Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

Rectory House: Oldest building on Kenai Peninsula. Circa 1881

Cook Inlet - sat on the cliff here in the sunshine - no Beluga Whales!

Typical of the view as we drive along - so beautiful

Little visual treats to thrill the eye

Grizzly Bear playing in the water

Nice antlers on these elk - still have velvet until the October rut

If you click on this photo you can read about reindeer

Caribou - Reindeer

Kodiak Bear Cubs - 16 months old

Now you know why we got worried when there were earthquakes in Anchorage last week! Whole towns were lost.

Here I am with Marie. This cabin left from the earthquake

I was texting my sister for her birthday when this moose appeared beside the road

After 11 days exploring the seaside towns of Seward, Ninilchik, Homer & Kenai all located south of Anchorage, it was time to head back closer to our next significant destination - Denali National Park. Our last campground in Kenai was right on the the Cook Inlet where the small, pure white, arctic Beluga whales are regular visitors. Some campers had seen some whales in front of the campground earlier in the day, but we had to satisfy ourselves with the sunshine, beautiful views and seeing the oldest building in the Kenai Peninsula. Also check out the photos on Eric's blog - he has some fantastic photos that he & Marie took, and they are accompanied by lively & interesting stories. As you finish reading one blog entry on his site, you need to keep pressing the 'older posts' button to trawl back to previous entries.

En route back to Anchorage we called into the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. Marie & Eric parked their camper by a nearby river and jumped into our RV for the drive through the 400 acre park. We removed the fly screens so they could open the windows and enjoy an uninterrupted photo opportunity of the animals. However, once we got into the park, we discovered the drive is actually only 1.5 miles, so Eric & Marie got out and walked. We were already on the road, so we completed the short drive, parked the RV, then walked around to see the animals. We saw grizzly bears, black bears, caribou (reindeer), elk, deer, bison, owls, moose, a bald eagle and a porcupine. The animals here are either injured and being nursed back to health, or orphaned babies being fed until they are big enough to be returned to the wild. The ranger said that this park has the only two Kodiak bear cubs in captivity in the world. After seeing all these animals behind wire fences, it was refreshing to see a wild moose feeding alongside the road about 20 miles south of Anchorage. Traffic shut down in both directions, as the moose is likely to take off across the road. In this valley alone, over 200 moose have been killed in the past year. They are such big critters, with long legs, so the heavy body of the moose comes through the windscreen of regular cars. An encounter has been known to kill both the moose and the car driver. Not to mention the damage to any car that comes up against a moose. Bear & moose are frequent visitors to Anchorage backyards.