Cooke Inlet and Kenai Wildlife Refuge

Today we had planned on doing some city-exploration by driving on the Kenai Spur Highway to the City of Kenai. It’s a quaint town but not much bigger than Soldotna. However, they have a Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, and Home Depot. Besides that there was nothing we couldn’t already get here. Matthew decided to take us to the Cooke Inlet since we’ve heard so much about it while we flew up here. The first view of this inlet took my breath away. I’ve been to many beaches but nothing that looks anything like this frozen beauty. As you will see by the pictures, the entire “beach” area was covered in snow and sheets of ice. The Sun glistening off the water and the ice made the entire view incredible. In some pictures you can see the Redoubt and Iliamna Volcanos amongst the mountain chain.

(Gotta have a local street sign!)

(I loved the mountain veiws! The REALLY tall mountain is the Redoubt Volcano!)


(Yes, the entire "beach" was a giant ice-slick!)

(Matthew was enthralled with the dunes covered in snow)

(The sun glistening off the ice-covered rocks)

(We had so mcuh fun "climbing on the ice...you can see the Iliamna Volcano behind Matthew)

(We're here in ALASKA!!!)

(Another Cooke Inlet picture)

(Greetings from the Cooke Inlet!)

After a visit to Wal-mart and lunch at Subway, we trekked over to the Kenai Wildlife Refuge located in between Soldotna and Kenai. Sadly, the Visitor Center was closed but we walked around some of the shorter trails. Unfortunately we didn’t see a lot of animals but we saw a LOT of animal sign and the forest was gorgeous. The locals told us that the wetlands are generally very pretty but, as you will see in the pictures below, the wetlands AND the Keen Eye Lake were completely frozen over.

(Unfortunately the Visitor Center was closed but we still walked around the trails to the lake)

(LOTS of snow right now)

(Look close, I'm holding onto some moose antlers...the cabon belonged to a famous Big-game Guide, Andrew Berg)

(Matthew loved the woods...My happy mountain man!)


(Us having a great time in the Kenai Wildlife Preserve)

(There were signs-a-plenty to tall us about the local plant and wildlife)

(How often can you stand in a swamp and not get wet?)

(Matthew got the biggest kick out of this fact)

(How about standing on a lake?)

(How about standing on a lake with that kind of background view?)

(Matthew using his mad-tracking skills, lol)

(Look closely and you can see the Black-Capped Chickadee who seemed very interested in us)

(These mushroom were growing all over the trees and they fascinated Matthew!)

(I am lovin this forest!)

(Just judging by this moose-print, I don't know how well Matthew would hold-up against one!)

And those were the big adventures for today. I start my first day at work tomorrow so wish me luck. I’m VERY excited…More to come soon!