Month: July 2018

We weren’t in any hurry to leave Cabela’s today because we would arrive at the RV park before check-in time. We ate lunch at Smash Burger on the same parking lot as Cabela’s. Donna discovered that there was a small conservation trail park on our parking lot between Cabela’s and Target. Not large but Maverick got to run off leash without having to drive anywhere. Very cool. We had reservations for 4 nights at the Golden Nugget RV Park in Anchorage. Golden Nugget was only 7 miles from Cabela’s. I was very pleased with the park and we had full hookups.  After we were setup the RV tour caravan rolled in.  24 RV’s all touring Alaska together.

We originally thought we might stop in Portage on the way back to Anchorage but instead decided to drive all the way to Anchorage. We didn’t have any reservations so we camped at Cabela’s. Cabela’s is a RV friendly chain that always has RV parking that can be used overnight for free. Because we arrived by noon, we didn’t have any problem finding a good parking spot. By 8pm there were 20 RV’s and no possible room for others. We ate lunch at our favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse. We found a nice dog park with a lake and took Maverick. Being Saturday, there were many dog friends to play with and Maverick had an amazing time. At one point I jokingly told Maverick if he were a good retriever he would bring me a duck. He immediately took off swimming straight toward the ducks across the lake. Wow. Uh, now what?! Donna and I yelled at him to come back we were joking. Maverick turned around and swam back. I should say that Maverick doesn’t normally swim much beyond wading distance. To see him take off into deep water for a long swim completely floored both Donna and I. I don’t know how much English Maverick understands but it is a lot more than I gave him credit for.

Today was a fairly chill day. We ate at the Smoke Shack. The Smoke Shack is a restaurant located in an old rail car painted in Alaska Railroad livery. The food was fair and we had to sit outside due to the crowds. Afterward we drove out to Kenai Lake. We checked out the Trail Campground and the lake. It was beautiful and Maverick really enjoyed getting to romp on the beach.

We headed back into town today with the plan of eating at the Seward Brewery. The burger was pretty good and the place was pretty neat. We drove over to the marina and walked a few shops there. After the marina we drove out to Lowell Point which is the end of the road. It was still early and we headed back to the coach. We had minor chores to take care of.

The trip from Cooper Landing to Seward was an easy 1 ½ hour drive. Weather is nice and Seward is about 60 deg F. The Bear Creek RV Park is a little run down but OK. We headed downtown and checked out our dining choices. We chose the Sea Salt Grill so we could sit outside and enjoy the views of Resurrection Bay. After lunch we walked the nearby shops including Brown and Hawkings. Brown and Hawkings was a really cool dry goods store 5 years ago but it isn’t the same anymore. How disappointing.
After walking the shops we walked Maverick along the bay and checked out the mile 0 marker of the Iditarod trail. We loaded back up and it was still early. We drove out by the Exit Glacier. Exit Glacier is one of the most accessible glaciers by car and by foot. The trailhead was super crowded but we got lucky with a close parking spot. We decided spur of the moment to hike the trail all of the way to the face of the glacier. The trail is a 2 mile round trip. The first half of the trail is flat and paved. The second half gets progressively more rugged and steep. We were pretty winded by the time we came to the glacier but we were rewarded by great views of the glacier very close.  For dinner Donna cooked Panko breaded Salmon and it was by far our favorite Salmon dinner to-date.  Yum!

This morning we took our time getting ready. We are making short drives and don’t want to arrive too early. Our route retraces our steps through Soldotna and ends at Cooper Landing. We ate fast food and filled the coach with diesel in Soldotna. We arrived at Kenai Princess RV Lodge and RV Park about 2:30pm. The park is located on the Kenai river where it becomes the Kenai Lake and the setting is really beautiful. We checked out a few stores in Cooper Landing but there wasn’t anything too interesting. We ate dinner in the coach and then went on the short nature trail from the Kenai Princess Lodge down to the river. It was a really beautiful walk and Maverick LOVED running off leash. The only problem is that it was REALLY steep down to the river and of course steep back up.

We headed out for a late breakfast today and ate at Wild Honey and had Crepes. The Crepes were ok and it was a very nice restaurant. We decided to follow the East End road. The road is very scenic and is the furthest you can travel South in this area. The views of the glaciers and the Katchemek bay were wonderful. After returning we went to the Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. We restocked at Safeway and headed back to the coach. Once the groceries were put away we headed back to the Homer Spit. We decided to eat at the Chart House Grill at Lands End Inn. The fish and chips were awesome and the view was really nice.

Today’s main activity is a flightseeing trip with Alaska Bear Adventures. After a little phone tag confusion our tour is confirmed for a 12:45 meeting time for a 1:45 departure. We arrived on time and got fitted for hip waders. We received a tour and safety briefing from the nice employee and then watch a safety video. The briefing explains that the guide will take us as close as 50 yards from a bear and the bear may choose to come even closer. The bears here are never hunted and don’t see people as food. The bears have been closely observed by tours for multiple generations and are used to us being there. If we follow the rules, bears won’t be interested in us. Yikes, that sounds scary.
We are taking this tour on a Cessna 206 with two other tourists from England and our pilot/tour guide Matt. We loaded up in the airplane and departed the Homer airport. The flight followed the coastline North before turning West across the Cook inlet toward Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. Our destination is a beach near a big tidal flat. Our bush plane landed easily on a gravel beach and we all deplane. We could see about six Coastal Brown Bears from the plane and followed our guide out into the tidal flats. Its pretty nerve racking at first walking on foot toward huge wild bears. The bears here are feeding on clams buried in the sand of the flats. As briefed, we walk until we are about 50 yards from one of the bears. We kneel down and wait while the bear walks by us only 10-20 yards away. WOW! We observe this one female bear for quite a while before walking back near the plane to observe some other bears. There are about 10 bears visible from this location though at a pretty good distance. After observing these bears a while we jump back in the plane and head a very short hop away to a different bear viewing area. This new area is part of the National Park and we can’t approach the bears as close as before. Again, there are about 10 bears in a beautiful meadow mainly grazing on grass. The bears are super close but it is fantastic to see these magnificent animals in their natural, unspoiled environment. Our guided explained that a little later in the season the Salmon would be running and hundreds of bears will gather along the river to catch fish. That happens later in the season.
On the flight back we circled the Iliamna Volcano and the glaciers were spectacular.  There was steam boiling off of the mountain near the peak. The site seeing from the airplane was really superb. Finally we returned to the Homer airport around 5pm. What a great experience. We rescued Maverick from the coach and headed back into town. We ate at the Boardwalk Fish and Chips. The food and view were good though the food a little pricey.

This morning we broke camp and headed to Homer. The drive took us along the Cook Inlet and the views across the inlet of the mountains was spectacular. The drive took about 1 ½ hour and we arrived at the Homer/Baycrest KOA. The KOA is a small park with most of the sites situated on the edge of a cliff over looking the bay and mountains. The views are great.

After setup we drove the 3 miles into Homer. We eventually drove down the Homer Spit. The Spit is a long narrow “spit” of land with touristy shops, restaurants, dry camping, RV parks and the Lands End Inn. We randomly chose the Harbor Grill for lunch based on the nice appearance from the outside. The food was really good and the view of the marina and mountains was really nice. After lunch we walked around many of the little shops. One shop was the booking office of the Alaskan Bear Adventures. We signed up for the shortest bear viewing tour scheduled for tomorrow. Bear tours aren’t cheap but it was a bucket list activity. Finally, we stopped by the Salty Dawg Saloon. The Salty Dawg is a very iconic or infamous Homer establishment. The Salty Dawg is just a small bar and really didn’t hold much appeal for us.

Today we got up and Donna decided to re-wash Maverick in the coach shower to hopefully do a more thorough job. It worked. Maverick no longer smelled. By the time all of us had cleaned up it was lunch time. Today we headed to the Kenai River Brewery. The food and atmosphere was great. Kenai was coverered up with locals and we had a hard time finding a parking spot. Despite the crowds we got in and out ok. We like Kenai much more than St Elias Brewery from earlier in the week. The food, service, and atmosphere was really nice.
Just after lunch we got a call from the fish processor saying our fish was ready to pick up. We picked up the flash frozen fish and headed to Walmart to get a cooler to store it. I bought a nice cooler, filled it with fish and ice.