Within The Wild Announces New Spring Ventures In Alaska And Beyond

Within the Wild Adventure Company will expand its company offerings this spring with the opening of a cafe and partnerships with Silversea Cruises and EpicQuest.

La Baleine, previously known as the Munchroom Cafe, in Homer is set to open under Within the Wild Adventure Company's ownership in May. The cafe, situated in front of the company's home goods boutique, RusticWild, on the Homer Spit will provide breakfast, lunch and a variety of baked goods to visitors.

The cafe is located near the departure point for guests traveling to the Within the Wild Adventure Company's Tutka Bay Lodge and the Cooking School at Tutka Bay, located across Kachemak Bay.

"We've put down roots in Homer ever since opening the Tutka Bay Lodge in 2009 and this cafe just seemed like a natural progression of us making a home here," said Co-owner and Chef Kirsten Dixon. "We're not only starting our guests off with a taste of what's to come across the bay, but we're connecting with the community here and that's exciting."

Dixon will take a brief break from the company's Homer operations in May to join Silversea Cruises aboard its Silver Shadow cruise ship as a guest chef. During the two-week voyage, Dixon will host a Culinary Arts enrichment program for passengers traveling from Tokyo, Japan, to Seward, Alaska, with stops in Hakodate and Kushiro, Japan; Petropavlovsk, Russia; and Dutch Harbor, Kodiak and Homer, Alaska.

Within the Wild Adventure Company will also team up with the luxury adventure travel company, EpicQuest, to offer its popular Kings & Corn adventure in June. The seven-day trips include helicopter-supported king salmon fishing, corn snow heli-skiing/snowboarding and whitewater rafting, all based from Within the Wild's Winterlake Lodge. The remote, backcountry lodge is located 198 trail miles north of Anchorage and is the birthplace of the tour, originally hosted in 1999 by EpicQuest operator, Chugach Powder Guides.

Dixon will design fresh, gourmet meals for Kings & Corn guests, featuring wild Alaska seafood and other locally sourced ingredients. Wine and cheese tastings will be available at the lodge as well as cocktail hours led by Dixon atop nearby Trimble Glacier. Kings & Corn trips are scheduled for June 14-20, June 19-25 and June 24-30 and cost $9,000 per person.

About Within the Wild Adventure Company
Within The Wild Adventure Company is a partnership, in existence since 1983, between Carl and Kirsten Dixon and their daughters, Carly and Mandy Dixon. The family owns and operates Winterlake Lodge; Redoubt Bay Lodge; Tutka Bay Lodge; the Cooking School at Tutka Bay; a home goods boutique, RusticWild; and La Baleine, a cafe in Homer. Both Kirsten and Mandy are Le Cordon Bleu-trained chefs, who have cooked and studied with chefs as far ranging as Julia Child and Thomas Keller. Kirsten is currently at work on her third cookbook, and writes a weekly cuisine column for AlaskaDispatch.com and a bi-monthly travel column for HuffingtonPost.com. For more information or to make a reservation at the Within the Wild Adventure Company's remote wilderness lodges and the Cooking School at Tutka Bay, go to www.withinthewild.com.