Our Weekend in Soldatna

Sunday July 17

Our day started very early, with a 4:00 alarm.  Jon was taking us fishing on the Kenai River, and we were pushing off at 5:00AM.  The weather was cloudy and 49 when we started and turned to rain as we got off the river at 11:30.

Paige’s cousin Bill and one of his friends met us at the boat launch.  We dropped them off along a shore to focus on Red Salmon, while we drifted for King Salmon upstream.  They were successful

while we weren’t: Bob caught one small King, but released it.  Jon hooked a Red, which we kept.  Paige got an early morning boat ride (not a bite).

The first part of the afternoon was spent napping to make up for our early departure.  We had invited Jon and Jackie to our place for dinner and we had to pick up the BBQ’d ribs from the smokeshack at the edge of town.  We learned quickly why locals stay away from the 2 lane roads on weekends.  Everyone is heading back to Anchorage for work on Monday.

Saturday July 16

We spent most of Saturday morning at a local coffee shop, using their internet connection to catch up on reading and writing of blogs, plus handling e-mails and electronic bill statements/payments.  Jon happened to catch us here and delivered two weeks worth of our mail.  The weather was great, resulting in crowds at the nearby chainsaw woodcarving competition.   Here are some entries:

Later we went to the town of Kenai, just north of here, to see the crowds lining the banks of the Kenai River, where it ends at the Cook Inlet. 

Both shores are packed with state residents who are allowed to use large dipnets to haul in their salmon.  It was a beautiful day to be outside – sunny and warm!