Alaska - Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge

It's time to trade in our hotel rooms for individual log cabins! Why am I suddenly craving pancakes and maple syrup? ;) The Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge is like a small town with a main building containing the usual needs like guest services and excursion tour desk. It also includes a bar & grill space and a full restaurant space. There is tons of trails to walk around and shops to wander through.  The main highlight is that instead of a giant building full of individual hotel rooms, the accommodations on this property are doubled up log cabins. By doubled up, I mean that each lot has a shared porch but two completely separated rooms inside. They also feature a nice side porch only accessible from inside your room.

We were lucky enough to arrive at the lodge a day before a large tour group arrived so we had the place to ourselves until the next afternoon. Our itinerary was the only one that gave us the arrival day and 2 other full days here. The entire space from the parking lot to the main building to the cabins are paved so it makes for easy walking or rolling. There is however a steep incline to go from the main building to the cabins as you're heading up a paved hill.

One of the shops on the property featuring Alaska themed gifts as well as snacks. The hill to the cabins is to the left of this photo so once you push up the hill, you can walk across to the shop bypassing this long staircase in front.

The view looking back toward the main building from the top of those stairs - the bored guy sitting there is a dad humoring his daughter's need to take pictures of everything.

And my let's be artistic with my then brand new camera photos:

Is this the Sea Witch's way of embodying the windblown Cruise Hair/Don't Care mantra?

Our guide Lori had arranged for everyone in our group that wanted to could meet up on the back patio of the main building about an hour after our arrival and receive a voucher for a free alcoholic or non alcoholic drink as you so choose. I don't recall if we had to use the voucher then but I'm pretty sure everyone did. The patio had several places to sit and the staff rounded up as many extra chairs as our group needed. The vantage point back there provided a great view of the mountains and creek below. There was also telescopes and we all soon were calling out wildlife spotting to everyone else.

Since it's also an extension of the bar and grill, there is a couple tables for dining al fresco:

This cabin was at our eye level across the river. The consensus was that it's where the director of the lodge lived.

The bar and grill - tables with regular chairs were inside and around the corner. You stepped back into the bar and grill when you come back in from the patio. Picture taken from the main hallway when you enter the main building from the front door.

If you turned right, a short hallway led to a lounge space with computers and the main information desk. It was cool to see these benches in the hallway that were heated.

You've heard of Disney's "Hidden Mickey" decorative touches? BTW in case you're reading this Disney Cruise Line - I wouldn't object to the chance to experience your cruise line as well. #equalopportunitycruiselover You could spend a whole day finding all the little places where Princess has added their Sea Witch logo:

Since you were already on Princess property, they were great with keeping guests informed about the schedule and routine for going from here to the ship:

The hill leading up to the cabins:

After some socializing and getting settled, Dad and I opted to check out the trails leading behind the main building down to the creek. It is all paved but can be a steep decline down the first hill and a steep incline back up. Once you reach the river area there is another deck setup to walk through with steps down to lower levels and railings to stop and enjoy the view. 

Dad modeling the provided walking sticks that were free to use and return when you finished the hike:

Our view of the back patio where we'd been enjoying drinks with the group as we descended down the trail:

The path becomes more of a paved with gravel road but plenty of shade as you move on:

There is benches and a pavilion at the base of the first hill in case you need a rest break.

On the right side of this pavilion is a mounted phone. There are instructions posted on how to call guest services so you could call for staff to come pick you up if you didn't feel like making the walk back up to the main level. Dad chose to do this once we'd come back from seeing the river and someone showed up with a shuttle van about 10 minutes later.

The deck for walking down closer to the river edge. If you just want a view of the river, you don't need to go further but there are small clusters of steps to lower sections as you keep walking. There was a couple benches at different spots so there is a place to sit and rest or just relax watching the water.

And the hiker's reward:

Still to come - what it looked like to spend our last nights on land in our own log cabin!

Alaska - Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge - Rustic comfort

Now to showcase what our log cabin lodging was like. I believe there was a cabin option for someone who needs a wheelchair ramp but otherwise, the rest of the cabins had steps to climb inside. They did feature grab rails to help you hold on as you start up the stairs.

The paved path and front of our double capacity log cabin. Ours was the left side. Aside from the front porch, nothing else is shared so you have complete privacy and security. You may hear the other people moving around just like any neighboring hotel room. Each duplex had a cubby of firewood stacked outside because each of these rooms had a working wood burning enclosed fireplace. Staff members are available to help get it started but there is also instructions posted by the fireplace. We opted not to even try lighting it as the regular heat in the room was plenty for us.

Each side is numbered and the main door features a regular lock and a deadbolt.

The view from our back porch shows how close the other cabins are:

Wood burning stove

Living room space just inside the door with a large front window and loveseat. All windows and the sliding glass doors leading to the patio had curtains to block out the light at night.

4 drawer dresser with flat screen TV that could pivot in each direction

Two double beds with nightstands and a small desk in the corner. The door to the first bathroom space is in the center right of the first picture below.

Easy chair and doors leading out to the back porch

The porch had a small table and two chairs

The bathroom space was split up into two sections. The sink/vanity area was just off the main space and basically tucked into a recessed corner. As you can see by my reflection, there is a makeup style mirror above the sink. To the left is a full length mirror which if I recall correctly, is also the door to a small closet. There is a hairdryer mounted on the right wall by the sink.

To the right of the above picture is the actual bathroom door leading to the small room housing the toilet and bathtub/shower combo. Great for where I guess privacy really matters but keep that in mind if you're traveling with someone you'd rather not have to get dressed in front of. 

And of course, dispensers in the shower providing Princess body wash and shampoo.

This and probably the other Princess lodges as well, as well as on the ship if I recall correctly, offer a wake up call to your cabin upon request should the Northern Lights become visible. After hearing from one of our tour guides that the Northern Lights had been visible the night before, I was out there on the back porch shivering in my nightshirt at 2AM hoping for a repeat performance. Alas, the elusive Aurora Borealis was not in the cards for me on this trip.

Next up - Come with us as we take a Princess land excursion and head into the small town of Seward, Alaska. We've got plenty of room in the van as only two other ladies opted to join us on this tour.

Alaska - I helped buy Alaska and all I got was a town named after me

After breakfast on our first full day here in Kenai, we met up with our tour guide and two ladies who were the only ones from their friend group that wanted to take this tour today. The tour is known as the Explore Historic Seward and is described on the website as a 7.25 hour tour currently retailing for $49.95 per person. The tour is basically a shuttle ride into the small town of Seward with optional side stops to Exit Glacier and/or a ride on an Iditarod dog sled at extra cost. Your guide will provide tips on places to check out while in town but otherwise this would be a ride into town, choose stuff to do on your own, and meet back up to get a ride back to the lodge at a certain time scenario. Anything that costs admission is your responsibility as well.

Given our small group, our guide treated it like a private tour and her a hired driver promising to take us wherever we felt like going and pick us up whenever and from wherever in town when we called her. Our guide was full of great stories and tips so it was like chatting with a new old friend during the drive.

Our tour companions for today. The young lady in the blue jacket and glasses is our tour guide.

We all agreed to our guide's offer to stop at a beautiful lake.

Then it was on to the Benny Benson Memorial. John Ben "Benny" Benson was the 13 year old student who designed the state flag of Alaska. His design won a contest held back in 1927 even though Alaska was still only a territory until 1959. He described his design choice as blue for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not flower, the North Star for the future of Alaska, and the Big Dipper for the Great Bear which represented strength and power. 

Once in the center of town, the other two women in our group chose to visit a grocery store while we opted for the aquarium known as The Alaska SeaLife Center. Our guide dropped us off first and drove off with the other two women. We purchased two general admission tickets which according to my picture cost around $20 each then for adults. The small print says that Alaska residents, AAA members, seniors, and military discounts are available. 

Now the website lists ticket price breakdowns as $29.95 for an adult and that is considered age 13 and above. Military discounted price is $25.95 and a child aged 3-12 is $17.95. 

Just in case you have trouble telling your entrances from your exits, they have helpful signs when you walk up to the first exhibit just past the ticket lines.

Do you ever just look at a warning on a product label and wonder the story behind why the company had to put that on there? I.E. a tube of Preparation H says "Not to be taken orally." What aquarium visitor tried to smuggle out some salmon in their pants to inspire this sign?

The SeaLife Center is quite extensive for such a small town and you easily spend a couple hours wandering among the tanks. The harbor seals were really in the mood to put on a show for us.

Swimming forward on his belly and floating the other way on his back makes for one tired harbor seal

Next up was one of my favorite exhibits - the Seabirds:

Can a puffin have a bad feather day?

This guy looked like he was living his best life:

Time for some more tank life:

Our cruise tour guide Lori taught us the 5 finger method for remembering the different types of salmon. Your thumb rhymes with chum, your pointer finger stands for sockeye (as in poke someone's eye out), your middle finger stands for King (because it is the tallest/biggest), your ring finger stands for Silver and lastly Pink for your pinkie.

There's also a back patio viewing area where you can step outside and view Resurrection Bay with a couple signs referencing what you're seeing.

Back inside to make our way down to the lower levels brings us to a tank of Manatees! Friends of Chessie perhaps?

Doesn't this make you want to climb in there and rub his belly?

I don't know what you were called sir so I shall dub thee  - the stink eye fish:

Same fish - now swimming up and away from me - that's not an air bubble by his mouth:

Hey, who told this guy I chose the King Crab legs for dinner the other night?

I'd also like to apologize 4 years in advance for choosing your fellow man as my new food to try on the last RCL sailing. Is he waving and flipping me off at the same time? 

This guy was dabbing before dabbing was a thing:

Someone (not us) decided to share their displeasure at finding the otter tank empty:

Seems all the otters were away at Hogwarts:

Our guide/driver had suggested her favorite place for lunch in town so we sauntered that way after the aquarium. It turns out that she was also there getting lunch so we offered to have her join us. The place was called Zudy's Café and we enjoyed a meal of warm paninis and chips. Service was a little slow though but the company for our meal was delightful. It was great asking her questions about living in Alaska and working for Princess.

Next up - a walk along the waterfront and an earthquake.