Alaska - Can we see Russia from Sarah Palin's house?

Time to head to our last stop on the land tour, the city of Kenai. This is one of the cities most of the shorter land itinerary portions never see. But wait, this post title talks about Sarah Palin's house, that's not in Kenai! As we boarded the motor coach to head to Kenai this morning, our guide Lori announced that she had a surprise stop for us on the way. She asked us if we knew what was in the town of Wasilla and pretty much the entire bus asked if we were going to visit Sarah Palin's house. No, turns out it was something much more pleasurable - the home of the Iditarod Headquarters!

We read the true story of Balto the sled dog who worked hard to bring medicine through the snow into a remote Alaskan town with the school kids I used to work with and I was admittedly giddy to see this statue outside the headquarters.

Inside the building was lots of memorabilia and newspaper articles about the Iditarod race.

And you thought seeing little baby booties was cute. Check out a display of sled dog booties!

They even had them nestled on the tree branches outside.

Back outside, one of the employees offered the group to sit on a multi person modified sled and be run along the road by the sled dogs. I believe it was an optional activity in exchange for a $10 donation. Neither of us opted to do that. I had something else catch my attention nearby.

By the time we'd come back outside from checking out the museum space, one of the employees had brought out sled dog puppies to get some loving and socialization. Go on your sled dog ride everyone else, I'm getting me some puppy love! No worries on not contributing a sled dog ride donation - made a proper donation to their gift shop while we were there.

Lori had another idea for a stop before we got out to Kenai and had the bus driver take us into the center of town in Anchorage. We were given an hour to do whatever we pleased whether that was shopping, lunch, or sightseeing. Dad immediately decided we had to ride the trolley tour around town that he remembered from his time being in Alaska for work. It's an hour long narrated ride with a guide and costs $20 per person. We arrived at the Visitor Center where the trolley boards just in time to hop on one that was about to leave. It was a nice touch that before each tour left, one of the employees would move around the trolley cleaning the outside of the windows. 

You may have tried hot dogs from a street cart but have you tried Alaskan Reindeer Sausage from a street cart?

The trolley was packed and we learned about local history, flora, and fauna. One of the questions they are often asked given the geographic location on the "Ring of Fire" is how many earthquakes does Alaska get. Or when was the last earthquake they had. Our guide always replied "We probably had one this morning." He explained how they have so many tiny ones that you may never feel that you could have multiple ones a day and never realize it.

All in all, it made for a nice break up of the extra time it would take to get over to the Kenai Peninsula. Stay tuned for when we trade our hotel rooms in for some more rustic accommodations.

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.