The Clampett's Go To Bradley Lake

Across the bay from Kachemak Selo Village is a power plant.  It is a hydro electric dam and our friend works there.  His wife, my friend Cindi, is a gracious and wild hostess.  Her son was in town and she wanted to take him to Bradley to see his dad before the son had to go back to Colorado.  She fixed the event to include Vince and I, our kids (minus Willie) and Maygen and Iris. 

All of us, on our skiff, headed across the bay with enough food and supplies to last a week.   Vince looked out from behind the wheel of the skiff and said, "The Clampett's Go To Bradley Lake".  (Hence the title of this post). 

We stayed at Paul's apartment and hiked around enjoying the vistas and views from every angle.  Bradley is not a place many people visit.  I am not sure why.  Homer Electric keeps campsites well tended all the way to the lake.  They are cleared of brush and are stocked with firewood.  They are named after the victims of a plane crash that occurred during the building of the plant.  Each of them has a beautiful sweeping vista or beach access or lake access.

Along the roadway we encountered bears!  They didn't want any part of our clan and ran off when we would appear.  We counted 7 in all.  Very cool!  We did get to see this otter in a beaver pond.  Just like a sea otter, he poked his head out and gave us the stare down.

Back at Paul's apartment, Cindi began cooking.  This was simple since she brought enough food to stock a tender boat for a season.  She made beer battered halibut and coleslaw.  Wine, beer, soda were flowing. 

We finished eating by 10pm and tried to get the kids to sleep.  This, mattress on the floor super slumber party, was the best kind of camping a person can do with a young family.  Everyone was having a blast!

The next day Cindi informed us that she and her boys were flying back to Homer.  This was after she cooked Eggs Benedict for us.  We were surprised at Cindi's change of plans, but not entirely.  Cindi follows her impulses to the minute with very little filtration. 

So, we said good-bye to her and it was time for picking...berry picking that is!  The bushes were full of juicy blueberries, currants, red currants, raspberries, salmon berries, and cloud berries.  The plentiful bear scat on the roadsides were loaded with berries.  One scat we saw was even red from being stained with berry juice.  Falcom remembered a time he ate too much food dyed cookie dough and his poo looked like a rainbow....  Moving on...

Iris was a great picker as well.  "I'm picking red berries!"  She said when we were ready to go to the next berry patch.  "No, I'm picking red berries!"  She is a little bear.Marina picked flowers and berries and was more than a little bit fanatical.  She informed us all that she would not share and that she would not be making a pie or jam, but would be eating them all at her leisure.  Well, OK then!  She is also really into rock climbing and made us stop more than once to let her out to do a boulder problem.  She must take after her uncle Steve.

Falcom had a great time with Iris building sand castles at our picnic on the beach.  Maygen and I laid in the sun and worked on our Alaskan tan.

  We are already plotting how we can make our next trip to Bradley.  Maygen has a kayaking plan.  I think it could be our last great adventure of the summer!  Stay tuned.  Thank you Cindi and Paul for such a terrific time!