Our drive to Soldotna (population 4,719) was only 94 miles west toward Cook’s Inlet. We passed through some of the best fishing areas in Alaska along the Russian and Kenai Rivers. As we drove past the confluence of the two rivers on our left, I was describing to MFI and Hanna my view of 10 fishermen standing equidistance apart about 15 yards into the water, when I noticed at the end of the line closest to us was a grizzly carrying a wriggling fish in its mouth and wading back to shore. Unfortunately, I failed to get a picture, what with my fumbling excitement combined with only a brief sighting as we sped by. At least Hanna confirmed seeing the grizzly too.
We stopped at Wildman’s Convenience Store in Cooper Landing (population 344) for lunch and some joe. The parking lot was quite sloped, crowded, and very dusty, but they offered a full coffee menu and there were several food tents set up outside. We ate at one called Hotroot, which served delicious soups, stews, and curries. Seemed like a strange fare given where we were. We laughed at and couldn’t argue with the message left on Arthur’s window.
Because we didn’t have much time before Hanna left, we used Soldotna as a staging location for making a day-trip to Homer (population 5,522). On that day, we ate breakfast, downed some coffee, and headed south in the rain. It rained for four days in a row and became the poorest weather experienced during our entire 2024 travel season. Homer was only an hour and a half away, and we arrived at lunch time. I googled lunch places, and since our son-in-law’s name is Mike, when Mike’s Alaskan Eatery popped up we just had to go. OK, that and the fact we were hungry, and it was only a mile away. We shared one of their sandwiches, and it was absolutely scrumptious.
Homer’s biggest attractions were various cruises (glaciers, Kenai fjords, fishing, etc.) and air tours to the Harding Icefield, volcanoes along the Aleutian Range, and salmon-fishing bears, particularly in the Katmai National Park and Preserve and McNeil River-State game Sanctuary and Refuge. While many of them sounded like things we’d love to do, the reality for most was access involved flying, and those costs were prohibitive at this point in our journey. For us, this left Homer’s low cost attraction, the Homer Spit, a 4.5-mile long sandbar standing 19 feet above sea level and covering 508 acres. How the spit was created remains a debate between tidal action versus remnants of a glacial moraine. Regardless, we drove the full length, did some shopping, and grabbed a snack. We suspected the mountain views would have been spectacular had the weather cooperated.
On the way back into town, we saw a sign pointing to the Beluga Wetlands Wildlife Viewing Platform and took a detour to have a look. From the platform, we had excellent views of Beluga Lake, 280 acres of wetlands, and a forest of Willow and Black Spruce. Placards explained the area supported over 100 species of birds and there was a chance of seeing some wildlife. It could have been the rainy weather or poor timing or both, but we didn’t see anything beyond the beautiful scenery.
We retraced our route back to Soldotna, paralleling Cook’s Inlet to our west and the Kenai Peninsula 30 miles to the east. As we approached Soldotna, we took a slight turn onto Kalifornsky Beach Road and headed to the city of Kenai (population 7,807). Much like Homer, Kenai offered most if not all of the same attractions, it was just closer to the action for those tourists whom entered Alaska via Anchorage. We stopped at the Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center to determine what else the city had to offer, only to end up spending an hour in their attached museum. The lobby was a taxidermist’s dream, filled with an incredible range of stuffed Alaskan Wildlife, while the museum provided an extensive history of various aspects of Alaskan history. The dusty interior atmosphere was what forced us to leave after an hour.
I only took one picture in the museum, that being of a brief newspaper article titled “Peter Kalifornsky’s Dream” by Anthropologist Alan S. Borass dated February 20, 1987. Peter was the great-grandson of Qadanalchen, an Athabaskan (original inhabitants of interior Alaska) who took the name Kalifornsky after working in the Russian American colony of Fort Ross, CA. (The city of Kalifornsky, AK was subsequently named after him). Anyway, great-grandson Peter helped create the written version of Dena’ina, the Kenai dialect of the Athabaskan language. He committed his life to writing sukdu (traditional Athabaskan stories), original poetry and stories, and language lessons in both Dena’ina and English. He collaborated with Alan Borass and others to publish in 1991 his collected works of 147 bilingual writings. His dream was to keep the dialect alive. Alan wrote the article after spending an afternoon talking and commiserating with his friend Peter. As twilight approached, he recalled a long pause in their conversation, which he credited to their thoughts simply wandering separate ways. Eventually, Peter broke the silence by sorrowfully saying, “How come we are the last?” He was referring to the impending death of the Kenai dialect, once the language heard across the entire peninsula, but now spoken only by Peter and his two sisters. Alan ended the article with, “He [Peter] didn’t expect an answer, and I had none for him.” For us, the article was a touching metaphor for the sad cultural decline of Canadian First Nation and our country’s American Indian peoples.
MFI has consistently experienced weird dental issues during our travels, and this part of our journey was no exception. While eating a bagel on the Aurora (Valdez to Whittier ferry), a filling and the back of that same tooth broke off. So, first order of business in Soldotna was finding a dentist willing and able to do some temporary emergency repairs. How extremely serendipitous it was then to find a dental office located less than 100 yards from our campsite. We walked over and made an appointment, and they took care of her that same day.
While we were at the dentist, Hanna went for a walk to find coffee and a quiet place where she could get some work done. After MFI’s appointment, we met up with her at River City Books, an interesting little book store with an integral coffee bar. Hanna was extremely accomplished at finding places with great coffee and pleasing atmosphere. It was still raining, so we started driving around Soldotna to get a better feel for the city. Hadn’t gone far when we saw small crowds of people and a lot happening in Soldotna Creek Park. The city held what it called Wednesday Market; which included local food, merchandise, and craft vendors; a number of food trucks; and live bands performing from a bandshell-like structure. Once again, we shopped, snacked, and strolled along an elevated boardwalk, where we watched folks fishing in the Kenai River.
By dinner time, we were wet and cold and needed a hot meal prepared and served by others. I googled restaurants, and once again, in deference to serendipity and our son-in-law’s name, we chose Mykel’s. Okay, it was only 3 minutes away, and they had prime rib on the menu, but what were the chances? Sadly, they only offered prime rib on the weekends, so we settled for the beef stroganoff. Frankly, it wasn’t that great, but it was hot and sure met our requirement that it be prepared and served by others. Yes!
Unfortunately, after 10 fun-filled days with Hanna, she had to fly home and return to school and work. We left Arthur parked in Soldotna, while we drove her to the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and said our sad goodbyes…in the rain, of course. On the road, we passed a long stretch of former wildfire remnants, and I took pictures. Hanna wondered about the details of this particular fire, so I subsequently googled it and shared what I uncovered. On June 5, 2019, lightning ignited the Swan Lake Fire inside the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge about 5 miles northeast of Sterling, AK. Normally, fires inside the 1.92-million acre Refuge were allowed to burn out; however, that year was one of the driest summers on record for the Kenai Peninsula, and this fire was growing rapidly. It burned for four months, caused the Sterling Highway to be closed on several occasions and critically stopped access to the western peninsula. In the end, the fire scorched 170,000 acres, caused 11 non-fatal injuries, and cost $30 million before being brought under control. If there was a positive outcome here, then it would be the resilience of nature and no one was killed. The blackened scars from this fire stretched 30 miles between Sterling and Cooper Landing.
At this point in our journey, we’d completed all of our planned stops in Alaska. But the young couple whom had camped beside us in Fairbanks and shared their successful Arctic Ocean camping trip, had planted the seed in MFI’s head. After much contemplation and research in The Milepost, MFI finally decided we needed to drive to the Arctic Ocean. This meant working our way to Dawson City, YK and making the necessary preparations for driving the Dempster Highway north to Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories. While we felt informed, neither of us had a clear and thorough understanding of what adventure lie ahead.
EPILOGUE: During the nine summers (2011-2019) we volunteered at Pigah View Ranch in North Carolina, our niece Hanna joined us for four of those summers, living in the other half of Webwood cabin, working for the ranch in various capacities, and enjoying all that the Appalachia had to offer. Today, she is a masters student in the UCLA School of Architecture graduating mid-June 2025, works part time at several jobs to help with finances, creates beautiful pottery for fun, and sells her pottery online. She’s an incredibly strong, talented, and intelligent woman. We are very proud of her and love her to the moon. Having her join us in Alaska was a huge treat.
