The Wonderful Kenai Peninsula

The drive from Anchorage to Cooper Landing was so beautiful! We drove beside the Turnagain Arm on one side of the Seward highway, and the lovely Chugach Mountains on the other side. Then, when we got onto the Kenai Peninsula, the scenery was even more beautiful. Most visitors to the Kenai Peninsula believe that fishing is one of the best tings to do there. There are many places to see, good food to eat, and lots of wildlife to see, so the Kenai Peninsula is a great destination for just about everyone.

Quick Tips:

Make sure you have your camera with you, because there are so many things that you will want to photograph. Also, don't miss Homer and Seward. They both are so beautiful and you will enjoy both of them.

Best Way To Get Around:

The very best way to see as much of the Kenai Peninsula as you possibly can is to have your own vehicle, or a rental vehicle. There are organized tours which allow you to go to some destinations, but a car allows you to set your own schedule for seeing and doing things.

Our room in the Upper Kenai River Inn had its own private bathroom and a large deck that looked out on the Kenai River. The Kenai River is a beautiful aqua-colored river that is full of salmon and trout. Fishing is one of the main reasons people come to the Kenai Peninsula. Our room was comfortable and tastefully decorated. The bed was so comfortable that we didn't want to get up each morning. The area was very quiet and we felt very rested when we awoke each morning. At 8am, the owner, Peggy Givens, serves a delicious breakfast to her guests who are staying with her. I don't think she ever served the same breakfast twice and each seemed to be even better than the last one she served. Everything was absolutely wonderful! Peggy also has the ability to make her guests feel so welcome and that is a wonderful attribute for the owner of a B&B. We think the Upper Kenai River Inn was the very best place we stayed in Alaska!

We had a late breakfast at the Duncan House Diner. The food was very good, the coffee was excellent, and the servers were friendly and efficient. A lot of the locals eat breakfast at the Duncan House on the weekend and it was fun to listen to their conversations and see some of the gentlemen's hats. I wish I had taken my camera in with me. We thought we had made a good choice for our breakfast stop.

We dined at a table made from a tree with a large burl. The menu contained choices which leaned toward the healthy--no fried foods & lots of good choices. My husband had the shrimp scampi and I chose the chicken pecan. We both opted for the home-made soups and they were some of the very best we have eaten. The food was wonderful! We had a beautiful view of Kenai Lake, and the mountains beyond it, from our table. We had a wonderful evening. With tip, our dinner at Sackett's cost us about $80.

We had lunch at Ray's. Our booth had an excellent view of the Seward Small Boat Harbour. It was a little overcast outside, but our view of the water and mountains beyond was absolutely beautiful. We watched some of the boats move into or out of the harbour as we ate. My husband had the shrimp and chips & I had halibut and chips. We both had coffee. The food was very delicious, and the service was excellent. We would love to eat at Ray's again. (Our bill, with tip included, was a little over $35.)

We missed a wonderful breakfast and got up early to drive to Homer. It is about a three-hour drive from Cooper Landing. We were rewarded by seeing a bull moose before we even got to Sterling. We had been looking for moose since leaving Denali National Park over a week earlier. As we got into Homer, we saw a sign indicating a scenic overlook. We stopped and parked and enjoyed a beautiful view of Kachemak Bay and the beautiful Kenai Mountains beyond the Bay. It was a wonderful view. Because we missed breakfast, our next stop was The Duncan House Diner in Homer. We had a wonderful, but late, breakfast and then set out to explore Homer. We drove around Homer and saw lots of interesting sights. Then we drove out on the Homer Spit, parked, and took a long walk on the beach. The beach was mostly rocks, instead of sand, and the rocks were interesting and I had to collect some of them for the grandkids. I also found some seashells. The views from the beach were so very beautiful, that they are hard to describe. After a long walk we drove back into town and stopped at the Alaska Islands & Ocean Visitor Center. Before we knew it, it was time for a late lunch, and we ate, and drove back onto the Spit for one last visit. After another lengthy walk and a chance to watch the people fish, it was time to head back to Cooper Landing. We were sad to have to leave so soon, because we realized that we should have spent an additional two to three days in Homer. We will plan better on the next trip to the Kenai Peninsula.

In Homer, we stopped and visited the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center. The Center is sponsored by the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and Kachemak Bay Research Reserve. Our visit began with a wonderful film about the research being done to protect Alaska's wildlife on remote Alaskan islands. They use a supply ship to transport researchers to their various destinations, and to resupply them with needed provisions. A lot of important research projects are underway. We next visited the displays within the Center and learned a lot about the work being done to protect and enhance Alaska's wildlife. For visitors who have a whole day at the Center, there are guided estuary or birding walks, and visits to tide pools with a naturalist. The admission at the Center is free of charge and the visit is well worth your time.

We visited the Seafarer's Memorial on the Homer Spit. It is dedicated to those who have lost their lives to the sea. It is a very pretty place and as you stand there with the water in the background and read the poem about the sea, you can't help but feel sad for those who have perished. The location of the Memorial seems perfect to me.

We heard that there are a lot of pretty agate rocks along the shore of Cook Inlet at Captain Cook State Recreation Area, so we decided to drive over and check it out. We took the Sterling Hwy to Kenai and then the Kenai Spur up to our destination. The drive was very nice because we had so much beautiful scenery to view along the way. We couldn't get lost, since Captain Cook State Recreation Area is at the very end of the Kenai Spur. We stopped at the Discovery Campground and Picnic Area. We had stopped at a deli for food in Kenai and had a picnic first. Then we hit the beach. We walked for miles and found so many rocks that they got almost too heavy to carry. Next time we go rock collecting, we plan to walk down the beach, turn around, and then start collecting. That way, we won't have to carry them so far. We found several rocks that appear to contain gold and many that just look unusual. Our grandkids loved them all. We shared the beach with lots of ATVs. We learned that there are many cabins further up the beach, and the "beach road" is the only road to them.

On a return trip from Anchorage, we decided to turn off the Seward Hwy and have a look at the historic old town of Hope. Gold was discovered here in 1896, and the new community was named Hope City. By 1899 most of gold had been found and the miners had moved on to other strikes. Buildings were left intact, and Hope is the best preserved gold rush community in southcentral Alaska.

We thought it was a neat little town to walk around in & would have spent a lot more time there, but it began to rain fairly hard. We finally retreated to our van and used it to do the rest of our exploring.

It must have been raining in Hope for some time before that, since there was a big layer of mud near the creek and the shore of Turnagain Arm. I wanted to collect more rocks, but the mud made me rethink that idea, and we returned to Cooper Landing.