Such a beautiful day, where do I start. The sky is azure blue, only a few lazy, but billowing, solid white clouds drifting in from the West. The temperature is up to 68 degrees and a breeze is blowing from the west at around 10 mph. Humidity at zero, or close to it. And to make our day complete, we talked with a very special person in our lives, my sister in Virginia. HHMM, it’s also my birthday. Thank you Father for the blessing. Can’t believe He let me live for 74 years now.
Today was market day at the parking lot of the visitors center, so off we go to see what they have to offer. We bought a few items and a few veggies and decided to watch a few movies in the center that were interesting.
The ribs of the handmade boat
Mt Redoubt, the volcano to the west of Kenai, across Cooks Inlet
We were planning to go to Veronica’s Café this evening so we just killed time until time to go. Veronica’s is a small cafe realized from modifying a home built in 1918.The home was well preserved. It is unique inside as it has a miscellaneous set of tables and chairs in the main dining room whereby nothing matched. Every table and chair was different. The walls were adorned with local artist drawings and paintings that are for sale. The entrance accommodated a counter with food items to sell and immediately behind that was the kitchen. Daily specials on a chalkboard and on the walls. An enclosed patio has been added at some point, and that was more orderly. Most tables and chairs matched.
To reach the toilet you had to go out the back door and it was attached to the house. Guess you could call it an “outhouse”. Yep, it had water and electricity and no half-moon in the door.. The toilet was a dual use (men/women share).There was a small commode that was only about 12 inches high. If I, Jesse, had had to sit, I wouldn't have been able to get up with my screwed up back (thank you Vietnam). lol.
Veronica's looks like something from a fairy tale.
The music was provided by Don Weller and J. D. Uponen, both guitar players and singers. For the past decade they have been performing as part of Bull Don and the Moose Nuggets in the Kenai area. They are a variety band specializing in the 50’s & 60’s. Tonight, they played a variety as well and all the numbers really brought back memories. How many remember Rickey Nelson, Gordon Lightfoot, Jim Croce and Peter, Paul & Mary. Not too many, I'm sure. Just us old folk. Unfortunately, we didn't realize the cafe closed at 9pm and we didn't get there until around 8 so we missed most of the music.
Don Weller & JD UPonen
Our lovely waitress
They (whoever the hell they are) say that everyone has a double. Well, Don Weller, the lead singer is an identical twin of a friend of mine named Jack Miller. The facial features, body style, movements, laugh and smiles are all the same. Makes you feel eerie experiencing that. I must tell Jack when we go back to Virginia. We plan to see the band again next week for my honey’s birthday.
Afterwards, we drove back to Cook Inlet at the mouth of the Kenai River to see how the fishermen were doing. The wind had picked up to 20+ and was getting chilly. The tide was out, and I mean out, way out, a half of a mile out! I mentioned that they have upwards to 40 feet tides here. And there were about five adamant fishermen out at the edge trying to catch salmon. Boy! When you've got the fever, you've got it bad. There’s no way I would have trekked out that far knowing how fast the tide comes in. "They" say "four times faster than you can run". Especially wearing those heavy water proof outfits with the heavy boots attached. If water got in, it’s curtains, as in bye, bye.
We saw them coming ......
We happened upon a couple guys who were headed out with their Salmon Nets . These nets are like crab nets but much larger. Like the gill nets, the net openings are large enough to let the small fish through and catch the larger ones. The law must require the salmon to be a certain size before they’re legal. I need to check on that. As you can see, they are prepared for wading in the water.
and going.
Hey Jeff and Mike, would you like one of these? lol
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