July 22 -23 Soldotna and points east

Sorry, no pictures for today. The card reader seems to have been put away in a very safe place, meaning, of course, that I can't find it.

Yesterday we drove up to the town of Kenai. It was a Russian fur trading station and has two Russian Orthodox churches, one of which is still active. I took some pictures and talked to the priest, who was from Brooklyn originally and has never lost his accent, so it was kind of surreal to be talking about the Russian church and culture with someone dressed in all the regalia of a Russian priest, but who sounded pure New York.

After we took the Kenai tour, all 30 minutes of it, we drove out to the end of the road to Captain Cook. Two surprises - the beach was littered with monster boulders dropped by the ancient glacier that carved the inlet millenia ago; and I never knew that an enormous oil field lies under Cook Inlet and the inlet is studded with oil platforms. No wonder ships coming into Achorage are required to have a pilot on board.

Today we're going to Quartz Creek campground in the center of the Kenai Peninsula, and I'm not sure about the availability of internet there, so I may be quiet for a couple of days. After that, we're back to Anchorage for a few days, so I'll get caught up then.