Soldotna, Alaska Day 60 July 1, 2013

It has been almost two months since we left home to begin our journey. We still have a lot of places to see and are looking forward to it.

Today we went to see the sights in Kenai. We stopped at the Visitor Center and found out that the Russian Church didn’t open until noon. We were also told that the old buildings weren’t open on Monday, but more on that later. We were about an hour too early for the church, so decided to drive to the end of the road, just to see what was there. There is a lot of beautiful scenery, many lakes, and the road ends at a campground and a view of the ocean. Cindy got some more pictures of flowers growing along the highway.

When we got back to Kenai, we went to see some of the old buildings including the Russian Church.

As it turned out the old log buildings were open. The guide had taken Saturday off and decided to open today to make up for it. He told us some of the history of the various buildings, and said that they were trying to decorate them in the style of the era when they were built. Most of them had only been moved a few miles or so to their present site. A lot of the old buildings are now private residences, and all we could do was drive by and look at the outside.

Notice the flag with 48 stars and the old school desks in the picture above.

Here I am holding a Bald Eagle feather. The guide told us that the only ones that can have them are the Natives.

This is an old sausage maker.

He told us that all the parkas had wolf or wolverine fur around the persons face, because these are the only fur that won't stick to your skin.

The guide also mentioned that the plants growing in the compound were authentic to Alaska 100 to 150 years ago. We noticed there weren’t any dandelions growing there. He said that dandelions didn’t grow in Alaska at all 30 years ago, but now they are huge and everywhere, and when he took care of the grounds he made sure to dig them up.  One of the buildings had been moved about 25 miles to its present location.  This log home was larger than the others and he told us that it had belonged to the matriarch of the Native tribe. He also told us her granddaughter had donated most of the furnishings that were in the home to keep it as close to how it had been as possible.

On the way back to the 5er, we stopped at an animal viewing area. When we went through there last week there were no animals present, but today there were 3 caribou lying nearby. Cindy got some pictures of them. 

 This bus/converted diner is close to the Visitor center.

When we got back we worked on one of Cindy’s quilts. I had a lot of cutting and pinning to do, but it should turn out pretty nice.

That was it for the day, thanks for visiting.