After Denali, we drove down to the Kenai Peninsula which I thought was the most beautiful part of Alaska.  The Kenai Peninsula is called “Alaska’s Playground” and it is obvious why.  The entire area is rich with history and full of activities such as fishing, wilderness flights, glacier tours, hiking, biking, and every other outdoor activity you can imagine.

Our home base on the peninsula was Soldotna which was a nice central location for exploring.

We drove down to Homer at the tip of the peninsula.  Of course, we had to visit the Salty Dawg Saloon on the Homer Spit.

20170802_13223220170802_13270620170802_13290520170802_13335720170802_133403

We visited Ninilchik, a native village that was later settled by Russian men married to Alutiiq  women.  Russian was spoken in the village for many years and because of the isolated location, the dialect existed into the 21st century.  The Russian Orthodox church there is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

20170802_16363620170802_163556_HDR20170802_163341

We went to Kenai Fjords National Park to see glaciers.

20170803_14052020170803_14061720170803_183347_HDR20170803_190120_HDR20170803_191149

We tried our hand at fly fishing without much luck!

20170805_114301

We hiked, of course!

20170805_134542We decided we were only going to stay in Alaska for a month, so after the Kenai Peninsula, it was time to head to Haines to catch the ferry.  On the way, we stopped at Wrangell – St. Elias National Park.  We didn’t take the Airstream down the McCarthy Road because we didn’t want to experience any issues so we only explored the perimeter.

20170808_16543720170808_17010620170808_170112

We forgot Sea Otter but found a stand-in!

20170808_163346

We made it to Haines two days before the ferry so we could explore the town.  Haines was a major town during the Klondike Gold Rush.  Haines also has the largest concentration of bald eagles between October and February and holds the longest running  beer festival in the world.  We also had two exceptional meals in local chef driven restaurants that rival anything we’ve had in Dallas.

20170813_201429

The ferry back was a loooonnnngggg 3.5 day journey!  The Alaska ferries are in dire need of updating so it was not a pleasant trip.

20170818_083006

We didn’t do much planning for our Alaska adventure and in hindsight, there were a lot more things I would have liked to see and do.  I’m glad we did it but it’s now time for the west coast leg of our adventures in Zimmylandia!