The main feature of this trip was a three night stay at a lodge in Lake Clark National Park bear viewing. To get there, we had to take a small air-taxi from Soldotna, AK to the park. It was time to take the three hour trek from Anchorage to Soldonta where we would base for the next three nights.
Before we left, it was time to check out one other Anchorage location: The Alaska Zoo. On our “Things we must do” list, is to see a zoo in ever state that we visit. So it was off to the Alaska Zoo. The Zoo is a smaller zoo though we budgeted three hours to see it. We grabbed breakfast at the hotel that morning and planned our arrival at Zoo opening at 9:00am
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Two things stood out from the trip that was a bit different than we’ve seen: A wolverine fight, and a brown bear fight. Yes, we even went to a zoo to find brown bears as well.
After the zoo, which was on the way to Soldotna, it was time to drive down the Turnagian Arm, a jetty of water off of the Cook Inlet. There are many scenic pull-offs and stops along the way. The drive time to Soldotna was around three hours, so we budgeted plenty of times to stop.
We had planned lunch at a restaurant known as the “Turnagain Arm Pit BBQ”. Of course it’s a “Pit BBQ” on the “Turnagain Arm”, but who couldn’t resist eating at the “Arm Pit”. BZZZT. Closed on Mondays. We found an open place in Girdwood, about 45 minutes further down the road called the Hightower Pub. This is in the area of the Alyeska glaciers which were fantastic to look at.
After lunch, we made a slight change in plans. The intent was to stop in Soldotna, check in, then drive about 90 minutes south to a place called Anchor Point. Anchor Point is a notorious bald eagle hot spot as they feed on the halibut discards from the halibut boats as they come in each day. We were a little behind on schedule, so we decided to check in later.
Anchor Point was a bust. We found one eagle in Ninilchik on the drive back. The early evening was starting to feel a little down, but on the way back, we ran into a magnificent rainbow, a double no less. It was perhaps the most vivid one we’ve seen and we could see both ends. By the time we got to a great scene for it, it had started to fade.
We made it back to Soldotna and checked into the Aspen Hotel where we would base. Then it was off to find dinner. For tonight, we found a mom-and-pop/hole-in-the-wall pizzeria called Pizza Boys. It was quite a good dinner after a long day driving down and up the Kenai Peninsula.
