The last couple of days I had in the Kenai Peninsula I camped out in the truck and just wandered the area. Saw lots of amazing wildlife, drove through a forest fire, saw the salmon running (and people fishing for them in the middle of that same forest fire…people in Alaska a really serious about their fish!), and met some very nice people. I’m also throwing in a couple of pictures from the first part of the trip that I forgot to include. Great trip!
After Denali and Fairbanks, Kenzie and Jodi headed back home. But I played hooky for a few more days to see the Kenai Peninsula on my own. I rented an SUV and headed south to Homer for an amazing experience. A trip to the Katmai National Forest by float plane to go on a bear photography excursion.
This was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. We took a float plane about an hour south and landed along the beach near a meadow where Alaskan Brown Bears gather in preparation for the salmon run. Then unloaded and began hiking through the meadows among the brown bear.
I think it’s fair to say our group was all a bit nervous, but we had an excellent guide who coached us ahead of time on how to interact and be around them [relatively] safely. He really knew the animals and after about 20 minutes of being around them, we settled in for what was an INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE!
These bears don’t view humans as a food source, so as long as you are not threatening to them, they go about their business. By law, we had to stay 100 feet away from them, but we found that while we stayed away, they would often walk up closer to us to check us out (especially the babies who wanted to play).
Around noon we took a break from hiking and stopped for lunch in the middle of the meadow. Our guide did a quick check and pointed out that we had 21 bears surrounding us including 3 moms with 2 cubs each.
We spent about 6 hours total hiking around the area, watching moms and cubs interact, watching dominant 1100 pound males challenge other males, and just generally seeing how the bears behave. This was an extraordinary experience and one that I can’t begin to put into words. Definitely something I’ll never forget!
As if the time on the ground wasn’t amazing enough, on the flight back to Homer the float plane took a little detour and flew up the mouth of a glacier we were passing so we could all get a good view.
I threw together some video clips from the GoPro I had mounted to my shoulder as we walked around the bears. It’s just raw video and not well edited, but it gives some idea of what it was like.
Unbelievable day and a truly once in a lifetime experience!!!
This weekend we met up with one of Kenzies friends from school (also named Kenzie) to visit the Wildlife Safari park in Winston, OR. The girls had a great time together driving through the park, and we got some cute pictures of them.
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This weekend we went to Las Vegas to meet up with friends. Kenzie has a GREAT TIME playing with Noel, hanging out at the pool, and seeing a Vegas show. Jodi finally did the zip line over Freemont Street. We also hit up Red Rock and did some hiking to see petroglyphs.
Our last stop before leaving for Frankfurt and the flight home was the Rhine River. We did something really unique, and spent the night in a 12th-century medieval castle!
This was a really cool experience. The Schonburg castle was built in the sits up on the hill overlooking the town of Oberwesel on the Rhine. As a guest, you have free run of the castle and the castle gardens. The views were incredible, and our room was OVER THE TOP. It was in the very top of the castle turret, with a tiny balcony just big enough for two to step out and look down into the river valley. I’ve posted way to many pictures of this, but it was really something special.
Finding amazing little experiences like this is what I love so much about traveling!
Our next stop as Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It was a couple of hours by train from Munich, and not far out of our way as we headed to the Rhine River Valley.
This place was so cool! It’s in the heart of the German “Romantic Road” which includes lots of medieval castles and history. Rothenburg is a very well preserved classic medieval old town, all secured within the city wall and just a few guarded gates to enter the city. The castle was built in 1070 a.d., and then the town grew from there. The city streets were exactly what you picture when you think of old Germany.
Today there are lots of little shops, restaurants, and bed and breakfasts, but they’re all in original buildings. We stayed at a small family owned hotel that was built in the 1400s and had just a couple of rooms. One of the highlights was the town wall that had a walkway that’s open to the public and was a neat way to see the city. You are walking 3 stories above the town, looking out at the city on one side and through small slits in the stone used to shoot arrows at attackers on the other.
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