Papa Bear and his Three Cubs- The Alaskan Adventures of a solo dad and his girls.: Day 31- Kasilof

July 12

Another late wake up. Heidi and I need to get to bed earlier than 2 am.

After lunch we decided to head up to Kenai. We stopped at the visitors center first. They had a nice display of the native people's. After we drove through the Olde Town area. There is a bluff with a telescope to look out where the Kenai river exits into the ocean. There was a bunch of tents and people in a parking lot. Not entirely sure why. Maybe for dip netters but I didn't see anyone in the water. There is a nice beach on our side.

Olde Town is basically a circle drive of old buildings from when the Russian's had influence on the area. It was mid afternoon and we all wanted a small snack. We stopped at one of the historical buildings occupied by a small cafe and coffee shop. It was called Veronica's Cafe. I was thinking we would just get a sweet and a coffee drink. They had a dining area and a full menu. Not much on sweets. Heidi, Summer and I shared the special of the day. A BLTT. Bacon, lettuce, tomato and turkey. We also ordered a bowl of clam chowder which was the soup of the day. Both were excellent. Davan and Libby shared a cookie.

After we stopped at Walmart as we needed several things. I've been surprised at how fast we have gone through things. We are on our third jar of mayo. Davan is in charge of sandwiches. She puts the mayo on pretty thick. Although everyone does agree it's the perfect amount. We are 3/4 of the way through our toilet paper. In fact we had a clog while emptying the tanks so I had to have a refresher on TP usage in the camper. We are also almost out of laundry detergent. I knew we would be making several grocery trips but it seems like we go at least once a week and drop $150 each time.

On the way back we stopped at Kasilof Beach. This is where the Kasilof river exits into the ocean. This is where all the dip netters were. It was like a tent city.

Dip netting is exactly how it sounds. Large nets are simply placed into the water and you wait until the fish swim into it. People were lining the banks with their nets. I did not see a lot of fish being pulled out. It really didn't seem like a lot of fun to me. Other than collecting a large amount of food with minimal effort I'm not seeing the point.

After we got back to the camper we made dinner. I had found a recipe for chicken. Pretty simple. Brown sugar with some pepper and salt. Cut a couple chicken breasts in 4 slices each. Roll the chicken in the sugar and wrap it with a slice of bacon. Cook until chicken is done. I also made some carrots. I had picked up some birch syrup earlier in the trip. This is not syrup for putting on pancakes. This is an unprocessed syrup. Much like molasses. The flavors are much more concentrated so they are good for glazed and marinades. I put some in a pan with brown sugar and a little cinnamon. I cooked the carrots in this until soft. It also was excellent. The leftover glaze was also very good to dip the chicken in.

After Davan, Heidi and I went out fishing with Patrick again. We went to a different place this time. Unfortunately the Red's were not red hot. Not even a nibble out of the 4 of us. We learned later that the commercial nets had been put out so not a lot of fish in the river. It was still a good time. I think Davan enjoyed it but she was a bit bummed she didn't catch anything.