Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

Moose

Elk

A little bear cub climbed a tree and fell asleep.

Black Bear

Brown Bear

We went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, they rehab injured or orphaned Alaska wildlife. It is an impressive facility, the animals have large open, natural surroundings to roam.

Iditarod Trail in Seward, Alaska

Started at mile marker '0' of the Iditarod trail in Seward, we walked part of the trail taking in many sights along Resurrection Bay; stopping at the creamery for an ice cream treat. Truth be told, we've been stopping by the creamery at least every other day, they make a great sundae. We ended the day with a delicious dinner at Ray's Waterfront.

 

Halibut Fishing in the Kenai Fjords

Went deep sea fishing again, this time in the Kenai Fjords National Park. Gorgeous glaciers and fjords! The park oversees the Harding Icefield and at least 38 glaciers and fjords stemming from it. The only area accessible by land is Exit Glacier, we walked to it yesterday. 

Saw more humpback whales and caught two good size halibuts and once back on dry land we went to the Salmon Bake restaurant to celebrate John's birthday with a big steak dinner.

Exit Glacier

John and I have become outdoor enthusiasts as we jump in and explore more of Alaska.

Today we hiked to the Exit Glacier. It was a perfect experience that included great hiking trails, seeing wildlife, and enjoying an amazing glacier.

Whale Watching in the Kenai Fjords

Today we boarded the Orca Voyager, one of the large catamarans in the Kenai Fjords Tours fleet, for an 8 1/2  hour water tour. This was a great experience! We stood at the front of the boat and you could feel the chill of the huge glacier as we got closer; hearing the ice cracking as pieces break off and plunge into the water.



We were lucky enough to see a humpback whale breach, bringing most of his body out of the water, and other whales come up for air. One rolled on it's side and waved to us. What a privilege to see nature's beauties: the bald eagles, sea otters, humpback whales, stellar sea lions, puffins, and the beautiful glaciers.

Seward SeaLife Center

We walked all over Seward, fun seaside town. Went to the Seward SeaLife Center, which was smaller than we expected but still a good stop for a couple of hours. We really enjoyed the sea lions, there are two of them and they love to show off.  The bird section was fun with the puffins swimming and flying and one puffin was pretty friendly . We found the fish tanks interesting, they had silver salmon at different stages of growth. We ended the day by popping into the creamery and treating our selfs to two delicious sundaes.

Seward, Alaska

We got up early today and took a walk around the ranch before we packed up the RV and rolled out towards Seward. We've been looking forward to spending time in Seward, we reserved an RV site at the Seward Resort for one week. The Seward population sits around 3,000 for year round residents and, like the town of Homer, rises rapidly to double that as the summer season arrives.

We quickly setup the RV and jumped in the jeep to explore Seward.  It is known as the “Gateway to Kenai Fjords" and offers a plethora of boating trips, we signed up for a boat tours that includes glacier and wildlife viewing for Saturday. The town has a nice, laid-back seaside vibe. We walked around the harbor and popped into the Alaska Seafood Grill for dinner.

Fishing for Salmon

Went fishing for silver salmon today. We love watching the seals as they swim up and down the river with the tide changes, they are such curious creatures. Had fun but no silvers.

Been fishing at various locations along the Kenai River and the silver salmon have succeeded to elude us. Caught some red salmon and a few pink salmon (plus one ugly prehistoric looking fish) but have not been able to pull in a big, wonderful, delicious silver salmon yet.

The challenge continues.

Horse Day

We spent most of the day hanging out at the Diamond M RV Ranch here in Soldotna. We had a cookout and then we walked to the river to do some fishing before the sun went down. There are a lot of Air Stream RVs at this park. They look great, I love the shiny silver bullets on wheel - so retro.

The Moose is Loose

We've seen moose at least every other day, we still get excited when we see any wild animals. Here are the few we saw today hiking in Soldotna. 

Ninilchik, Alaska

                                                                       Russian Orthodox Church on hill overlooking the fishing village 

 We enjoyed these last couple of days in Ninilchik going to the Kenai Peninsula Fair and fishing at the old Ninilchik fishing village.