Alaska: The Sterling Highway

My third morning in Alaska started with me skipping our B&B breakfast and going to Alaska Nellies. Rawr. I'd been 5 or 6 days without My Usual and I was feeling cranky. (That's Alaska Nellie pictured to the right) (bearing more than a passing resemblance to me and my ancestor, New York Nellie)

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According to Tom's "How to Conquer Alaska in Ten Days" Itinerary, we would be driving back up The Seward Highway a bit and hanging a left on the Sterling Highway to go to Kenai and, later, Homer.

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With a quick stop at the Seward Safeway to get me a nonfat raspberry mocha from their Starbucks, another one of "my usuals" intended to reduce overall crankiness and induce a general feeling of utopia, we were on our way over the Resurrection River and through Moose Gap where we left the Busbees, who were curiously side-tracked.-

Hanging a left at the Tern Lake, we got out and marvelled. (see photo) Jumped back in and headed through Coopers Landing, where we were seriously distracted by all the fly-fishing guides, even traveling a few miles down a dirt road before we got a grip, turned around and focused on afore-mentioned Killer Itinerary.

Coopers Landing is a fly-fisherman's paradise. A river runs through it:
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The beautiful blue-green, creamy Kenai River. Can you see that color? It was amazing. Can you name that color? Because I can't, but it leaves me breathless. We stopped a couple of times to take a peek and, on one such stop, just above where the Russian dumps into the Kenai, I found this spectacular mushroom, the type fairy tales are made of. My tricked out pencil box was in the trunk and I was afraid of bears anyway so I didn't attempt to draw this sweet thing. We hopped back in the car and drove to around mile marker 52 or 53 where we found Coopers Landing's Big Secret: Sackett's Grill. It was just a little shack on a gravel drive, but we were starved so we stopped.-
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Glenn Sackett himself was at the counter. We made the mistake of asking what's his favorite or the best he could recommend. That's like asking "Who's your favorite child?" Glenn was a little gruff, making sure we knew everything was the best. In other words: "We don't cook no junk." I got the pork loin philly, no peppers (on the right). I audibly moaned a few times while eating it. It was embarrassing, but that philly was incredible. Sackett has a Winter Cafe at the Beacon Rock Golf Course and he summers down here at Coopers Landing, this being the first full summer he was open. Hence, the shack. He is building and adding on as we speak. (the other sandwich is a barbecue; Tom didn't like it much, but we're from the barbecue state & have unusually high standards)
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So it was with full bellies we drove alongside the Kenai River and made our way to Soldotna to catch up with the Busbees at the Harley Davidson store, where we found Aunt Jan drooling over a sweatshirt, which, in hindsight, we should have bought for her.
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Soldotna is home to the SawFest and we just happened to be there at the right time to catch the 4th Annual SawFest. It was very interesting to watch. You can read in detail about last year's event here if you're into that sort of thing. Tom got a reindeer dog or some such and we sat and watched for awhile.

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There was a small set-up to pan for gold there also, Brielle and Ethan did a little panning, I think.
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I finally found the perfect cabin for Tom:
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The SawFest and the Dipnetting were the only -- O.N.L.Y. -- happenings in Kenai. It was a small town, spread out, actually a big town for Alaska, but not really a great tourist place... which leads me to my next Alaska post..... Doug Busbee. South Carolina..... goes rotatin'.



My other Alaska Posts:

Kenai Fjords, Seward
The Seward Highway
Kenai: Dipnetting
Seward: Exit Glacier

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Travel Info:
The Fish House. Fishing charters and a general mdse. store.
Wild Nature Photography. Professional photos of the area. If your family's taking a trip out here, why not arrange for a photo shoot and get a new family photo for your mantle. (we did that one year in Moab, Utah)
Major Marine Tours. Great tours of the bay. Take the long one.
The Drive to Seward
Kenai Fjords
Miller's Landing