Okay, finally getting down to write. First let me say, it is 9:30 p.m. and outside looks like it's 4 p.m. Just crazy. Don't know how we're gonna get to sleep in a little while.
Our flight up took 10 1/2 hours. Terry and I had inside aisle seats and didn't get to see as much out the window as we would have liked. I know we passed over a lot of mountain tops. We did get to see Mt. Hood and Mt. Saint Helens. We could see the side that blew. That's one big mountain.
When we left Seattle it was getting sorta darker, but as we got closer to Anchorage it got lighter and lighter. It was almost like no lights were needed at midnight, but they use them just to justify night time.
Today we traveled from Anchorage to Soldotna, which is down into the Kenai Peninsula. It was probably in the upper 60's today. Folks from around here were in their shorts and tank tops. When we stopped for lunch, we ate outside in the cool air. Our waiter told us it was going to really get hot this afternoon. Yeah, right.
For miles and miles and miles we followed what's called the Turnagain Arm. It was a big body of water that comes in from the Cook Inlet. Beluga whales live in this body of water and can be seen at high tide. As luck would have it this morning was low tide. But still, the backdrop of the tall mountains with the water beneath them was just breathtaking. Much of the snow has melted and there are fingers of snow coming down the mountains. There are many waterfalls beside the highway. Just to think that the waterfall water came all the way down the mountain from the snow and then melted into the water as it got closer to the ground was amazing. I bet it is dang cold, too.
At one point we stopped to look out over the water and at the mountains. Terry turned around towards the mountains in back of us. Waaaay up on top he saw little white specks. We got our binoculars and discovered those specks were Dahl sheep. Apparently these sheep are not wild life that is seen very often. There must have been 15 or so of these sheep up on that mountain. Cool!
There is only one highway that goes south towards the Kenai. It is called the Sterling Highway. Most of it is two lane. With it being vacation season we saw plenty of campers and tourists, but for the most part the traffic wasn't bad.
We stopped at one place called Russian River Falls. It was our intent to hike to the falls to see the salmon jumping upstream and maybe even seeing bears hunting for fish. Shoot. Terry and I went a very short ways, and Martha and Dave went back towards the car. It was going to be a very steep hike and mosquitos as big as moths immediately overpowered us. So much for salmon jumping and bears fishing!
So, as we got closer to Soldotna, we started following the Kenai River. Don't know what causes it, but the water is as pretty blue as I've seen. The water travels pretty fast in it too. We saw rafters floating and going over rapids.
When we got to Soldotna, which is a one highway town with the whole town on each side of the road, we walked down behind our hotel and walked on the boardwalk. We saw many small fish traveling upstream. Turns out they were called Hooligans. A family was catching them with their hands, keeping some and letting others go. He said they only come for a couple of weeks each summer. He said they are an oily fish on the inside.
So, it is close to 10:00 now and we need to somehow get to sleep. Tomorrow is a big day. I have pictures but am too tired to figure out how to get them on here. Will work on it tomorrow.
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