DIY Tour of Kenai Peninsula & Southbound Cruise on the Millenium - Lengthy

[poolwife]

I am going to start this rather lengthy review of our recent cruise with some pictures. This is the first time I have done a review with pictures so after visiting the test forum, they should come out ok.

 

We left on Thursday, June 14, 2012 on a non-stop flight from Los Angeles arriving in Anchorage at 3:00 pm. Our dear friends and traveling companions, Tony & Mary had arrived from San Francisco 3 hours earlier so they had picked up our rented mini-van from Alamo and gone and check us all in to our hotel for the night, Marriott's Residence Inn. This was Mary's first trip to Alaska and Tony's second. It was really nice that they let us tag along with them. This was our fifth trip to Alaska so they let us come up with the itinerary. This hotel was about 10 – 15 min. from downtown but worked well for us. We rented a 2 bedroom suite and split so it made it $150.00 per night for each couple with breakfast provided. They also provided a dinner in the evening. However, I didn't care for the dinner much.

 

 

One tip about renting a mini-van in Alaska is to reserve it early or as soon as you are even thinking of going to Alaska because you can always cancel it if you don't end up needing it. They don't charge a credit card until you return the car. When I first checked on them last fall, Alamo was only wanting 550.00 for our time period and all the rest were over $1300.00. We have rented mini-vans 2 out of the other 4 trips we have taken to Alaska and we always paid between $1300.00 to $1700.00 for one week to 10 days. I jumped on the Alamo offer and reserved it right away. I called twice different times before our trip confirming the reservation and its price. We ended up returning the car one day earlier than our reservation and our bill came out to under $500.00. What a bargain for the week with the mini-van. You definitely need a mini-van for 4 people plus luggage for 2 weeks that includes a cruise. We like to dress up on formal nights so brought clothes for that, but even without those clothes it would not have eliminated one suitcase.

 

 

We all were not interested in doing a cruise tour but wanted to do what we wanted when we wanted and not hurry from place to place but wanted to take our time really seeing where we chose to go. I also did

not want to run all over the state, so we concentrated on seeing the Kenai Peninsula. From what I have seen so far of Alaska, it is the most beautiful part of the state. My favorite time to go to Denali was when we went Sept. 6, 2009. All the fall colors were just so beautiful and vibrant, purples, oranges, reds, browns. It was just gorgeous.

 

 

Thursday, June 14 – En route to our hotel, we stopped at one of the largest gift shops that I had remembered seeing in Alaska, Alaska Wild Berry Products. It is the one with the tall chocolate waterfall in it. They also make all kinds of chocolate candies in their facility and have a large selection of all kinds of souvenirs. It is located at 5225 Juneau St., Anchorage.

 

 

 

 

After spending awhile shopping we went and dropped off our luggage at the hotel. Then, it being dinnertime, we decided to try a Cruise Critic highly recommended eatery, Glacier Brew house.

Well, I guess everyone can't like it. I mean it is rated #2 on trip adviser also, but it wasn't our cup of tea (brew). Overall, we found eating out in Alaska very expensive. None of us really cared for what we happened to order, plus the fact that our waiter was slooooooooowwwww. So it left a bad taste for the place with us. Others, I have read, have really enjoyed their meals and service there. It was a very busy place and we had to wait about 45 minutes.

[poolwife]

Friday, June 15 – We ate breakfast at the hotel. They had the typical hot breakfast buffet style featuring scrambled eggs, sausage, waffles, fruit, yogurts, and breads. We left and started on our route to end to end our day at Cooper Landing. This trip without stopping would be roughly 101 miles taking a a little less than 2 hours. However, there are a lot of places to stop en route. So we were not traveling very far this day. We drove out the Seward highway (Hwy. 1) stopping first at Potter's Marsh. The Alaska railroad that you see in picture #3 is traveling right next to Hwy. 1 along Turnagain Arm.

 

 

 

[poolwife]

Mountains behind Turnagain Arm from Potter's Marsh

 

 

Beautiful Turnagain Arm:

 

 

 

 

 

[poolwife]

Drove up to the Westin's Mt. Alyeska hotel to go up the tram, had lunch and enjoyed the view. Other times when we have been up there, there was hang gliders going off the cliffs at the top of the tram but there wasn't any this trip. That is beautiful to see also when they are up there.

 

 

 

 

That is Westin's Mt. Alyeska resort down below in the following picture:

 

 

Blooming with lots of tulips in front of the tram.

 

[KruisinKath]

More, please! :D

[Twinkd]

Enjoying your report and looking forward to more. Heading that way in 28days!! Counting down!!:)

[poolwife]

As you can see here the animals have plenty of room to roam around. They are there because they might have been hurt while in the wild or abandoned by their mothers.

 

 

This eagle in the picture couldn't fly anymore because he had lost a wing:

 

 

 

Don't know why this eagle picture came out so big. I resized it smaller and tried posting here twice and it is still so big. Oh, well.........

 

 

 

There were also 3 baby moose calves but I couldn't get a good picture because they were lying in their bed area and it was too dark to shoot a picture.

 

 

I hope this gave you a taste of the refuge center. Unfortunately, I wasn't taking pictures with doing this review in mind and don't have a picture of the sign at the front entrance to the center which is right at Hwy 1 near the turnoff for the Portage Glacier. It is a great place to stop and kids will really enjoy it also. When we were there, a worker was calling the bears over and throwing carrots to them and the bears came right up to the fence.

[poolwife]

KruisinKath & Twinkd:

 

Thank you so much for saying you are enjoying my review. Makes all the work that goes with it worthwhile.

 

Twinkd: Since you are going there in 28 days, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

 

Also, our friends traveling with us, Tony & Mary, took a lot of good pictures. He sent them to me over snapfish

but I don't know how to transfer them onto cruise critic. I am getting these off of ones I have uploaded to photobucket.

So, if anyone knows how, please let me know. Thanks

[poolwife]

Forgot to mention that they were bbqing hamburgers and hot dogs outside at the top of the tram. They were real good but $10.00 for a burger and chips. My husband got fish and chips inside and they were also real good.

 

 

Guess I don't always get the pictures the right size even when I resize them

[mapleleaves]

we're all enjoying your photos! Don't take the lack of response as disinterest .... I'm sure people are holding their comments until the end so as not to interupt the continuity of your trip report and photos. :)

[poolwife]

Found these other pictures and wanted to include them. Let's you see what nice big enclosures they have.

 

 

 

 

Starting on to the Kenai Peninsula:

 

 

Pretty waterfall on our way around Hwy. 1

 

[time4me2fly]

I'm happy I came across your review. I love your details and beautiful pictures.

I'm thinking of going to Alaska in 2014. It's a long way off, but it gives me lots of time to plan what I want to do.

[poolwife]

Next, still continuing on with only Day 2 - knowing there isn't too many places to eat at in Cooper Landing where we were spending the night, we stopped at Summit Lake Lodge which isn't long before the turn off for the Sterling Hwy. which take you to Cooper Landing, Soldotna and around to Homer.

 

Summit Lake Lodge comes up on the left side of the road and is well worth spending some time at. We stopped there for an early dinner getting there about 4:45. Dinner menu started at 5:00 so they let us order off of either the lunch menu or dinner menu. My husband, John and I, split the rib eye steak with fresh mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes and veggies. We also each had a salad. It was plenty to split. It was absolutely yummy and one of the best meals we had on our land portion of our trip.

 

Eating out in Alaska is much higher than it is in California, so we split meals a lot and it worked out just fine.

 

Being Summit Lake is one of my favorite spots, I am going to include quite a few pictures so, hopefully, you can see the beauty that I do.

 

The pictures where it looks warmer out and we are in short sleeves are still at Summit Lake but were taken on our way back a week later on June 21 when we stopped there for lunch. The sun was out that day and it was glistening on the lake which made for some really nice pictures.

 

They also have real good ice cream in the ice cream shoppe if that is all you want.

 

So, here goes. Hope the sizes don't turn out too crazy.

 

 

 

 

The picture below is the ice cream shoppe.

 

 

[poolwife]

Now, these are the pictures of Summit Lake taken when the sun was out at lunchtime on June 21. Showing them now instead of when I get there to keep the Summit Lake pictures together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mytime53]

Nice job!

[poolwife]

So, after a really yummy dinner at Summit Lake Lodge, we drove about 15 minutes to our B & B, The Hutch, in Cooper Landing. After deciding what luggage we were taking up to our room which was on the second floor, we then drove over and saw the views from the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge.

 

The Hutch B & B:

 

 

Yes, we took our suitcases (I only took one) up to the second floor. Didn't want my poor husband to drag them all up there. There was two rooms, the office and breakfast area on the first floor. They had cereals, breads, yogurts, fruits and hot drinks. George & Shirley who own and run the place are very nice and hospitable people.

 

 

Just another view of the porch/balcony area. I thought it was cute.

 

 

If you caught fish you could bbq it on their bbq and eat outside. There isn't much of a grocery store nearby. You would have to bring groceries from Anchorage or go about 45 minutes farther to Soldotna. Anchorage and Soldotna both have big Fred Meyer stores which have absolutely everything. For those that aren't familiar with them, they are kind of like a smaller version of a super Wal-Mart.

 

 

This next picture shows how they have a campfire at night you can sit around and they provide the biggest marshmallows I have ever seen if you want to roast them. The kids that were there had a good time doing that.

 

 

Next picture of the grounds behind The Hutch.

 

[poolwife]

After getting settled at "The Hutch" it was still VERY light out we went for a drive to look at the view from the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge. It is very pretty. In talking to some of the people staying there from cruisetours, they liked it. The only thing I didn't like is that being they came there on a bus, they were confined to eating just there. Too far to walk to anywhere else.

 

 

 

 

 

My dear husband who didn't mind bringing me here to Alaska for our fifth time.

 

 

[poolwife]

Saturday, June 15

Well, because we were going to have a busy day, my husband, John didn't want cold cereal etc. from the B & B, so we went out to breakfast at this great little place down the road called the "The Sunrise Inn". Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of it. We all got breakfast burritoes and they were really good. It was a very busy, hopping little place for breakfast so I highly recommend it. Not that there was very many places to choose from, but it was very good.

 

So, we had booked a Saddle/Paddle excursion with Alaska River Adventures here out of Cooper Landing. We were supposed to go for a 2 hour horseback ride first, have lunch, gold pan, and then float down the Kenai/Russian Rivers. Well, they had a mix up in their plans and they just flip flopped our plans. It worked out fine. We just did the float trip first, then went to the horse stables for lunch (bbq'ed hot dogs, chips, beans, drinks) and then rode the horses, then the men did the gold panning. (I personally thought it seemed silly since they did it in a horse trough filled with water and things, but they enjoyed being told how to do it and such). My husband said they took shovel loads of what was said to be real pay dirt from an active mine. He did find a flake of gold in his pan much to the chagrin of his friend who only got a couple of specks in his pan. Estimated value of my husband's gold - now don't get too excited - don't start packing up the tools, the car and whatever else you might think you will need to run up to Alaska to get rich - the 25 cents it was worth could hardly buy the tissue from laughing at how much fun they had.

 

The river float people had us wear big rubber overalls and boots with life jackets on and our coats over them. It was chilly going down the river. We seemed two feet wider than usual. We kept saying how we needed to have someone take a picture of us four all decked out but, of course, we forgot. When we got off the float trip then it was hurry over to the horse stables.

 

Well, post the pictues tomorrow as it is getting late.

[mommybearx2]

Thank you so much for your detailed description of your trip and the pictures are gorgeous.

[KruisinKath]

More, please! (alright, I'll stop saying that, or you'll start calling me Oliver (Twist)...:p

 

I think your pics are coming out awesome on the page! The eagle shot you thought was too big, I thought was perfect - nice to be able to see them up close!

[brassyjan]

Great pics and review! We are flying into Anchorage next Sat, doing a cruisetour and then heading on Millie southbound after...so really enjoying your stories...what did you think of the ship?

[poolwife]

We liked the ship. It just came out of dry dock, as you probably know. However, I think the only things that changed is that they added more AquaClass rooms on deck 11 and put in 3 specialty restaurants, Olympic, Qsine and Bistro on 5. Be sure and get the Italian crepe in Bistro on 5 and have them add strawberries to it. Super yummy! There is a $5.00 cover charge for all you can eat.

 

The production shows that are put on in the Theater are outstanding. Do not miss them. However, we didn't care for the other two entertainers too much, one was a comedian and the other a comedian/juggler.

 

The Main Dining Room food and service was absolutely outstanding which I will report more on later in my review.

[poolwife]

KruisinKath: Funny, when I first looked at the eagle picture after I posted it, it was huge, now it seems just fine.

 

Well, I have some time now and will post some pictures of the float trip and horseback riding expedition.

 

 

 

Our guide, Austin, really worked hard rowing the raft. No engines allowed because of the fishing.

 

 

The following picture shows a sample of all the fishermen standing in the river to catch a fish. A lot of them in the river and that were in boats did fly fishing. Didn't see many catching anything.

 

 

[poolwife]

Strange, I set the above pictures of the float trip smaller than they turned out. Don't know what is going on here. I must be doing something wrong.

[poolwife]

Here is a link to the place that was used for the horse back ride. We were real pleased with them. The owner is named Alex. His assistant was Samantha and she is very friendly and helpful.

 

http://www.alaskahorsemen.com/

 

This is an entrance area to the place. Look up online at the above link and they have some good pictures.

 

 

Well, I was going to copy and paste a picture of the front from their website but it turned out to big. So just go to their website and click on "About" and it shows the picture of the front of the ranch. My picture below isn't too bad though.

 

 

This is where we ate lunch and cooked the hot dogs.

 

 

This next picture I left big so maybe you can see the dall sheep that we saw from the top of the cliff on our horseback ride.

 

 

The gorgeous view when we got to the top of our summit. Yes, those clouds look dark and it rained on our way down the hill.