2009 Tour Of Alaska - Anchorage and Soldotna

August 25. We got into Anchorage about 4:30 PM after leaving Orlando at 8:30 AM. I took a number of photos out of the window of the airplane but the atmospheric haze and poor vision through the airplane windows rendered them almost useless but here are a few anyway.

   

                                    Seattle as we flew out.                                 Alaska Shoreline, Glaciers and Snowcapped Mountains



   

Several Glaciers in the Mountains.                                            Closer View of a Glacier.



We picked up our rental car and headed for Soldotna. I think the last glacier above was taken from Alaska Highway 1, across Turnagain Arm on our way out of Anchorage. After circumventing Turnagain Arm and heading south west toward Cook Inlet, we spotted three grizzly bears on a bar on the inside of a meander of the Kenai River. We stopped but I was not able to get photos of them - but this was promising! We got to Soldotna in the late afternoon or early evening. We had dinner at a local restaurant and turned in. Although only about 10:00 PM Alaska time, it was about 6:00 AM EDT (body time) and we had been up more than 24 hours at this point.

On Wednesday (Aug. 26th) we first dropped by the Safeway supermarket to pick up a few things we needed for our travels but didn't want to bring along on the flight - ice chest, drinks, snacks, cards to send back home, etc. After dealing with this chore, we elected to drive across to Kenai - where there are supposed to be wildlife viewing areas - then drive down the Sterling highway (Alaska 1) along the shore of Cook Inlet south toward Homer. There are Alaska State Recreation Areas all along this highway, all offering access to either Cook Inlet or one of the rivers leading into it. The wildlife viewing areas on the Kenai loop were devoid of anything of interest so we rode south to Clam Gulch where we saw nothing. We then drove on down to Ninilchik where we had a great clam chowder for lunch at a little restaurant on the beach. Ninilchik is one of the places where we saw eagles congregating last time we were up here. There were fisher people along the creek where it empties into Cook Inlet and a few were catching occasional salmon - but none while we watched. No eagles this time either.

We stopped at the Ninilchik Creek Recreation Area (not the one on the shore of Cook Inlet) to watch more fishermen. No one caught anything though. After spending the day checking out the State Recreation Areas and watching some of the fishing (not catching!), and finding nothing to burn photographic electrons on, we headed back to Soldotna for dinner. Still under the influence of our 24 sleepless hours yesterday, we opted for early bedtime and a good night's sleep in preparation for heading to Homer tomorrow.