Did you know that the Kenai Peninsula is such an important part of Alaska that MILEPOST devotes one entire side of their stand-alone map to it? The Seward Highway travels from Anchorage to Seward. The Sterling HIghway splits off and goes to Homer. Both roads have many interesting side trips along them. (The dotted lines are ferry routes.)
When we left Anchorage, gas prices there were not much higher than in California.
In spite of another cloudy day, it was still a pleasure to take that beautiful drive south along Cook Inlet.
Friends had told us that they camped overnight at Fred Meyer in Soldotna for free. Linda wanted to experience that, so we headed there first. Gas was somewhat higher.
We were indeed quite welcome. The number of RV's parked around the fringes of the parking lot surprised us. It was early yet.
The store provides a sewage dump station and potable water. We'd never heard of such a thing! Many WalMarts permit free overnight RV parking but we'd never heard of these amenities being provided.
They made it so easy. We pulled around back and unhooked the car...
which then wouldn't start. We'd done it again! Those darned headlights. Wayne and Elaine were somewhere on the Kenai but we didn't know where. Nor would our pride have allowed us to call them. We hustled into Fred Meyer, priced jumper cables and opted to save the $35. AAA Road Service promised us someone would be there within 25 minutes. It wasn't even that long before Sonny appeared. He was friendly and efficient. He left us his card insisting that, if it happened again, he could be there faster if we called him directly.
Have you ever seen this particular combination of services in the Lower 48?
Right after we settled in this spot, a moose began browsing on this hill right above us.
Number 5 on the rules above was 'No tent camping'. This guy had his interpretation.
Early the next morning, we counted about 60 RV's in the parking lot. Amazing!
Our friend Pat M. told us The Moose is Loose in Soldotna had the best cinnamon buns she had ever tasted. How could we stay away?
The decor is everything moose. Linda bought a pair of moose-print pajama bottoms.
The choices were overwhelming!
They had a sense of humor about it, though.
That is so good! I really like the description and pictures of Fred Meyers--and what a help for rvers-that tells everything you want to know! certainly NO place i have ever seen offeres those ameneties-and i like that they let you know where to park. (and i also meant to comment on the tern -the one one the rock was spectacular!) Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way--who climbed up the hill to take the parking lot picture?
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine how much those "logs" of maple and chocolate on the bottom left of the donut display picture weigh. Jeez. Love you.
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Carole, of course, climbed the hill to take the photo. b: We did not partake of the maple logs, so don't know how much they weighed. The pastries were overwhelming and much too sweet. We had a scone which was good.
ReplyDeleteThose pastries look amazing!
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