Beautiful drive to Soldotna today.
We saw this sign along the highway and wonder - which July 1? Today is July 4, 2016. Was this in just 3 days or was the count started in 2015? My guess - 2015. 5 days later, the sign read 235 moose.
We arrived in Soldotna on the 4th of July. You know, when I put our schedule together, I don’t pay attention to the actual days until I was made this reservation. Then I realized that we were traveling to a new spot on the 4th. Maybe not the best day to travel to a new campsite but it turned out just great since we pulled in at noon, 2 hours before the big bar-be-cue. The campground furnished the hamburg and hotdogs, the buns and the condiments. All we had to do was to bring a dish. Well, they told me that I didn’t need to since I just came in today. But, I always have the ingredients for a salad and made that. What a good meal and what a fun time we had.
WWII vets were among the first Soldotna homesteaders since the area was opened for homesteading in 1947 and WWII vets were given a 90-day preference over non-vets. Of course the name of Soldotna probably came from the Athabaskan Indians word for 'stream fork'.
Then we had to get our daily walk in and headed to the Visitor Center. It was such a long walk that I had to rest a bit. Beautifully carved bench. And - to the right is Les Anderson, who caught the biggest king salmon in the Kenai in 1985, at 7:00 am on 5/17 to be exact. It took an hour to land the fish and at one time the fish went airborne and crossed Bud’s line. Then Les was knocked on his feet to the bottom of the boat but managed to hold on to the line. When they tried to land it, their found out - their net was too small. Finally, they managed to reach the boat and manhandle the fish ashore. Not realizing that it was a record holder, they continued to fish and put it into their locker when they arrived back in town.
When they got it weighed, it was 97.25 lbs, well ahead of the old record 93 lbs. It’s all about the fish in Soldotna and here’s a statue to their favorite.
Inside the VC was a nice collection of art work from the area. Here's the James Kinkle Ivory Collection, one of the larges personal ivory collections in America. And, it includes a wooly mammoth tush as the centerpiece.
We saw this story from the local paper. We were just hiking that trail about 1 1/2 weeks ago and since then then have been two bear problems.
We then walked down the ‘fish walk’ out side the VC along the river.
This went on for about a mile. Almost all new and put in to draw fisher-people to the area, protect the banks alongside the river and protect the those fishing from falling in. However half the fun is donning your full-suit waders and really going after the fish.
We also noticed these along the river. We saw these racks in several places in several towns along the river. Such a good idea.
Nice walk and nice day. Then it rained for the next 2 days: light rain - Tuesday and heavy rain - Wednesday. And that was our excuse to try out this establishment.
A bakery after my heart. Bear claws, donuts of all sizes and shapes, danish, cinnamon rolls, scones, lots of cookies and cupcakes. With free coffee, this would be my favorite place if I lived here. Especially with this cartoon on the wall.
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