Monday, June 9, 2014

Kenai, AK 6/6 - 6/9

Well, we are now in Kenai, AK for the next 4 weeks.  On Tuesday we did our initial drive-around.
First thing we see as we are driving down the main drag is Mt. Redoubt across Cook Inlet.  It is about 10,000 ft. and is still an active volcano.  Last erupted in 2009 and caused air traffic delays/cancellations in Anchorage (120 miles away) due to the ash in the air.

 Beautiful sight.


First stop was the Kenai Visitor's Center.  This was above the doorway.
Picked up lots of good material for fishing, sightseeing, etc.


This store was across the street and is typical of the peninsula with all of the fishing that goes on here.



This was one of many displays along the main road in Kenai.





On Wednesday we drove up the coastal highway to try to get a better view of Mt. Redoubt as well as the other three mountains across the inlet which are all part of the Alaska Mountain Range.
We drove about 25 miles east to try to find a clear view but it was difficult because trees lined the highway.  And, if you did find a clear view, it was a private drive and you couldn't get off the road.
We did finally come to this little town, and, I remembered that, back in 2011, we did actually find a road that led us back to the water.  


Before we got there, of course, we came upon some flowers along the road called lupine and had to have a picture!

We did make it to the shoreline and got good views of the inlet.   As you can see, Cook Inlet is a very popular place to drill for oil.  Many oil companies are operating out there.




This platform is part of an oil company's presence on the beach.



We were right down on the beach looking for rocks (actually Judy was - I was looking out over the water)!!

Decided we needed to take a selfie - with a regular camera, no less.  Not bad, huh??






Tide was out so there was alot of beach.  The tide coming in here and in Turnagain Arm is the second highest in North America, second only to the tides at Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick, Canada.  They say to be very careful of the tides because they can come in 4 times faster than you can run!



Saw this tree stump and wondered what might be living down in that hole!


On the return trip we noticed many oil refineries along the way.



And, when we got back to the edge of Kenai, we noticed a sign that mentioned that the Kenai public beach was just down the next road.  Well, golly, had we seen that sign before, we wouldn't have had to drive all the way to Nikiski!!
Oh well - we did get to see the oil wells up there!

As you can see, the tide is still out.




 And, another couple of shots of Mt. Redoubt:




We made our way over to Soldnota (a town about 10 miles away) to check out the visitor's center there.  Along the way we saw this bakery that looked interesting so we came back to check it out.



WOW - what a find!!  The store is in front and they sell all kinds of moose-related stuff as well as all kinds of baked goods.  We each had a cinnamon-apple fritter and a drink.  The fritters reminded us of the fritters that my Aunt Nora used to make on the farm years and years ago.  Delicious.
The room behind the store was a small eating area and behind that was the actual bakery.  This machine was on display.



On our way back to Kenai, we took a different route and saw this sign:


Check it out - in 16 miles, there were 175 moose killed!  I guess most of the accidents happen at night when the moose are on the move because we did not see any.

Another view of Mt. Redoubt:


 On the way back we stopped at this place.  A young guy does wood carvings.




Judy got a piece of wood from him and made this tic-tack-toe game (along with the rocks she has been collecting).


More later...

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