Town of Living Trees

It stopped raining but is still cloudy. We walked over to Veronica’s Coffeehouse in Old Town Kenai for breakfast. The building is historically known as the Oskolkof/Dolchok House. It was initially built in 1918 of hand hewn logs by farmer John Oskolkof. In 1945 it became the Dolchok home. It is one of the few remaining buildings in Kenai to illustrate the early community buildings. Veronicas is really a cute little building with lots of atmosphere…the quiche was awful. Should have had the pastries!

Veronica’s sits on the border of Old Town. We took a trip down memory lane and took the self-guided tour. Russian occupation of Kenai and the close town of Kasilof at the end of the 18th century led to the Battle of Kenai in 1797. The local Athabaskans defeated the Russians, and the Kenai River remained Athabaskan territory until the U.S. purchased Alaska in 1867. Our first stop was St Nicholai’s Chapel which was built in 1906. This is a memorial to Father Nicholai which sits on the site of the original church. He was honored for his distribution of the fist smallpox vaccine in the territory. Across the street was the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church which is a sight of beauty. It was built in 1791 and services are still held here every week.

After touring we walked back to the campground which sits on the edge of Old Town. Next we went to find the UPS office. Believe it or not we decided to mail the boat and its accessories home. After unloading all the stuff we have in the back of the Jeep onto the sidewalk of the strip mall Ken talked to the ladies in the UPS office. They found a box and the ladies and Ken maneuvered it out through the door to the sidewalk. We now have a crowd wondering “what are they doing”….. The ladies held the box while Ken shoved the boat in - success! (He even tried to sell it to some guy who was walking down the sidewalk…no deal.) After this comedy we returned to camp.

After lunch we went to check out Centennial Park. Kenai has several town parks. Most of them border the Kenai River and the locals told us there was good fishing access. We talked with a local man sitting on the shore in his lounge chair. He gave us some suggestions on types of bait to use and told us the best time to fish was ½ before or after the tide change. The tide was out so we moved on.

Leaving the park we headed into Soldotna to see the Town of Living Trees. The “town” sits on the side of the Sterling Highway and is a group of local artists who do some fantastic wood carvings. Some of them are huge! There was a carousel where all the animals were hand carved, statues, and a fish you can ride. Yep I had to try…I got on and then couldn’t get down…A man sitting on a bench helped by getting a ladder. Nothing like entertaining the locals! We had a lot of fun here.

The sun is out now and we sat outside and enjoyed our view. The couple parked next to us stopped by. They are from Laconia, New Hampshire. About 6:30 we headed back to another Oilers game. The game was great and the Oiler’s pitcher pitched a no hitter!

Back at camp I updated the log. The view is gorgeous now and the water is blue not gray. There are a bunch of fishing boats racing for the harbor. Its fun to watch them.

It was a good day.

Photos: Veronica's Coffeehouse, Inside Veronica's, St Nicholai Chapel, Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church, Carving- Mine, Mine, Mine, Carving - Ken and friend, Carving - Riding the fish, Carving- Carousel (2), Carving- Chair, Fishing boats in Cook Inlet.