Destination: Alaska Kenai Peninsula
When: May 31st - June 5th, 2005
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!