Tuesday brought us to Beluga Lookout RV Park, situated high
on the bluffs of Kenai overlooking Cook Inlet.
A look out it was—look out for highway robbery without a gun! At $50 a night for a pull thru—and that’s
after a 10% Good Sam discount—this place was tighter than a size 6 bathing
suit on Mom! Some rigs had so little room, they could not open their
slides fully. Others, like us, had to
park our trucks and toads in a grassy knoll at the end of the block, which was
quite soft from all the rain we have experienced. This from a place that touts itself as “big
rig friendly”. They offer only 30 amp
electric, water, and sewer lines that open up right under the next rig’s front
door. It seems the more we pay for a place,
the worse the accommodations.
Campgrounds just aren’t willing to invest in their infrastructures to
accommodate the size rigs churned out by the RV industry.
Once settled, we did a Wal-mart run—this time for more
fishing supplies. The campground office
says folks are catching halibut right from the shoreline! Off Dad runs, excited like a kid getting a
puppy for Christmas. He caught one! No, not halibut, but some stinky little bottom feeder fish —a throw back that could only be used as bait. But at least something finally snagged the
end of his hook!
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Dad's big catch of the day
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The weather turned out
lovely—at about 11:00 at night! So we
went for a stroll to watch the gulls congregate along the shoreline at low tide
and chuckled at how they harassed a pair of golden eagles scouting for food.
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The shoreline view--at 11:30 PM!
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More sun at 11:30 p.m. than all day long!
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We headed to Soldotna to check out what they have to offer
for tourism. Short answer—not much. It's really all about
fishing here.
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Handcrafted fish-themed bench outside visitor center
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Check out the name at the bottom of this carving. What a coincidence!
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We observed the Kenai River
from their boardwalk platform, viewed their exhibits, and took their one
tourist suggestion of visiting the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Unfortunately, all the hiking trails within
this 1.92 million acre wilderness that are compatible with our hiking
abilities and offer the best wildlife sightings are more than an hour
away. But we did all the trails around
their visitor center and headquarters, which included seeing the Elwell Fishing
Cabin. Mamie and Luke Elwell moved from
Ohio to Alaska in 1920. From 1939 until
1960, they ran a fishing lodge along the Russian River. After the Refuge received title to the
property in 2012, they relocated one of the lodge fishing cabins to the Refuge, taking painstaking efforts to restore it with historical
accuracy. Amazing what were considered deluxe
accommodations back then!
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Elwell Fishing Cabin
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Interior of fishing cabin
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Dad and Mike decided they wanted to go fishing again—back to
Wal-Mart to get more bait! I think the
fish in Kenai must be spreading the word about the great buffet served by these
two. Newsflash: no fish have made it onto my dinner plate
yet. Dad learned that our M.O.C. friends Curtis
and Stephanie, whom we have met up with several times on this trip, have been continuously skunked, too!
Misery loves company.
Meanwhile, Mom, Claudia, and I went on a historical walking
tour of Old Kenai. There are several
cabins throughout the area which are now private residences, as well as a
selection of one room cabins maintained by the Kenai Historical Society and
open for viewing at their Historic Cabin Park.
I especially enjoyed the Russian Orthodox Church with its simple yet
lovely architectural design and its beautiful icons. Built in 1895-1896, it is still in use today,
despite suffering damages through the years from earthquakes.
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Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church
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Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church
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Interior of the Church
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St. Nicholas Chapel, circa 1906
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Parish House Rectory (now private residence), believed to be oldest building on Kenai Peninsula (circa 1881)
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Miller Cabin, circa 1910
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Interior of Miller Cabin
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Interlocked Moose Horn Club (now private residence)
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Today provided the first sunny morning for us in quite
some time. We took advantage of the nice
weather and visited Captain Cook State Park, where we did hiking, walked along
the waterfront, and had a picnic lunch.
The weather provided a decent view of four volcanoes within the Alaska
Range: Redoubt, Spurr, Augustine, and
Iliamna. We spotted a bald eagle and a
golden eagle today, too, while accessing a public viewing platform.
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Captain Cook State Park
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View of volcanoes from Captain Cook State Park
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Bald Eagle spotted from wildlife viewing platform
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Would you believe this photo was taken through binoculars!
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As I sit writing this blog, Mom is scouting for whales. I don’t need to tell you what Dad is doing…
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View from campground bluff--no whales to be found
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Tomorrow we are off to Homer. Talk to you soon!
Great photos! Maybe Les and Mike should hook up with Jim and Barb for some fishing. 😉
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