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Anchorage is a bowl surrounded by mountains, except for the water of Cook Inlet. It is a beautiful city, the largest in Alaska. In the morning we were greeted in the campground by Arnold and Peggy, the couple from Saskatchewan who we haven’t seen since Whitehorse. When we left the campsite, we checked out some fishermen in Ship Creek, very near our campsite as we heard there were salmon running there. We also drove out to Earthquake Park which commemorates the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake which measured 9.2 on the Richter Scale. It devastated a large area of the coast from Anchorage all the way down the Kenai Peninsula.
Alaska has approximately 30 earthquakes every day. Fortunately most are 3.0 or less. There is a website that shows a map of where the quakes were and a chart below showing the intensity. The site is www.gi.alaska.edu/ It is from the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
The Seward Highway took us south from Anchorage toward the Kenai. This road follows the shores of Cook Inlet and the Turnagain Arm down to Portage as it envelopes the Chugach State and the National Forests. The tides of the Turnagain
Arm vary 33 feet between high and low tide. The Kenai Mountain Range looms to the west and even with the low lying clouds and spritzes of rain they afforded us an amazing view. The train tracks also follow the same path until they veer off toward Whittier.
Next we passed the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center which is a drive through animal park featuring all the wildlife we came to Alaska to see. We hope to stop and see this on our return trip. We stopped for lunch in Girdwood, a little off the beaten path on the Alyeska Highway. There is a famous ski resort area here. We ate at the Chair Five Restaurant which had great food and great service.
We passed through mountains that were still heavily blanketed with snow. The weathers has been 10-15 degrees cooler here in Alaska and they are about 2-3 weeks behind in the salmon running and the flowers blooming. So much for global warming Al. There were waterfalls coming off the mountains and over and through rocks and we saw a coyote as he crossed the road in front of us. We passed many beautiful lakes, rivers and stream
along the Sterling Highway as we traveled to our next stop, the town of Kenai.
Kenai (pronounced Keen-eye) is located on a bluff over the Cook Inlet and on the mouth of the Kenai River. There is an old fort and beautiful little Russian churches there. We found a small campsite at Kenai RV Park where the people were friendly but the free wi-fi was nonexistent. We walked to the bluff after supper and talked with a very interesting and friendly lady from town. Heidi Hall was there checking to see if the salmon had started up river yet. She explained the madhouse that happens once the fish start running. They are allowed to fish the river on Tuesday and Thursday only. They use big nets that they string across the river. Everybody and their brothers and sisters are needed to get the fish cleaned and packed once they empty the nets.
Heidi also told us that it normally costs her about $6,000 to heat their 3800 sq ft log cab, but this year so far it has cost her double that because of the severe winter and also the price of oil. They have just gone out
and bought an exterior wood furnace. Friends at home Jeanne and Paul have one that they use to heat their two-family home. By the way, Heidi sells real estate in the area if anyone is interested in relocating here.
While we were talking to Heidi an eagle flew by and landed on the beach below. Shortly after, two young bald eagles flew by us playing tag.
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