Good advice: We met a chatterbox on our flight from Juneau to Anchorage who was chock-full of insider info on places to eat and see while in Kenai. Following her advice, we dined at Mykel’s, feasting on local oysters, halibut sammys and of course a huge slice of pie to set us over the edge. Despite the sketchy 1980s dark interior, it was a great meal.
Bad advice: At our hotel, we read a visitor’s guide that was written locally were intrigued by its mention of a nearby blueberry field, as well as a local bridge where tons of wildlife could be seen. Terrible recommendations on both accounts. For one, the supposed field of blueberries was in no mans land. The directions led us down a dirt road where several sketchy cars were parked as if conducting drug deals or other illegal acts. We slowly rolled down the road waiting to see blueberries galore, but instead ended up in a field of tall grass and suspicious white sedans. Confusing.
Our drive to the wildlife viewing bridge was similarly perplexing and also a bust. I could see how wildlife would congregate to that particular marshy area, but there were really no places to park and ultimately nothing to see except indistinct birds and huge mountains. Terrible advice. Next time, we’ll either talk to the locals or stick to our guide book (which was actually doing an excellent job thus far).
Eventually we gave up on packing our day with any more activities, and instead made way to Seward. While driving on the Sterling Highway, I caught a glimpse of shimmering brown fur just out of the corner of my eye. I told Sly to stop the car. We parked on the side of the road by the river and peered through to trees. I’m not a bear expert, so I can’t validate this claim, but I swear I saw the biggest, most massive bear I have ever seen wading in the river, half-wet and glistening from catching salmon with her little cub. We tried to get closer to get a better view, but by then, a bunch of similarly curious roadtrippers had stopped to stare, scaring off the grizzly.
The light was so amazing here, we went crazy with photos. Don’t worry, this is the last of two jumping shots from this trip.
Once in Seward, we found a historic old haunted hotel and checked in for the night into a room that had a claw foot tub in a creepy room nestled below the stairs (like Harry Potter).
After settling into our room, we took the advice of the guy at the front desk and loaded up on carbs at the nearby pizza joint.
