Alaska Kenai Peninsula Trip Report

Destination: Alaska Kenai Peninsula
When: May 31st - June 5th, 2005
You can view tons of pictures at www.shellistravel.com

Ross and I made our way to Alaska once again, May 31 to June 5, 2005.
We were celebrating our 7 year wedding anniversary while we were there.
Remember, we were married in Juneau, Alaska so the state holds a
special place in our hearts. In 1998 we cruised the Inside Passage,
visiting Vancouver, Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Haines and Glacier Bay
(see my other Alaska travelogue.) We love the wilderness, mountains and
wildlife and someday hope to own property in Alaska. After visiting
this time, Cooper Landing seems to be our town of choice. We have much
more land to cover yet in Alaska, including Nome, Prudhoe Bay, Kodiak
Island and Burrrrrrow (Ok, I mean Barrow!) Instead of going south
during the winter, we'll go north during the summer!

We flew into Anchorage, rented a car (a way cool Chrysler Pacifica!)
and made our way southeast down the Seward Highway, a National Scenic
Byway. Now, for those of you who knew about our trip, you know my goal
was to see a moose. Let me tell you, we were not in the car for 30
minutes when our first moose strolled into the picture! We were
traveling along the Turnagain Arm and I spotted her to the north of the
road. Ross barely had the car stopped before I jumped out to take
pictures! I was so excited to finally see a moose! Ha, if only I knew
what the rest of the week held in store for us! We passed into the
Chugach National Forest, drove by Girdwood, the Portage Glacier and
Whittier exits and on to Moose Pass. It was cloudy and rainy so we
didn't really get to see the full views this All American Road had to
reveal to us. Despite the obstructed views, it was beautiful. My photos
do not do it justice. We made our way to Seward. We found our hotel,
the Seward Windsong Lodge. What a beautiful place! The staff was so
welcoming and friendly! You'll find pictures of the property on my
web site. After checking in, we drove out to Exit Glacier. We walked
about a half a mile to the glacier itself. We laughed at all the moose
poop we had to step over on the path. We were able to walk right up to
the calving end of this glacier. Despite the warning signs, Ross
chipped off a piece of glacier ice. It was crystal clear. Pretty
incredible to think that the ice he held was probably thousands of
years old. Back in Seward, we found a place to eat called the Apollo.
It was a strange mix of Greek, Mexican and Italian, but the served the
best pizzas there! Go and enjoy one!

The next day, June 1, we boarded a Kenai National Park Cruise at 8am.
It was chilly once we hit the water, but the views were beautiful.
Right away we saw a playful sea otter. Over the coarse of the next 6
hours, we saw stellar sea lions, dall porpoises, orca whales, black
bear, puffins, mountain goats and kids, and lots of other sea birds,
not to mention the glaciers! The staff on the cruise was friendly and
helpful, even baking us hot, fresh chocolate chip cookies for a snack
after our lunch. Yum! After the cruise we left Seward and headed north
again on the Seward Highway. We made our way west on the Sterling
Highway that connected near Moose Pass. Because we were on a time
limit, we didn't allow much time for stopping on the way to Homer. We
needed to check into our cabin by 6pm and check in for our bear viewing
trip by 7pm. After doing so, we stopped for dinner at Fat Olives. A
good, but a bit expensive and a little too trendy for our tastes, place
to eat.

We retired to our cabin to enjoy a cracking fire, a few drinks, and the
spectacular snow-capped mountain view from the swing on our front
porch. We stayed at the Three Moose Meadow bed and breakfast, although
we had a cabin out in the woods (called the Log Chalet) that we reached
only via a narrow path, also covered with moose poop (which we thought
was great...knowing the moose were so near!) Our cabin had a great deck
and also a patio, with the swing and table and chairs. We also had a
full kitchen, stocked with everything needed to make meals (except the
food.) Jennie, one of the owners, brought us breakfast each morning, or
left it in the refrigerator at the main house for us. I highly
recommend this place!

On Thursday, June 2, we hopped back in the car and made our way, slowly
this time, up the Sterling Highway. We stopped in all of the towns
along the way; Anchor Point, Ninilchik, Clam Gulch, Kasilof, Kenai,
Soldotna, and Nikiski. We kept driving north to the Captain Cook State
Recreation Area, where we were delighted to see many, many moose, most
with newborn calves nearby. We also saw many caribou along the way. We
literally drove to the end of the road, then turned around and drove it
back. We also drove Marathon Road out of Kenai, looking for wildlife,
but the road was closed a few miles in. It was a perfect day filled
with a lot to see!

Finally, Friday arrived. We were scheduled on a bear viewing trip with
Emerald Air Service from Homer, Alaska. We arrived at the dock (yes,
the DOCK! We flew in a classic deHavilland Otter floatplane, taking off
and landing on the water. The flight itself was an adventure!)....ok,
so at the dock, we were fitted with hip boots and listened to the rules
of venturing into true bear country. Chris Day, our guide, was
wonderful. She and her husband, Ken, treated us to an absolutely
amazing adventure that we will never forget. After an hour flight, we
landed in Hallo Bay on the east coast of the Katmai National Park and
Preserve, inside the Shelikof Straight and Cook Inlet. As we were
circling to land, we were able to spot several bears already. It was
very exciting. We exited the plane into the water and waded to shore.
Immediately we noticed wolf tracks in the sand and as we made our way
to the top of the shoreline, we could see brown bears everywhere.
Again, we were reminded to mind our manners around the bears, and to
give them the respect they deserve and demand. Whew......scary stuff!
We spent the day with the bears, some passing within 20 feet from us.
We simply stood and watched them feed, play, mate and doze in the
meadows. I think I took 200 pictures! At the end of the day, we made
our way towards a mother bear whom Chris and Ken recognized as
"Peaches" and her cubs they named "the Apricots." This was the
cubs' second spring with their mother, so they were not little babies
anymore. We watched them nurse on Peaches for awhile, then they played
and ate the grass. We stood within 10 feet of these three bears for
almost an hour. Peaches was aware of a large male bear approaching (you
can tell by my pictures that the bears are watching him) and lead her
cubs away. It was time for us to head back to the plane. The whole
experience brought tears to my eyes. It was an emotionally and
physically draining day, but something we will never, ever forget. Back
in the plane, Ken flew us over Swikshak Bay, Fourpeaked Glacier and
Cape Douglas. What views!!! I can't thank Chris and Ken enough for
having us.

Saturday we drove back up the Sterling Highway, making a few more stops
that we missed the day before. We drove north of the Sterling Highway
on Swanson River Road and Swan Lake Road and saw some moose and some
beautiful lakes and scenery. The roads were all gravel, making the
going slow, but also allowing us to enjoy the ride. Back on the
Sterling Highway, we ventured south along the Skilak Lake Road through
the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Once again, a gravel road with a
lot to see, but no animals this time. We stopped in Cooper Landing
because we loved the area so much. We had lunch at Gwin's Lodge and
did a little shopping. We discovered our waitress was from Minnesota.
She was probably the fourth person we met on our trip from Minnesota.
She was working at Gwin's for the summer before starting college. We
hung out in Cooper Landing for awhile, walking along the river,
watching the rafters and the fishermen. After awhile, we hopped back in
the car.

We decided that since we had several hours before needing to head to
Anchorage, we would drive back down to Seward and enjoy the views since
it was clear and sunny. I'm so glad we did! The mountains were
spectacular and making this drive twice in one trip was an unexpected
thrill! We drove all the way to Seward again. We followed the road down
past the Alaska Sealife Center and followed a little gravel road to the
end of the line past Lowell Point. We parked and walked to the beach
and spent some time wandering and enjoying the view. It was a very
peaceful place. I'm glad we went back to Seward or we would have
missed this! Also, as we drove back we stopped at the Mile 0 marker for
the Ididarod race.

Back in the car one more time, we made our way to Anchorage. It was a
perfect trip and was so hard to leave such beautiful surroundings. We
are excited to share Alaska with others! It is simply amazing! (By the
way, total miles on the rental car...almost 1300!)

Our next trip to Alaska will probably be to Fairbanks, the North Pole
and Denali. We want to stay deep inside Denali National Park at Camp
Denali or rent a motorhome and camp inside the park if we can get a
reservation. Although Ross was asking about polar bears.......we'd
need to hear farther north for that! Stay tuned!

Well I was very interested in reading your post. my DH and I will be
leaving Minnesota May 16, 2006 and heading for Alaska. We will be
driving. I want to see all the sights along the way. We are retired so
time is of no problem. We will be spending at least 6 weeks altogether,
longer if necessary. I plan everything, we wing it most of the time,
this is the way we like to go. If we really like a place we stay longer
if not we move on. We do motels, we are not campers. When we complete
this trip we have been to all the states in the U.S. including Hawaii.
It is a second marriage for both of us and we celebrated our 17th in
October. We love traveling, and I love planing the trips. When our
friends and relatives go on any kind of trip they come to me as they
always say, you are our personal travel agent and guide. Love it.

I'm so jealous! We're far from retiring, but have big plans to do just
what you are doing! We're not campers, either. We love to just get in
the car and go. We have two small children now so it makes it tough to
be gone long, but we do what we can. Enjoy Alaska! It is spectacular!

Great post, thanks. I put a site up a few years ago with thoughts and
other resources gathered from our two drives to Alaska and back. Once
from Philadelphia, and once from Chicago. It's on my Web site at
http://www.brianwasson.com/trips/alaska/index.htm?rte

If you want Polar Bears, the best place to go is Churchill, Manitoba,
Canada, "the Polar Bear Capital of the World." An incredible
experience! Here's a link to a photo I took there a few years back:
http://www.brianwasson.com/photos/an...olarbear3.html

Brian,
YES! Churchill is on our list of places to visit! I've been reading
about trips there and think we can actually drive to Winnipeg then take
the flight/tour to Churchill. Did you do the tunda buggy thing? I'd
love to hear more about it!

SHelli