Now this is what I'm talking about!

On Monday we left Wasilla and headed south.  The traffic in Anchorage was not too bad.  Along the way we spotted a cow moose with a little one tagging behind in the marshy area just outside of Wasilla, a juvenile bald eagle that was huge, and another moose on the railroad tracks just outside of Anchorage.  The scenery has definitely changed from the interior with towering mountains, turquoise glacier fed rivers and rivers and the wildflowers are popping out.  We are staying at the Kenai Princess Lodge in Cooper Landing.  We were originally going to stay for a few days, but went ahead and paid for two weeks.  The park is small, located way off the highway and down from the Lodge.  The lodge is an easy walk with restaurants, outside bar with rocking chairs, gift shop and hot tub/exercise room.  Very nice folks work in the park and the lodge.  I'll give it a five on the 5 star chart.  The view to the river is spectacular and the mountains are awesome.  Right now the temp is just under 60 and it feels great.  

We finally got the kayak wet and in the water.  It's a nice one, easy to carry and pretty balanced in the water.  After riding on the roof of the toad since Las Vegas, I'll bet it was happy to be in the glacial lake like a kayak should.  We dropped it at Quartz Creek campground on Kenai Lake.    

The Pelican in Kenai Lake 

It was a beautiful day!

The clouds coming in

It started to cloud up, but never rained.  We enjoyed the day!  We stopped in"town" for a loaf of bread to make sandwiches.  At $5.99 for a loaf of sliced white, we went without.  "Town" is Wolfman's, a convenience store and a spot to shoot the bull.

The campground host told us about a great 5 mile hike just up the road with a waterfall at the end.   We hooked up the pups after breakfast and went off in the car.  The trail head is just at the Russian River Campground.  Today was our lucky day since they don't start charging until the 11th to correspond with the start of fishing season.  Fishing season here in the Kenai is a huge deal!  The host told us the area gets nuts with wall to wall people.  We will enjoy the tranquility while we can!

What a nice trail

Are we done yet?

Russian River Falls.  Magnificent!

Small World, a woman from Draper, UT took our picture.

  We saw lots of bear hair on the trail, along with scat.  No bears, though.  We carry a couple of flares just in case.  Pepper spray can blow back at you.  The bears are afraid of the flares.  I really don't want to see a bear out here. Next time I think we'll take the pups potty bells.  It's hard to make a lot of noise along the trail and how much is too much? Or not enough?  Oh the things to think about when your retired and living the dream!  

The Russian River

I can't tell you how GREEN this is!

Mowgli and Gidget ready to go home for LapNaps!