Dateline June 18, 2011, Homer to Soldotna and Diamond M
We said a fond farewell to Homer and headed north on the Kenai Peninsula toward Soldotna. The views kept opening up the way they had the whole trip, and we were on the lookout for moose. We passed our first one too fast to stop for a picture, and were very disappointed. Then, wait.
Moose to the right of us,
moose to the left of us. Wow. By the end of the drive we had counted six, with pictures of five. The reason we keep the count honest is that one of the RoadTrek group, Ruth, has a rule: no picture, you cannot claim you saw it.
We rolled into Soldotna and signed in at the Diamond M Ranch, our home for the next six days. This was the meeting point for the RoadTreks on our journey. Diamond M is a 160 acre working ranch with an RV resort, and the owners live on the property, three generations of them, grandparents, son, and grandchildren. The patriarch is Carroll,
who arrived on the Kenai Peninsula in 1963 with his wife and nine-year-old son, towing a barge behind his tugboat. The barge carried the lumber he had bought in Tacoma, Washington, for the house he was about to build. We did not ask his age, but he was probably close to 80. He told us stories of hunting and fishing and adventure across Alaska, during cocktail hour and again as he walked us around his ranch.
While in Soldotna we tried our hand at salmon fishing on the Kenai River. We had a grand time. John looked very professional. Janice was sure she had caught one until she realized it was snagged on a rock. The serious spot for salmon is up at Cooper Landing where the Kenai and Russian Rivers meet, called locally "The Combat Zone." We showed you that line of fishermen in the last entry.
Our next outing was out to Captain Cook State Recreation Area at the point, another beautiful drive past Stormy Lake. The tide was out, and the vistas opened up everywhere we looked.
Back at the Diamond M we signed up for a clamming adventure and went out hunting razor clams.
The group brought in over 200 clams that day. They were shucked back at the ranch and turned into a clam soup we shared on Friday night.
We almost forgot. Patrick and Phil, two of our RoadTrek friends, had hired a guide earlier in the week and gone salmon fishing. They each came back with three nine-pound salmon. Phil said it was one of the two best fishing experiences he has ever had.
Thursday morning Carroll took us on a tour of the ranch. They raise llamas, cows, horses, pigs, goats, geese, and more. He showed us the ranch house he had started in 1963, expanded over the decades into quite a place. The most spectacular sight on the property was an eagle's nest. We stood almost 20 minutes watching the parents fly in and out, feeding the eaglets. It was a beautiful thing to witness. The picture at the top of this post is one of the parents soaring back to the nest. The two below speak for themselves. How do you like it so far?
