This is a travel/figure-it-out day. It’s raining everywhere. All day. It’s too far to drive to Anchorage for the museum (and our stupid grill part), so Dave made us the last of the blueberries for some pancakes and we pulled out. Destination unknown. In the rain. Soaking wet.
Given that we have to be in Homer by tomorrow night for our ferry ride to Kodiak Island, we are headed that way.
I was anxious to see Soldatna — where most of the fishermen we’ve talked were basing out of. I swear it seems more populated than Anchorage! More cars than I have seen anywhere, including Denali. (I did some research after I wrote this and, indeed, Soldatna is a large town. Nearby Kenai is even more populated. Makes sense, as this is where most fishing visitors base and that’s where the business is.)
Mark, the guide from a couple days ago, had recommended Kenai Brewery for their burgers, so we simply made a beeline there and set up shop for the afternoon — strategically spacing out beers, a Reuben, a wedge salad and more beer. Assuming we needed to be “active customers” to be able to take up space in their restaurant. It rained steady the entire day. No let up. The brewery was consistently crowded the whole time — and we were there for about 5 hours. I kept waiting for them to kick us out. It was a real good reason to day-drink, even if neither of us felt like it.
Dave got caught up on the Olympics, which I had recorded on YouTubeTV and I, who had been writing for 4 straight hours since we left camp that morning was finally caught up.
…I wrote that last sentence a week ago and haven’t written since. It has been a very busy 7 days. I am now sitting in a cold (but not rainy!) site trying hard to get my fingers working so I can type. So far not good.
After we left the brewery, we continued south on the Sterling Highway toward Homer with some conflict about where to stop and camp. We knew we didn’t want to be in the circus town of Soldotna — or anywhere near it — but undecided how close to get to Homer, which we also thought might be a bit of a zoo.
We weren’t CRABBY, necessarily. Just worn down by the rain. Dave seemed to want to go one place and I was sort of contrary. I can’t even remember why. I just know it was more of a mood than a logical reason.
We explored a bit of the coastline around Kasilof River — known for its King Salmon run. Everything we read made it sound like a huge fishing hotspot, but it was completely deserted. Huge RV parks, completely empty. Which only adds to our sense of generalized bewilderment about Alaska fishing.
We settled on the Ninilchik River Recreation Area campground which was all but a ghost town. From what we can tell, the vast majority of campers seem to want to park in RV parking lots. I’m sure you can picture it, but can you really?
This was a very nice campground. Not muddy or worn out. Lots of privacy. That said, each spot is actually TWO spots. So I guess it wouldn’t be quite so nice if there were another camper or tent 10 feet away from us before the next buffer, but in this case, we didn’t have to worry about it.
Which is weird.
Where is everyone? What memo did we not receive?
Granted, it was a deluge. And there were exactly two other sites occupied out of 48 sites — both tenters. We felt so bad for them. But these Alaskan campers are TOUGH. They are tarp EXPERTS. But still, man. It’s a DRAG to camp in unrelenting rain. And ten times more so in a tent. With KIDS!
We got the camper and awning set up and I set to making dinner. Nothing sounded too good after sitting in a brewery all day, but I am seriously worried I’m slowly starving Skinny Dave Menke, so cook I must — but something quick and easy, given the rain, rain, rain…
Pho? No…. I don’t feel good for it
Indian? Sounds really good, but no…. Too complicated
Mac n Cheese? Gosh no
Indian sounds so good… maybe just rice and lentils? But I have this ear of corn… That sounds really weird…
But that’s what I did. Indian Corn Chowder. This is a meal only a camper could love.
And that was it. We ate it in the rain and went to bed.
Michael Stephan says
Camper or not, corn chowder always sounds good to me!
I’ve noticed that despite your impromptu cooking recipes, you always seem to come up with a good name for them
Sometimes that’s all you need. A good name