Heading to our summer home

We are now on the road to Valdez, another gorgeous drive.  Arriving in Valdez we found a campsite, again inbetween mountains  and a finger of the pacific ocean.  We settled in and then out to dinner for Cynthia and Jiggs anniversary. (51 yrs)  Stayed in Valdez for a couple of days, checked out the town and the oil tank storage area for the pipeline.  Rest of the time was spent cleaning our vehicles in and out from the awful road dirt.  When I turned the vents on in my car it blew lots of grime at me. It was awful. We will be traveling through Anchorage on our way to our home for the summer in Soldotna.

We made it, some 5,000 plus miles, to our home campground for the summer on June 7th.  It is situated on the Kenai river where the salmon will be running come July.  June 9th Carl and Jiggs launched their rubber boat on the river to see if it would take the 25 to 30 mile hour moving river.  A great cheer for the boat, it held it's own.  We haven't caught a salmon yet but we are told our freezer will be full before we leave here.  We have several moose that visit us in our backyard including a calf. 

On Monday's no one is allowed on the water with a motor so we have decided that will be our adventure day.  Today we went to Seward, ate on the waterfront and enjoyed the little shops.  We all hiked to Exit glacier a part of the Harding icefields.  Jiggs and Cynthia were amazed how much the icefield had shrunk in 6 years.

Carl and I went for a hike today, up to a waterfall and then you could travel a little farther to the Russian river and watch the fishermen.  I can't believe the fishermen and women have to hike this trail if they want to fish in that area.  The waterfall wasn't much but the hike was great and we are told when the salmon start running we will be able to see the bears catching  the fish.  We will be going back to see the bears.  This was a round trip hike of 8 miles.  We were exhausted.

Above is a  pic of the local people fishing the rivers.  When the salmon really start coming in they will be elbow to elbow.  Another pic of the local sustenance fisherman netting their fish at cook inlet. 

On Monday we will be setting out for another adventure, going to Homer to look into a fishing trip.