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The last few years have been anything but stagnant and boring at Eagles Eye Vacation Rentals. With the Covid 19 that had made it to our shores and all over the world, Alaska seemed like a safe place to be. We have plenty of safe distancing between people in any area you may stand. We are not heavily over populated here in Alaska. Might be the winters that many people do not like. Certainly it is not because of our fishing and hunting. We do that very well up here.

No matter, we’ve been busy improving out facilities for our guests, family and friends. We decided to have a spot on our “Little Piece Of Heaven” property here on the Kenai River to gather. A place to enjoy a few hours burning a good warm fire in a nice fire pit. A place to sit around enjoying friends and family with conversation. Spending the leisure time sitting on comfortable Alaskan themed chairs and benches. All re-purposed hand made furniture from the Spruce Bark Beetle killed trees. Amazing how handcrafted, naturally created artful furniture looks when made into something specifically set for the Alaskan Kenai Peninsula. A place to enjoy a wonderful meal, drink for your thirst and laugh about the days gone by and yet to come. Even a place to sing and voice your musical fulfillment and have some fun playing cards and board games. Maybe even get married or have a party or group meeting. It was all about building something special all could gather in.

This pavilion we have built has come from a eminence amount of thought and research to find exactly what we wanted in an indoor fire pit. The first thought was what kind and size of fire did we want inside. I talked with the several experts on fire pits and stoves and came up with what we see here. Totally customized fire pit and smoke stack that perfectly fits into the pavilion structure. Katya and I started with a 5 foot wide hand made super sized large fire pit and matching smoke stack to make it work well exhausting all the smoke up and out. Then we built the pavilion around it. We thought this idea would work on our property. It Did! Kind of like buying the furniture before the house you build to put that particular furniture into it. We also had to locate this pavilion on the perfect spot to gather. So we found it and we were able to keep a crowded treed area completely surrounding the structure. Positioned in the middle of nature letting in the natural beauty in and around it.

There was a moment of time in the beginning of the project we almost decided not go through with the build. That national pandemic that was going to shut the whole country down could not be ignored. All the planning was almost cancelled to a later date. When we did not even know if at all. Fortunately, the Alaskan grit and determination stuck out of me like a big old sore thumb. So glad we did not fall off the earth and fold up like a bad hand in a deck off cards.

We are happy to announce that Eagle’s Eye Vacation Rentals won Traveler Review Award 2023. Thank you to everyone who stayed with us and gave us wonderful reviews. We would not be able to do it without you and it keeps us going to make your stays memorable.

As my wife, Katya, and I so love our property immensely. Such a piece of Gods creation in the care of our hands is a blessing to us. This is the 9th year of our ownership and it was a great decision to sacrifice such a financial endeavor for the two of us. Now after every year of our ownership of this “Little Piece Of Heaven”, we have built on the land many structures to enhance the Kenai River icon. This river is the main reason to enjoy this land in so many ways. The fishing is one those many reasons we love this property. Not every fisherman and fisher-women fish the same style and have the same abilities. That is exactly why we are developing our property for all ages and all stages of abilities to sport fish. With our new aluminum day light platforms, it makes it easy for all with a high level of safety.

We now have 4 new large 12-foot long platforms on our Kenai River banks giving all our guests and friends a safe and pleasant way to fish without getting your toes wet. After watching the Kenai River erode the banks of our land the last several years and see the unprotected banks wash away from the fishing traffic from our guests, we were saddened. It took another needed big decision to justly make the move to take good care of our land and restore the beauty of the natural river bank before it was destroyed. That is why we dug deep into our pocket-book and rolled up our sleeves to re-create the natural enhancement to save our land from invasive erosion. It took a couple of hard years to plan and work the land to make it right with our government bureaucracies and natural habitat. We were totally successful in the this hardship and ordeal. Now we have super Salmon,Trout and Dollie fishing and a sanctuary that keeps the small one and two year salmon fry safe to grow into the fish we love to catch from our safe Daylight platforms.

Now we see many more of our guests having a great time using our Kenai River banks. They can enjoy it now without damage to the soils and vegetation and much more success in catching fish. It was worth every bit of our efforts to accomplish this addition. There is more room for the fire pit seating and enjoyment with marshmallows and picnics. Many just love viewing the river taking a chair to sit right on these platforms on the river front. And along with different abilities to fish with all the different folks, everyone has a good time.

Alaska Wildlife just passing through our “Little Piece of Heaven” is very exciting as we are able to recognize and name our neighbors that live in the area. Through out the year many of the animals and birds that frequent the property seem not to fear us. They give birth to their young, thrive, nest and play on this property safely.

But on February 1st, 2021 we had a rare Alaska wildlife visitor pass through and left perfect signs all the way across our property. It was 18 degrees below zero with fresh snow on the ground from the day before. First thing in the morning under a blue sky, I was looking from our gorgeous view windows in the warmth of our Eagle’s Eye Vacation Rentals’ cabin. I wondered to myself who would want to walk through the property so early in the dark hours of morning as I gazed down onto the Kenai River. The foot prints looked like human boot markings from afar. I wanted to look closer so I grabbed the nearby binoculars to see better. To my surprise, those tracks were not human, but super-large grizzly bear tracks instead.

We know that we have bears in the area, but it’s fairly rare to see one on the property as they do like to stay out of sight. My first thought question was what is a huge bear doing here at this time of the year when it should be hibernating? And then the thought passed through my head that this was a very dangerous bear hunting for food. When you live in Alaska, we must not forget to look both ways and listen intentionally to the sounds around us.

I had to get a close look and check the property for danger and our neighbors’ safety. As it turned out, after I took a walk through 3 feet of untouched snow to the river, we had our first visitor to fish our Kenai River banks for the dead frozen salmon carcasses. He was very successful that chilly morning. This is not a normal Alaska wildlife sighting by any means, you will probably never see a bear on our property during the hours of the day with humans about making noise, but on this crisp, cold winter morning without people milling about it was a beautiful sight to see.

Alaska trip planning is certainly different in the current environment. As the end of 2020 is drawing near, we still can’t believe what has happened. This year has been challenging for many and continues to be so. We are grateful that even during the hardship, we could continue serving others for their Alaska trip as they look to find safety and solitude within the experience. We want to write this post to let you know that there are still many safe opportunities to experience an Alaska trip, specifically on the Kenai Peninsula in 2021.

As our world has changed and keeping a 6-foot distance from others has become another checkpoint on our shopping list, we have had to adjust our lifestyles. Unfortunately, these changes have included canceling the family holidays that people have worked so hard for because the locations they wanted to visit no longer feel safe or, worse, are just shut down.

One of the fantastic things about this beautiful state we live in is its vastness. Being the largest state in the US while having one of the smallest populations has its advantages. You can safely experience an Alaska trip with those close to you while following the guidelines to help prevent the spread of Covid-19. Whether you live here or are from out of state, Eagle’s Eye Vacation Rentals must be a consideration for your 2021 Alaska trip plans.

If you have spent any time with us, you know that we have more than one amazing Kenai River Cabin centrally located on the Kenai Peninsula. You can take a short drive and experience some of Alaska’s best saltwater fishing or sightseeing with a local charter that practices social distancing. You can fish or raft the Kenai River with guides committed to your safety and protection for those looking for freshwater experiences. For the land dwellers, there are plenty of opportunities to sight-see without getting caught in crowds. Even our property gives you a chance to catch, clean, and cook a fresh salmon right next to where you reeled it in. With almost 150 feet of a private bank along the world-famous Kenai River and three fishing stations, there is plenty of room to enjoy Alaska’s offerings safely on your 2021 Alaska trip.

If you would like to see how you can plan an Alaska trip of a lifetime during these times, please give us a call at (907) 244-4300. We would love to connect and answer any questions that you have. We hope that Eagle’s Eye Vacation Rentals is a part of your 2021 plans.