DAY 49 – 55 ~ ALASKA – PART II

Our adventure continues in Alaska as we continue south into the Kenai Peninsula.  Five days exploring the Peninsula and two days of overnight stays in Glennallen and Tok as we turn east to travel out of Alaska and back into The Yukon.

  

DAY 49-53 KENAI PENINSULA

We are spending 5 days traveling the Sterling Highway and the Seward Highway and exploring two major cities on the Kenai Peninsula; Homer and Seward. The peninsula is surrounded by Cook Inlet on the west side, Kachemak Bay on the south tip and Resurrection Bay on the east side.  Unfortunately, the highways do not meet in a loop.  It is like an upside down “U” so it’s a long drive from one end to the other.  

We stayed at an RV park that is somewhat in the middle at Cooper Landing where the Kenai Princess Lodge and RV Park is at.  We stayed there before and really liked it.

COOPER RIVER

After 146 miles and about 3 hours we arrived at Kenai Princess RV Park.  What a disappointment.  9 years ago, this place was well maintained and nice to stay at.  Now the place is pretty run down and crowded with permanent residents and Princess employees. 

We did not spend time at Cooper Landing.  The town is just one of those “side of the road” places with only gas pumps, general stores and some restaurants. 
  

STERLING HIGHWAY

We spent one day driving the Sterling Highway as far west and north as it would go through Sterling, Soldotna, Kenai to Nikiski.  It was a short day as there was really nothing to see in any of those towns.  Some nice scenery and wildflowers.

  

HOMER

Homer is the farthest you can go south on the Sterling Highway.  Homer is an exciting city with lots to see and do.  We were there on 4^th of July so it was bustling with lots tourists and the locals too.  It was a beautiful sunny day.  Unfortunately, it’s about 90 miles from Cooper Landing and took us 2 hours to get there, so we had a short time to spend there on this day. 

First thing we did was drive out onto the 5-mile long Homer Spit.  Most of the tourists were in this part.  There are a lot of cute shops, galleries and restaurants.  All the fishing tours also take off from the Spit.  You can also see the volcanoes on the other side of Cook Inlet.  Redoubt Volcano is still smoking.   

West Hill Road is a loop road that takes you up on the hill overlooking Homer and Homer Spit with nice views of the volcanos and glaciers on the other side of Cook Inlet.

There will be no fireworks tonight in Alaska to celebrate our Independence Day.  Why…. because it never gets dark enough to see any fireworks.  But you can hear firecrackers now and then. 
  

There is a lot to see in Homer so we came back on our last day for another visit.  This time we visited the Pratt Museum.  Sorry, no pictures.  I accidently deleted them #@$!.  But I found a painted rock (Homer Rocks) in the little garden in front of the museum and I hid one of my turtle rocks in the same garden.  Someone found it and posted a picture and re-hid the rock.  Yea!

  
We had a coupon for free tastings at Bear Creek Winery.  So, we visited the place and bought four bottles of their wine.  Some of their wine is made with berries grown in Alaska.

Lastly, we visited some art galleries.  This is something I do where ever we travel.  I like to check out the local talent.

 Really wanted to eat here, but only open for dinners.  Next time.

  

KENAI FJORDS NP AND EXIT GLACIER

This is a national park on the Kenai Peninsula that covers 600,000 acres.  The park covers a coastal mountain range that includes most of the Harding icefield, one of the four largest ice fields in the United States. Exit Glacier is the most accessible of the glaciers that flow from Harding Icefield.  There is a trail that takes you to the base of the glacier; if you are up to an 8-mile round trip hike.  We did a 1-mile loop to a point to view the glacier.  Along this trail are markers with dates on them showing where the glacier was at on that date.

 I hid one of my turtle rocks here.  Can you see it?

  

SEWARD

It is a shorter trip to visit this town.  It’s about 50 miles from Cooper Landing.  Seward is named for William H. Seward, who negotiated the purchase of Alaska.  This is a colorful town being the “Mural Capital of Alaska”.  There are 22 murals all over this small town.  We walked around and got pictures of some of them.  Seward is also a cruise port.  There was a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship docked at one end of the town.  So, it was quite busy in town on this day. 

 We also visited the Alaska Sealife Center.  This is a ‘GEM’ inn the AAA tour book.  This center highlights Steller sea lions, Harbor seals, Giant Pacific octopus and a sea bird habitat that you can walk into and get up close to the birds.

  

We’ve seen all we are going to see in Alaska.  It’s time to leave Alaska and make our way home.  But not quite yet.  We will head home, but we will take about three weeks doing so.  There are more sights to see along the way.

  

DAY 54 & 55~ GLENNALLEN & TOK

Day 54 & 55 are overnight stops at Glennallen and Tok.  This is to break-up the distance from Alaska to Canada.  In fact, it will be mostly overnight stops for the next 13 days until we reach the Pacific Northwest states.
  

Enroute to Glennallen we saw a moose alongside the road.  Another moose.  We have seen so many moose on this trip, it is now “oh…it’s another moose”.  However, we did stop to take a picture.  

  

We also stopped at the roadside viewing point to view and take a picture of Matanuska Glacier.  The poor thing looks like its on its last legs.  In a few years it will be gone.  Global warming; it’s really happening folks!

  

After 281 miles and 7 hours we arrived at Northern Nights RV Park in Glennallen.  This is a very nice park run by a very friendly guy.  

On the road again, the next day.  After 139 miles and 3 hours we arrived for a second stay at Tok RV Village in Tok, Alaska.  Like the first time we stayed here going into Alaska, we unhooked and had dinner at Fast Eddies. 

We are now back on the Alaska Highway and will continue driving on it into Canada.  Tomorrow we leave Alaska. Good by Alaska; we so enjoyed visiting you for 21 days. and enter Canada again; Hello Yukon, we’re back.