The Kenai Peninsula

July 8 and 9 We toured Seward. The first day we took a boat tour of the Kenai Fjords Nat'l Park. What a lovely day. Perfect weather and great wildlife. There were puffins, gulls with babies on a rookery rock, sea lions, and seals.

And then there was the whales! Again we were blessed with multiple sightings of humpback whales. A mother and calf, a whale breached for us (popped up out of the water), a group of 5 together frolicking. What a treat.

We stopped at a glacier. And amazing experience. The temperature dropped significantly while we were stopped here. There was some ice falling from the sides, thunderous cracks and then pouring down the slopes. Much ice floating in the water. The blue appearance of the glacier is due to the extreme density of the ice and how the light is absorbed.

July 10 to 16 We moved to Soldotna and the Kenai River. A world famous river for sockeye salmon. The peak run for the salmon is the 15^th to the 17^th. We arrived at a city campground on the river and snagged the last of the river sites. After that the campground began to fill and within 3 days the place was full with people trolling for sites. We were so blessed. They have a daily fish count: Sat: 6,798 fish; Sun: 23,052 fish; Mon: 92,734; Wed: 214,000. As the fish increased so did the number of fisherman. Thankfully, Les got great fishing done by Tuesday before it got too crazy and it did get crazy! Ask our stories.

July 17 and 18 We explored Homer. We camped on the spit in a city campground again on the water. A large barge was beached there waiting to be taken for repair. The eagles liked perching on it. Otters again were feeding off shore and fun to watch. The weather was sunny there but very windy.

July 19   I took a bush plane across the Cook Inlet to view bears. Just as we arrived a mother and her 3 cubs came down the bluff, across the stream and up the other side. She then disappeared and no more bear were sighted! Thank you Lord for them. While on our way back the pilot flew us over Double Glacier. How beautiful!

We camped that evening at Russian River and took a 3mile hike one way to a falls where you can see the salmon trying to jump up the rushing water.  Amazing that any make it!  The Fireweed here is sooo beautiful and everywhere!  This track was not on the road when we went up to the trailhead but was there when we returned!

We are now heading east to Skagway, a little more than 1,000 miles. There we will board the ferry and head south to Prince Rupert, BC. Then down to Seattle to visit Lori, Tacoma for a visit with Maryann and Ron, and San Francisco to visit Aaron. Our trip will be complete then! Only thing left is to drive home. Only another 3,000 miles!