Any among us who have lived in Alaska for awhile . . . the Kenai Peninsula in particular . . . may rememember a Carr’s grocery radio/TV ad from the 80’s . . . woman who sounds to be older – and perhaps a bit tipsy – says “Shhhhhhhhhooooooooooopppppppping!” in reference to Carr’s. Never failed to crack us up . . . and the girls and I will occasionally say it just to get a giggle.
Yeah . . . that’s what I did yesterday. I knew Jacques Penne’ was having a sale and I needed new blouses for work, so it was off to A-town for a bit of Shoooooooooooooppppppppiiiiiinnnnnnnggggg.
Gracious – I guess I’ve become a real small town gal in my dotage. When I was done with JCP, I was done with A-town. Guess I’m not in my element unless I have someone along with me to buy for. I mean, how much fun is it to by for oneself?
Okay – that part was okay – after the trying on of said blouses, etc. I managed to save over $100 at JCP – and spent less than $80 to save that $100. It’s always a good day when you save more than you spend.
And, yep . . . stopped and took pictures along the way: click on the thumbnails for larger pics if you like.
Mandatory stop in Girdwood for a rest-break . . . when loading up to leave I see a very nicely dressed young man – dark suit, hair neatly combed, etc. strolling through the parking lot. What I zeroed in on, however, required grabbing the camera for a close-up:
yeah . . . welcome to Alaska, friends, where you can wear your best go-to-meetin’ dark suit accompanied by FISHING BOOTS. Extra Tuf’s if I’m not mistaken. LOVE!
After shopping I grabbed a burger for nostalgia’s sake from Wee-Bee’s on O’Malley. Again, if you have lived her for a bit you probably remember Bookey’s in Kenai, Soldotna and Anchorage. WeeBee’s is owned by the same man – Jim Bookey senior – and the food is just the same.
I grabbed it to go (along with a chocolate milk shake!) and drove along Turnagain Arm towards home – pulled over to eat it while watching the tide begin to turn. Ahhhhhhh.
Found a bit of a road block as I drove further on . . . this guy was keeping cameras clicking and people ooooohing and ahhhhing.
Last shot to share . . . taken over my shoulder from the car window as I drove through Cooper Landing . . . it’s bring your own rock time as the red salmon are making their way upriver in the Kenai.
In other news . . . this morning at breakfast we noticed three of Kenai’s finest outside the hotel/restaurant. Figured we would see them at breakfast, but no. Seems they were on stakeout for one of the C’dale dancers who performed at a local bar last night. Waitress said they’d been out there since before she came to work at 6. They were still there when we left shortly before 8. We guess they were waiting for a warrant – which they must have gotten as they came to the desk for the key to the room. We left while the leaving was good. (If the news is juicy enough it’ll be in the local rag sometime this week.)
🙂 As I say . . . I live in Alaska – I make my own fun. 🙂
I love the fishing boots with the suit. 🙂
I really miss JCP. It’s one of my favorite stores. Everytime I go to ANC, I try to stop in there. When there are sales, you can really get some bargains!
We’ll be down in Cooper Landing in a few weeks. I need to find something to do to entertain myself, as my husband plans to do a lot of fishing. Any ‘off the beaten path’ places I can go exploring?
in Cooper Landing itself?
hmmmm – hubby and I drove up the road to the princess lodge – discovered a pullout to the cemetery. But, we didn’t have the right type vehicle to go off onto one of the roads from the gravel parking lot. Not sure which leads to the cemetery – the sign says check at the post office.
Snug Harbor Rd. is another fun road to drive up – if you pull into the Senior Center parking lot you get a nice overview of CL. If you go all the way to the gate . . . it’s a way back and you run out of pavement before you get there – there’s a lot of nice views of lake(s) – not sure if it is still Kenai Lake or not.
The museum is right on the main road, too. It is open odd hours, but maybe more now that there are so many tourists around?
The float trips are fun – and not too expensive I don’t think. And, if you are not interested in the float itself, you can drive to where they pull out (down the Skilak Loop road – first left takes you back to it). There was a nice gravelly beach/walkway where you can get some nice pics – and if you are there when one of the rafts comes in that can be fun.
Also the bridge where the rafts pass under the highway? You can park there, walk down a slightly steep bank and take pictures from under the bridge. (of the river – the rafts – other ppl taking pics, etc.)
There’s the gun club and range – also up the road to the princess.
There’s a nice path down to the river from the lodge, but beware of bears – haven’t heard anything this year, but a year or so ago one of the lodge workers was mauled on the trail.
and – if you check out Chief’s Kick Ass Cookhouse – let me know how the food is.
Oh – and the road back to it is closed now – but there used to be a place you could pan for gold just as you come around the turn by Sackett’s Last Stand (before Gwin’s coming toward Soldotna). I see some folks still park there and walk back.
Along the road on the river side you will see a sign for the K’beq Interpretive site – with tours (free) by the Kenaitze Indian Tribe: http://www.kenaitze-nsn.gov/cne/kbeq/index.html
enjoy
That’s from the top of my head – I’ll ponder on it a bit.
Thanks Barbara! I appreciate your input. I did a saddle/paddle trip a few summers ago. Enjoyed the paddle part, but they must have put me with experienced horse riders for the saddle part because I thought I was going to die. LOL You can read about my adventure here: http://susanstevenson.com/blog/2008/06/june22/
I’ve also explored Snug Harbor Rd with Steve, and thought about doing it again without him this time, since I’ll have his truck. We’re camping at Princess Hotel RV park, and I’ve walked that trail to the water in the past. Last year, the bear sightings scared me too much! We also walked through the cemetery. You can read about that here:
http://susanstevenson.com/blog/2008/06/june23/
A few years ago, while in Cooper Landing, I met up with a friend from Kenai and he took me down a long dirt road to a bunch of lakes and canoe put-ins. I think it was in the Sterling area though. I might pull out a map and see if there’s anything in that area to explore.
Thank you for your input! I appreciate it. 🙂 I didn’t know about the gold panning, but I might have to look into that. And I’ve never visited the interpretive site either – so that’s going on my list too.