The Papillons are great sports!

I realize I should have pictures of the Pups going on their many adventures, but sometimes you just can't take the Iphone out.

We packed up everyone and off we went to Hidden Lake.  Hidden Lake is located 4 1/2 miles off the highway on a dirt road.  Dirt roads in Alaska mean lots of bumps, ruts, and four wheel drive.  The scenery was amazing along the way.

The pups have little life vests with our names, phone numbers, etc all over them.  In addition we held on to their leashes not sure of their reaction to gliding on the water.  Mowgli laid down between Erics feet and found his happy place.  Gidget on the other hand watched everything from my lap, wanting to see everything that was happening.  Hidden Lake had a nice boat ramp, a little cove that if I was a Moose, I would be there, and lots of mosquitos.  We got itchy bit for the first time on our trip.  They are crazy hungry I guess, because even with bug spray on, they were on the warpath.  We enjoyed a little paddle time on the water and I practiced my rowing.  I'm new to this stuff, so I'm trying to catch on.  The pups seemed to enjoy their ride, but Gidget was a little shocked when I took her out of the kayak and placed her on the boat ramp.  Guess she didn't know it was cold water she was gliding over.  Mowgli went out with Eric for a short little spin to see if he couldn't enjoy himself a little more.  

At every lake we have visited in Alaska you will see these...

Lifevests for children

These lifevests are right at the boat ramps so you can borrow them for your kids.  What a great idea!  From the looks of things, it looks like people respect the "borrow" part and leave them hanging when they are done.  We did see a small motorized canoe come in when we were done with two small kids, but no lifevests on.  Amazing!  you can lead a horse to water.....

Today we took the short hike down to the Kenai river to watch the Cooper Landing Regatta to celebrate the start of the fishing season.  Small fishing boats drifted by the rapids.  It was a quick short show and we headed back up the hill.

Gidget on the watch for bears (or squirrels)

After the Regatta, we cleaned up our bikes, replaced a couple of screws that fell out along the way (I told you the roads were rough!) and attached the pups baskets.  We rode around the park and the pups rode in their baskets.  They seemed to enjoy the wind blowing in their ears!  After a few rounds, we decided it was happy hour!  We set up the loungers in the screen room to avoid further mosquito bites and enjoyed our libations.  The pups were pooped after all this fun!

The plan for tomorrow is the Russian River Falls again since we heard the salmon are jumping and the bears are eating.  After that we will probably drop the kayak in Kenai Lake for a while.  Due to the assumption that bears may be there, we will leave the pups at the rv park.  We drop off our keys with the campground host just in case there is an emergency.  Its nice to be able to do that.  Gonna miss this place when we have to move on.  

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!