I spent mid August through early September in Soldotna. My wife, Tiffany (pediatrics), joined me to work in Katy Sheradon’s Family Practice during that time. I think plenty has been said about the quality of the rotation, but I’ll add my perspective. John Bramante is the main doc with whom residents work. He is in a practice with ~5 other docs called Peninsula Internal Medicine. They are a private practice across the street from the hospital, but also provide hospitalist coverage. During my month, that actually stopped, as the hospital hired some hospitalists, but things may change again. I spent 3 weeks mostly in clinic. I worked closely with John Bramante and also Bill Kelley. They are both excellent docs (UW and UCSF trained, respectively) and do a surprising amount of speciality care (cardiac stress tests, EGDs, colonoscopies, HCV treatment, chemotherapy, rheumatology). Their patients were also quite interesting and wonderful to treat. I spent one week working as a hospitalist as well.
The most memorable part of the month was my time away from work. There is quite a bit to do in the area, particularly if you like the outdoors. August on the Kenai Peninsula is popular with many of the locals, as the weather is still nice but the tourists are gone. By the end of my month, fall was in full swing (with a pretty brilliant color change). I went out fishing with Bill Kelley on various stretches of the Kenai on multiple occasions. He took me drift boat fishing down the upper Kenai for rainbow trout, where we saw several brown bear fishing from the shores. We also fished the lower river for silver salmon and trolled the middle river/Skilak lake for rainbows. I have been to a lot of rivers and this one is one of the most beautiful anywhere. The fishing is also excellent, if that’s your thing.
On weekends, Tiff and I did a lot of the usual trips to Homer and Seward. Homer is a quirky town SW on Soldotna on the coast. There are some good restaurants and great hikes – see the Grace Ridge photos below. Seward is a smaller town with not as much going on, but nearby Kenai Fjords National Park is amazing. All of the glacier shots are from that area.
We didn’t make it to Denali, given the distance, but I know some others have made the trek. I think the experience is highly weather dependent, as the mountain is only out 1/3 of the time.
The best part of this rotation were the people. We were invited to dinner and fun activities with so many docs and their families. Indeed we were made to feel part of their families. Tiffany got to eat moose heart once too!
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- John Bramante was kind enough to let me help him harvest honey from his bee hive. Here’s his daughter helping out too.
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- This is a pink or humpback salmon I caught. They run in large numbers on even numbered years. Locals don’t fish for them much here as they’re not great for sport fishing and don’t taste as good as sockeye, but they’re easy to catch and fun for kids. This one is a male I caught from the shore while fishing for silvers (Coho salmon).
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- The top of Exit Glacier, with the Harding Ice Field beyond.
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- Exit Glacier, as seen from the hike up to the Harding Ice Field.
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- A beautiful tidal glacier flowing into the fjord.
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- This is a sockeye salmon, aka “red.” They come up the Kenai and head into the Russian River to spawn.
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- Tiffany and I hiking along the lake, which flows as glacial run off from the Kenai Mountains, shown in the background.
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- Glacial silt gives the river its characteristic color. The silt is called “stone flour” because it is incredibly fine, leaving the river unusually cloudy.
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- A shot of crow berries at the top of the ridge line.
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- The ridgeline at Grace Ridge. This hike requires a water taxi to get to. We were dropped off at Kayak Beach and picked up at the other end, back at sea level. I think the winds were ~40 mph sustained.
- Glacial silt gives the river its characteristic color. The silt is called “stone flour” because it is incredibly fine, leaving the river unusually cloudy.