Kenai Lake

Hello friends & family! We've moved down onto the Kenai Penninsula yesterday & today we took a short drive (15 mi.) to Kenai Lake. It was a gravel road and really wild, uninhabited country! We took a picnic lunch and enjoyed it beside the lake. It had been rain, rain, and more rain in the Portage Glacier Valley, but clearing now and today is beautiful with blue sky & small puffy clouds, and temps in the high 70's.
We're staying 3 days in a Princess Line RV Park. Didn't know there was such a beast, but with our discounts it's no different in price than the local RV Park, and it has lovely ammenities, internet access included! I'm sitting in the lodge (very posh, too) with huge windows showing me the mountain across the valley and the Kenai River down below. That color, a glacial greeny-blue, is so amazing. It is the glacial silt, with interesting color refractions.There are large flower baskets along the railing, and they are filled with multi-colored blossoms; daisys, pansies, geraniums, sweet williams, etc. The lodge has huge Princess Line buses coming up each day as this is a premier fishing, animal viewing, and sightseeing area in Alaska.
While we stayed in Eagle River (just north of Anchorage) we were able to visit the local Grace Brethren Church. The former pastor, Mr. John Gillis, was my pastor when I was growing up in Sunset Beach. His daughter married a local man and is still attending there. I used to babysit her. It was amazing that she remembered me! We missed Mr. & Mrs. Gillis as they were up here last month. Kelly will give her father the news that Garth & I were there in the church he pastored for so many years until his retirement.
We stopped to bird watch at Potter's Marsh, south of Anchorage, along the Turnagin Arm (think the big inlet that was so close to the 1964 earthquake and sank 6-8 feet, flooding two villiages, and causing them to need to be relocated). At the birding area we saw a red-necked grebe (a first for me!) and 3 bald eagles!
The salmon are running and every creek has signs of them spawning. I'm still waiting to see the bears coming down to feed on the salmon! I remember that from the trips in '63 and '65.
Our friend Mary Kasenberg arrives on Monday and we've plans for a raft trip along with a half-day salmon fishing expedition!
Garth has enjoyed the home-cooked dinners every night but I think I'm going to ask to be taken to dinner at the lodge tomorrow night. The cook needs a night off!