Monday, 7/22/19 Denali National Park
We went back to the Denali Visitor Center and then to the dog sled demo area at Denali. They use dog sleds in the park instead of motor vehicles when there is snow.
That night we want back to the 49th State Brewing Company for dinner again. You can see by the sign that we were only 159 miles from Sarah Palin’s house!
Tuesday, 7/23/19 Travel to Anchorage
On the way to Anchorage we stopped at the Veteran’s Memorial. Again, we had great view of Denali Mountain (formerly named Mt. McKinley).
When we got to the RV Park we decided it was time to go to the laundromat. Next door to the laundromat was a hair salon. We each got haircuts for $10 each!
Wednesday, 7/24/19 Anchorage
We got the Alaska Rail Road train to Whittier, AK. The train goes from Anchorage to Grandview. Terrific train ride. We got on the train at 9:45 A.M. Went to Whittier where we saw a cruise ship in the harbor. The train goes through a tunnel to get to Whittier. Cars use the same tunnel so since the railroad owns the tunnel the train takes priority. The cars are stopped until the train gets out of the tunnel. It was an awesome ride. We saw 3 different glaciers. Not too many animals but we did see several eagles.
We got off the train at Portage and boarded a bus to get us back to Anchorage. We went for dinner at Gwennie’s Old Alaska Restaurant. Quite a place. Interesting interior.
Thursday, 7/25/19 free day in Anchorage
Did some shopping since we were in a populated place. Stocked up on basic supplies. We went to Shipping Creek area to watch people fish for salmon off of the banks of the river.
Anchorage was much bigger than Fairbanks.
Friday, 7/26/19 Drove to Kanai Peninsula
The town closest to the campground is Soldnota. We drove around and they told us no visit is complete without a stop at a bakery called The Moose is Loose. Delicious apple fritters and cinnamon rolls. They have a bun called Roadkill that is like a cinnamon roll flattened until it is only about ¼” thick. It was crispy and delicious.
Rick’s cousin Sean delivered packages to us on Friday. Sean and his Dad, Charlie, had been fishing in Kenai the week before we got there. We used his address in Anchorage to have RV parts delivered to in Alaska. He lives in Anchorage but was in Kenai for the week fishing. We got to see them as they were on the way home.
Visited the Soldotna Visitor and Kenai Visitor Centers to get maps.
Saturday, 7/27/19 Kenai
Visited the local hardware store for some hardware we needed for the RV. Most unusual store. Never saw so much fishing stuff! The walls were covered with stuffed animal heads.
It was Progress Days in Soldotna so we visited the park where it was being held. They had vendors, food trucks and entertainment on the stage.
Then we went back to the Kenai Visitor Center where they had some local arts and craft tents on the lawn. We went back about a block to a small park where we could look down at the dipnetters on the beach. It is legal for people to dipnet for about 3 weeks in July. They set up camp on the beaches and use big nets to scoop the salmon out of Cook Inlet. It was incredible. We could see the salmon jumping out of the water on their quest to go north. People just scoop them out of the water.
We talked to a young man along the street. He showed us the fish he had caught in about 3 hours of dipnetting.
Sunday, 7/28/19 free day in Kenai
In the morning the tailgunner and Rick fixed the slide topper on the RV with the parts that Sean delivered. Rick also installed the part to fix the motor home front turn signal. Then we visited Kassik’s Brewery. We had a late lunch and returned to the campground. It was a resting day! We were going to go to a local rodeo at 1 PM but it rained so we didn’t think it would be a good idea. We were really behind on the blog so we spent some time on updating it. We have been so busy!
Rick & Elaine's Alaska Caravan 