outside world… totally Alaskan!

Jenny loves our little cabin, the best accommodations so far she said (even with the total lack of wifi). She got the big bed in the loft up the spiral staircase (she said the stairs remind her of her apartment in Maastricht), and Billy and I took the bunk beds downstairs (nearer the bathroom – 😉) I figured that at 50 years old, it was about time for me to finally see what it’s like to sleep in the top bunk!