Well - guess what! We have arrived in Cooper Landing. We left Anchorage at 10:30 AM all nice and sparkly. We soon got on the Seward Highway and headed south east(?). We had to skirt Turnagain Arm, a piece of the Cook Inlet. A beautiful part of the Alaskan landscape where we saw Dall sheep scaling the cliffs during our last visit to Alaska in 2004. We will return to this area to see if we can have that experience again.

We then proceeded through a wild bird sanctuary where we saw several species of water fowl and one lone bald eagle. It was an auspicious start to our drive. As we proceeded south east, the Chugach Mountain Range rose majestically in front of us and we passed several avalanches have left the telltale remineremnantsnts of snow on the railroad tracks.

When we got past the Turnagain Arm and headed back south west, we had to traverse these mountains. We faced this challenge several times on this journey so this 102 mile drive looked to be a piece of cake. We did have to go as high as 2,200 feet but the road was substantial and either well maintained or well posted so there were no surprise rough spots.

The scenery continued to amaze all the way to Cooper Landing. We are convinced, though, that Sarah has eliminated all wildlife with the “shoot them from airplanes” approach to wildlife management. We got one fleeting glimpse of a likely caribou on all of the Alaska roads that we have driven on this trip. In fact, other then that, we’ve only seen the buffalo in BC.

We do anticipate seeing our fair share of wildlife here in Cooper Landing and the rest of the Kenai Peninsula. This location is famous for the brown bear (read grizzly) feasting on salmon when they are running. Moose, elk, wolves and a myriad of other creature inhabit the peninsula. We have been told by several people to be sure NOT to put any food outside as it attracts the bears that have been see around this area.

After arriving, Wildman’s didn’t disappoint. It is a well kept convenience, liquor, souvenir, and Laundromat. We also got to meet Cheryle and Jerry the owners, Heather the manager, as well as Ryder, Carol, Aaron, Ron and Stephanie. More about the people later as we get to know them. It is a small town and as you can imagine everyone does their fair share of contributing, some in many ways.

We managed to get backed in and setup in about an hour. There’s much left to do but we’re well situated and ready to get going. As we were about to set up, a bald eagle flew over us. That’s either got to mean good luck or we looked like carrion. It was a cool start though.



This is our new location for the next several months....not bad, eh??

Here are a few views off the deck of the Wildman’s , and out our front door






We have to start a new chapter now. Future posts are going in “The Alaskan Adventure”.