Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

(Part One of Three)

It is so good to be home! Traveling is great, but there’s nothing like getting home to your own home, bed, and familiar surroundings. Unfortunately, there is smoke here in the Interior. We saw heavy smoke from the fires as we passed through Nenana. Last night, the air wasn’t too bad, but today it’s horrible. In fact, it’s so bad, that I canceled my plans to run errands. I’ve had to use my asthma inhaler several times since arriving home. The windows are all closed to keep the smokey air out of the house. At least the sun is shining - not the best consolation though.

I finally edited, resized, and uploaded the many photos I took over the last two weeks, but because there are so many, I’m going to break my journal entries into three parts: Soldotna, Travel to Seward (and in Seward), and Travel to Talkeetna (and Home).

Soldotna

Our drive from Homer to Soldotna was under rainy skies. We hoped that the weather wasn’t going to stick with us the entire time we were there, but the forecast didn’t look very good for fair weather.

Soldotna is only about 60 miles from Homer, so we had an easy drive. Because of this, we stayed as late as we could at the campground in Homer, and stopped at a rest stop in Ninilchik to make sandwiches for lunch.  By then, the rain had stopped, but skies were still gray.

When we arrived at our campground in Soldotna (Klondyke RV Park), we were happy to find that the site we booked was still ours. (The campground owner is notorious for moving folks from the spots that they reserved to other locations) However, there was no picnic table at our site, while everyone around us had a table. We asked about moving one of the tables from the open sites to our camper, and were told that we didn’t ‘reserve’ a table when we made our reservation. Who would have thought that you had to request a picnic table?  Fortunately, she did agree to move a table once we were set up.

We took Sedona for a walk near the woods of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. The sun wasn’t shining, but at least it wasn’t raining. I took some photos of the wildflowers I found blooming along the way:

A little while later, we drove to the Soldotna Visitor Center so Steve could do some fishing. The visitor center is not only a wonderful place to stop and pick up travel brochures and more information about the area, but also has a lovely fishwalk accessible from the center. This fishwalk parallels the famous Kenai River for a hundred feet or so, and also gives you access to the river bank. (The Kenai River is home of the world’s biggest King Salmon - Steve’s reason for booking a week’s stay.)

Here’s part of the Riverwalk along the Kenai River:

Some more photos from behind the Visitor Center and the Kenai River:

As we were leaving the Fishwalk, we came upon a couple who were cleaning up some razor clams that they dug up in Ninilchik. A little smaller than a dollar bill, and roughly an inch and a half thick, razor clams (often referred to as simply ‘razors’) are one of the most highly cherished of all Pacific seafood. The beaches from just north of Homer to the Kasilof River mouth are home to one of only eight major concentrations of razors on the entire Pacific Coast … although they can be found scattered from Pismo Beach, California to the Bering Sea.

Diggers are allowed 60 clams per person, roughly enough for two to three meals for four people. Digging days are limited, with low tides generally needing to be lower than -2.0 for good digging. Unlike steamer clams, razors are not eaten whole. Instead, they are shelled and steaked out, providing a firm steak that has a mild clam flavor. The cleaning process is rather time consuming; for most people, you can usually count on a couple of hour’s work to clean a full limit. We watched this couple clean their bounty for a few minutes before moving on. Here’s a small portion of what they caught:

The next morning (Tuesday), Steve went on his first guided fishing trip. He had reservations to go fishing on three days out of the six that we’d be in Soldotna, as it was the best week for King Salmon fishing (according to the fishing reports). Steve’s preferred guide is Bill White with Bill White’s Alaska Sports Lodge. However, Bill was booked up for two out of three of those days, so he referred Steve to Steve McClure in Kenai. Tuesday and Thursday were the days Steve went with McClure. Both days were a bust as far as fishing goes, and Steve came home quite disappointed.

I spent Tuesday in the camper, working on this journal with photos from Homer. I also took advantage of my solitude, and watched a few of the ‘chick flick’ DVDs I packed specifically for Steve’s fishing days.  When Steve came home, I fixed us some dinner and we both went to bed early since we had been up since 4am.

On Wednesday, we had a free day (which means non-fishing) to explore the Kenai area. We decided to drive up to Kenai Landing for a look around.  The last time I went exploring up there, it was quiet and deserted. Things haven’t changed much at the landing itself, but there were hundreds of boats and dipnetters fishing at the mouth of the Kenai River where it comes off of Cook Inlet.

I think there were big plans for Kenai Landing as a vacation destination. It calls itself a “vibrant waterfront resort community”, but in reality it is a quiet and rather depressing place to visit. The indoor marketplace was dimly lit, and only one shop out of a handful was actually open for business.

Steve and I watched the fishermen unload their boats of their salmon catch, and took a short walk around the grounds. The only action going on was fishing-related, with quite a few workers milling about on the cannery grounds.  We only stayed about 30 minutes, before driving back to Kenai to check out some of the city parks and other fishing opportunities.

As we were leaving, we drove by this marshy area with huge drift logs and trees scattered throughout:

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The next morning (Thursday),  I took Steve to the guide’s boat so that I could have the truck for some of my own exploring.  This meant getting up at 4am again. We stopped at McDonald’s for a quick breakfast (it’s open 24 hours, thank goodness), and after dropping him off, I drove up Funny River Road for a few miles, with the hopes of finding a pretty place to watch the sun come up.  It didn’t work out as well as I hoped, as traffic increased as it got closer to 6am and I felt rushed by the speed-demons making their way to work. So I returned to the camper to take Sedona for a walk in the woods nearby.

This was the sky from our camper, as she and I headed out:

A few hours later, I did a little grocery shopping and checked out the local Fred Meyer department store. I had to chuckle when I saw that two entire aisles were devoted to fishing equipment.  I made the mistake of telling Steve about this, so of course he had to check it out the next day. Unfortunately, Thursday was not a good day for fishing either, and Steve came home empty-handed. I felt terrible for him - and for our wallet - as these guided trips aren’t cheap!

Friday was another “off day”, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t go in search of fishing. This time, our journey took us to the Kasilof River, where Steve hoped to catch some red salmon. On the way, we came across a cow moose enjoying some greenery. We were only about 25 feet from her, but the only thing she cared about was eating.

While Steve fished, I walked along the river bank, photographing flowers and watching other folks fishing from both rowboats and the shore. Steve didn’t have any luck there either, so after about an hour and a half, he gave up and we headed back to the camper.

The water was moving pretty fast:

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On Friday afternoon, Linda and Rich Kauffman arrived at the campground. I ‘met’ Linda through this journal. She and her husband are traveling around Alaska all summer and we had the opportunity to formally meet in early July when their travels brought them to North Pole.  We made arrangements to meet up again in Soldotna.

On Friday night, Steve grilled up some hamburgers for us all. We enjoyed the company and talked more about traveling around the state. They’re on no formal schedule - the best way to travel in Alaska. The sun actually peeked out for a short time, warming the air. It’s apparent that we are acclimated Alaskans, as we sat there at dinner in short sleeves, while Linda and Rich wore light jackets.  We were just so happy to have sunshine in the midst of all the rain.

The next morning, Steve was up early again for his final fishing trip of the week. This time, he was going out with Bill White, and he was feeling much more positive about the experience. Last year, he caught a king salmon with Bill, and he hoped that his luck would be repeated this year.

A few hours after he left, the Kauffmans came to get me, and we drove up to Captain Cook State Recreation Area.  There were some clouds, but the sun was shining.  We hoped it would be another good day.  Captain Cook Park is about 25 miles north of Kenai, on the Cook Inlet.

This state recreation area is named for Captain James Cook, the famous English mariner, who in 1778 explored what is now known as Cook Inlet. At that time the area was occupied by Taniana Indians who harvested seasonal runs of salmon and other wild foods. In recent years the beach area has been used for commercial fishing with beach set-nets.

Linda brought her furkid Cricket on the drive. Cricket is an adorable long-haired chihuahua. Steve called her a ‘pocket puppy’, and warned me against getting any ideas to adopt a tiny lap dog in the future. I can understand how they could be hard to resist though, as Cricket has quite the personality for being such a tiny thing.

How could anyone resist such a face?:

We drove all the way to the Cook Inlet beach in the park, and got out for a walk around. The mountains across the inlet were shrouded in clouds, so we couldn’t see the volcanoes (Iliamna and Redoubt). The tide was out too, and sticky wet mud went off for quite a distance. The mud was streaked with narrow channels and rivulets of water.

This mud isn’t like other mud. This mud is composed of glacial silt and exhibits a quicksand-like quality. If you venture out onto them during low tide there is a very real possibility of becoming seriously stuck. People have drowned when they couldn’t get free before the tide came in.

	Captain Cook State Park

On the way back to town, it began to rain again. We stopped at the Kenai Visitors and Cultural Center. After watching a movie about Alaska, we wandered around the museum portion and enjoyed the various pieces of art. I saw a photograph taken by my journalism instructor (Charles Mason) on display, which was neat.

But the one piece that caught both my eye, and Linda’s eye, was an oil painting by Steven Gordon, entitled “Reflections”. The colors were brilliant, and the leaves floating on the water made the painting look three-dimensional. I took a photo of the painting, and you can see more of his work here.  All of his works are absolutely stunning!

On the grounds of the Cultural Center, there were tents set up and local artisans and crafters were selling their wares. We decided to check it out. I am so glad that we did! I finally found a trappers/mushers hat that I have envisioned for several years, but couldn’t find.

It’s made of mink and silver fox and is of this style, but is black and silver. There is also a silver fox tail hanging on the back.  It can be worn with the ear flaps down or up and it’s very warm! I’m so excited about this find and can’t wait to wear it to the races. (Yukon Quest!) I’m still doing research to find someone who is able to re-purpose the black mink coat my mother left me, and create a parka from it.  I’ll have Steve take a photo of me wearing my new hat soon.

This concludes part one of my trip journal. Steve just got home from work, and I have a lot to do tomorrow, so I don’t know when I’ll have parts two and three posted.

Stay tuned…