bobanddenisewanderlust

We left at 9:30 and went to the Visitor Center in Soldotna.  The town is having a quilt display. You can go to various retailers and see the quilts. At the retailers, you have the card with the list on it signed and return it to the Visitor Center. When you return it you are entered into a contest.

We walked down the steps to the fish walk along the Kenai river.

No one was catching anything, as the tide was out.

We took pictures in front of the visitor center. Here is Bob with the only fish he has caught so far…

Here are Wayne and Margie with Les, The Fisherman.

We left there and went to the town of Kenai. We drove straight to the house where friends Tom and Marian Braum are staying in their motor home, in their friend Dave’s driveway.

Dave and his wife Susan had bought the plot of land, that had a large garage on it, a couple of years ago. The supplies were just delivered for them to start building the house when Susan was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She died three weeks later! Dave has been working on the house since. It is directly on the waterfront, overlooking Cook Inlet with Mt. Redoubt, 10,97 ft., a volcano, across the inlet. The mountain is in the Aleutian Range.

As we were walking back through Dave’s backyard, Marian noticed moose scat ( poop) in the yard. The moose must have been entering the yard to eat the weeds and grass. Did you know that people actually make jewelry from moose scat? Ugh!

We talked a bit, and looked at Marian’s awesome quilted jacket, which she had just completed making!

We gals jumped into the CRV and we went to the Kenai Quilt Shop. We perused the beautiful materials. They actually had RV/camping material, which is very hard to find! Margie bought some materials to make PJ bottoms for her grandkids and I bought some Alaska material to make a table cover, pillow cover and placemats for us. Not cheap, but nice!

We met back up with the guys, who were still telling fish stories, and  where now nibbling on fresh smoked salmon jerky. We all left and went to a Mexican Restaurant for lunch. The food was very good and we left stuffed! Tom and Marian showed us the Kenai Elks Lodge, and we bid them farewell until we meet again!

We returned to the motor home to walk the dogs, then went back to Kenai to the Visitor Center. We wandered around the visitor center looking at the displays in the small museum. On Capt. Cook’s third trip to the area, he thought one of the natives was going to kill him, so he injured the native. The other natives literally took him apart. His crew was able to find enough body parts to give him a Christian burial at sea. People have been in this area at least since 1000 BC as shown in the museum by the items that archeologists have found..

We drove through old town Kenai. This is the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church, 1894.

This is one of the oldest standing Orthodox churches in Alaska. It is on the National Historic record. This area has a rich history in Russian influence.

This is The Chapel of St. Nicholas.

The chapel was built in 1906 as a tribute to the Igumen ( Abbot) Nikolai, the first missionary in the Kenai area. With the aide of his two assistants, he was responsible for bringing the smallpox vaccine to the Kenai Peninsula and vaccinating many of the people in the fight against this deadly disease. He is buried beneath the chapel, along with his assistants.

This is the Tomrdle House-

Historic Interlockded Moose Horn Club Tomrdle House, (now a private residence) This is a hand-hewed structure and was completed in 1902, with portions of the house dating back to 1848. It once housed the first social club in Kenai as well as a candy store, theater and church. There were a few other old buildings.

After buying gas for the car, $4.09, we drove back to Soldotna. We went in search of some of the other quilts. We found two, but they were ordinary quilts and since they were in retail situations, it was a pain in the behind. So we gave up and returned to the motor home.

Since we had a late lunch and were still full, we fed the dogs but skipped dinner. We had a snack later in the evening, watched a DVD ( Just Go With It) a silly romantic comedy with Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sadler. Glad we only paid $5 for it and can now trade it!

We stayed up and watched Jay Leno, then went to bed. We have noticed that our batteries are not staying charged as long as they had been, so Bob is going to check their water level in the morning.

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