June 9th,2016
The Kenai Peninsula, jutting into the Gulf of Alaska south of Anchorage, is South-central's playground, offering salmon and halibut fishing, spectacular scenery, kayaking as well as hiking galore. Many people, I have read, choose to return to the Kenai Peninsula time and time again. Because of this, we wanted to spend half of our 6 week vacation here. I could not wait to see it!
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This guy was a wealth of information!
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The four of us packed up our things in record breaking time, and headed out in our separate cars. Not far down the road we stopped at
Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center in Portage, AK. This facility is dedicated to rehabilitating orphaned and injured animals and providing wildlife awareness and education to the public.
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Not to worry, this handsome guy was safely behind fencing at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center in Portage, AK
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This guy got comfy in a hole he dug
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This grizly knew how to scratch that itch!
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Red Fox
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It was such a beautiful day to stroll around seeing Alaskan wildlife in their natural habitat (with the safety of a fence). We were able to finally see the elusive grisly (brown bear) as he dug for ants (how harmful can he be if he can be happy for 15 minutes chowing down ants?) We enjoyed the beautiful property with the mountains in the distance as we checked out the musk ox and their adorable babies, and bison. There was a lynx on the property we unfortunately missed.
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"Snickers" the porcupine was very tame, and actually pet-able due to the quills being underneath the top coat.
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Returning to the cars we headed south again, camera snapping. One stretch of road was more beautiful than the next.
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Moose just off the road ( not behind a fence )
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Norm photographing one of the many lakes along the Seward Highway
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When renting VRBO ( Vacation Rentals by Owner ) homes, you can see a lot of pictures on the internet and read reviews, but you never really know what you rented until you get there. So as we drove down the road in the outskirts of Seward and saw that the properties were quite downtrodden, we got a little concerned. We passed a junk yard with RV’s quite possibly from the Ice Age, with heaps of stuff you might see on TV’s “Junkyard Junkies” or some such reality show. I’d love to go back and check it out, but is this area safe?
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Not that I make a habit of browsing dumps, but this one had real relics in there. Wish we had time ( and the courage) to poke around.
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A short distance more, and the GPS said we were getting close. WOW! Our rental, Cottonwood Corner, stood out like a shiny penny. Beautiful gardens, fire pit ( with wood beside it )and lovely deck neat as a pin greeted us as did the basket of goodies inside on the counter. The owner, Kate, came over to say hi and answered any questions we might have.
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Our lovely VRBO Cottonwood Corner in Seward, Alaska
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We flipped a coin with our friends to determine who gets the first choice of bedrooms, and ta-da! Norm and I won! I tried all the beds like Goldilocks and chose one of the bedrooms upstairs. The Little’s decided to go for convenience, and picked the one on the main floor. Not a bad choice because some days those steep stairs feel like yet another mountain on our knees. Still, it’s nice to have the space.
It was after 3PM when we arrived, so we relaxed, enjoyed our own little “happy hour” and cooked a nice meal.
