The Homer Spit - #52-15

July 26, 2005 (Tue)
Homer Spit City # dry $15.00 C-
Soldotna, AK to Homer, AK (83/6795 miles) Q019100

We woke at 5:00 to a beautiful sunrise. This wasn't an unusual hour for a sunrise but it had been going on for a while. Although it's light when were go to bed and light when we get up in the morning, there is some darkness during the night now. It makes waking in the middle of the night more natural. The office was supposed to open at 7:00 so the three guys walked down at 7:15 to pay the bills - so as to avoid having to drive through the motel parking lot on the way out - but the office was still closed. It was just opening at 7:30 when we returned with the motor homes.

Homer (The Halibut Capital of the world) is at the southern end of the Sterling Highway on the Kenai Peninsula and almost at the end of the road in that direction. It's an arts and crafts oriented village with many fine galleries. After setting up camp on the spit (more on the later) we went with Bob and Pat to do some errands and explore the town - which included lunch at the Jen and Dave's (no relation) Cafe Cups. We also hunted up the local free WiFi site and took care of some email and internet stuff. After our work was done we set out to find the end of the road. It was a beautiful drive out into the hills east of Homer. We got a spectacular view of the huge glacier in the Mountains across Kachemac Bay.

The Homer Spit is a four mile (or so) very narrow spit of land that projects out into Kachemac Bay. On it are two or three private campgrounds, dozens of little tourist businesses - shops, restaurants, fishing charters, etc. and associated parking lots. The city also allows camping on most of the left over space (what there is of it). Most areas are suitable only for tents. We are in an area crammed full of RVs but we were lucky enough to find a spot overlooking the Bay. If we didn't have a big Winnebago right outside our dining room window, we'd have a great view of the mountains and glacier too. We can see them by stepping out our back door though.
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July 27, 2005 (Wed)
Homer Spit City, Homer, AK (2)

The fellow next door, a fisherman, started banging around at about 4am. Since his rig, a pickup camper, was only about 6 feet outside our bed room window, it was hard to ignore. Even so we stuck it out until 6:00. The weather was rather heavy, low clouds and fog - we could barely see across the bay much less see the mountains - and a light sprinkle in the air. We watched sockeye salmon jumping and a little harbor seal hunting in the bay as we ate breakfast and by 9:00 the weather looked as if it would clear.

We and Bob and Pat bicycled down the spit toward town (about 3 miles away) to check out the Wednesday farmers/flea market. It was a disappointment and it rained lightly for some of the return trip. Actually Mark didn't go all the way. There was a big exodus going on when we left and he thought we should take advantage of it to move Q to a better spot. Now we can see the mountains out our dining room window as well as the bay out front. Better yet our neighbors (new) are 12 - 15 feet away on either side.

For lunch we ate at a great restaurant, Land's End, at the end of the spit. Delicious salmon & halibut fish and chips. Expensive! This afternoon, after a quick trip into town for a few groceries and email, we spent relaxing and watching the seals, eagles, and fishermen from the stone "beach" in front of Q. There was one young girl, 12 or 13, who was going at it like a real pro - out casting the men and most of the boys along the beach. A young fellow, 14 or so, caught a nice sized salmon but lost it just as he had it beached.

In the evening; six handed dominoes.
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July 28, 2005 (Thu)
Homer Spit City, Homer, AK (3)

A nine mile bicycle ride got our day off to a good start. We rode out to the end of the spit then back to the base. The shops were closed at that time of day so we made no stops. It was a good ride and warmer than yesterday.

The Pratt Museum in town features Alaskan History - especially the Homer area - and local art. We learned about the big earthquake in 1964 that destroyed much of Homer and lowered the harbor area, including the spit, 6 feet and about how the Valdez oil spill affected Homer and the surrounding area among other things. The art exhibit featured the works of local quilters, painters,sculptors and potters - all excellent.

After lunch we piled into Ed and Kathy's toad and took off to explore another road to the east of Homer. This road went along the ridge high above Kachemac Bay. Again the view of the mountains and glacier were spectacular. This time we went to the end of the road - dirt and very rough for the last 8 miles. Surprisingly someone was building a house out there. Wonderful view but a long way to groceries (and medical help) in the winter.

For supper we grilled a piece of halibut from Chip's fishing trip yesterday. Fantastic! We spent a quiet evening at home drying out after getting wet cooking dinner. Quiet evening but excitement later. When we took our last restroom walk before going to bed we saw large groups of people around "The Fishing Hole", a tidal pool near where we are camped. It turned out that a brand new Dodge pickup truck had rolled down the the bank into the 15 foot deep water. A scuba diver was in the process of trying to locate it. An hour and a half later it had been found and pulled from the deep. It's going to be a while until the poor fellow is able to get his fifth-wheel back home to Maine.
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July 29, 2005 (Fri)
Homer Spit City, Homer, AK (4)

We have decided to stay here another couple of days. The Kenia Peninsula being where all of Anchorage, to say nothing of the rest of the world, comes to fish we thought it best not to try to compete for campsites on a weekend. And this is a great place to hang out - right on the beach and all. A beach site (albeit with full hookups) in the private campground next door goes for $91 a night! We're paying $15.

After breakfast we all piled into Ed and Kathy's toad and went into town. Among other things we checked out a discount grocery store that we found quite interesting. It turned out to be like a mini Costco (or BJ's, or Sam's Club) with a little of everything (even some Kirkland and Trader Joes brand things) and prices almost as good. When we got back we walked up to the shops at the end of the spit - interesting but not spectacular. There was an ice cream parlor though and we went back there after lunch. The rest of the day we just "hung out" and enjoyed. Dominoes at 7:00.
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July 30, 2005 (Sat)
Homer Spit City, Homer, AK (5)

The day started out with the promise of being sunny and maybe even warmer than it has been. Joy and Pat went into town to do laundry. Bob went along take care of some internet business - the Laundromat is where the free WiFi is - while Mark stayed home and kept Thandi company.

The Sat/Sun farmer's market was small but there was some good stuff. We got a rhubarb danish, a blueberry scone, some raspberries which were more than we intended to buy when we went there. While Bob and Pat were doing lunch in the next town North (Anchor Point), we and Ed and Kathy did the National Wildlife Visitor's Center, very nice and well done, and took another drive into the hills east of Homer. We discovered a small Russian community at the end of the dirt road with a Russian Orthodox Church, a school, a graveyard and several houses.

St Augustine's Episcopal Church has no building, so the worship services are held in the Methodist church on Saturday night. The service was the familiar Rite II and the people very friendly. We felt right at home. The priest is a summer fill-in from New Orleans with a very good, though long, sermon.
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July 31, 2005 (Sun)
Kenai RV Park, Kenai, AK#?? w/e $20 C+

Homer, AK to Kenai, AK (90/6885 miles) Q019190

Up at 6:00 (54°) to heavy clouds, and some spritzing rain, but there was some blue skies peaking through too. We got off at 7:45. The trip back up the Sterling highway was uneventful. The scenery was muted by the haze and low clouds and non-existant along what we thought might be a scenic detour - too much distance and too many trees.

We pulled into the tiny Kenai RV Park (17 loosely packed sites) with Bob and Pat. Ed and Kathy chose to go to the more expensive campground where they could park on a bluff high above Cook Inlet. They hope to sit in their motor home and watch Beluga whales swimming up the Kenai River. We hope to see some too.

After getting set up we drove out 27 miles to the end of the Kenai Spur Highway in Ed and Kathy's toad - just to see what was there. There wasn't much! The Capt Cook State Recreation Site campground (52 sites) was all. We saw a moose very near the road on the way back.

Kenai RV Park is a very nice campground in spite of its size and location (in the middle of town). There is a well trimmed grass strip with a large flower pot between most sites and the tent area is like a lawn and the small picnic tables are nicely painted. The rest rooms and showers are very clean and well maintained. In all a pleasant place to be. A fisherman was cleaning a fish at the cleaning station near where Bob and Pat parked their rig. Bob, looking very hungry, allowed himself to be talked into taking some filets off the fisherman's hands. He ended up with a couple of large pieces of sockeye and king (chinook) salmon. We're going to eat well tonight!
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August 1, 2005 (Mon)
Trail River Campground, Chugach National Forest #19 dry $5.00 B-

Kenai, AK to Moose Pass, AK (86/6971 miles) Q019276

Up at 6:00 (54°), showers, breakfast and a walk through "old Town" Kenai. There were some nicely restored and preserved buildings from the early days of the community (mid 1900s frontier) and a small Russian Orthodox church. We also walked over to the bluff near where Ed and Kathy were camped hoping, but not expecting, to see some Beluga whales in the river below. No whales.

The Kenai Spur Highway intersects the Sterling Highway in Soldotna where we stopped for gas and provisions before heading north to the Seward Highway then south. The Trail River Campground in the Chugach National Forest, about 24 miles north of Seward, is a pleasant respite from the crowded and busy campgrounds we've been in for the last couple of weeks. Instead of RVs we see trees out our windows. The only RV we see is Bob and Pat's across the road. There a few other campers here but they are some distance away. We spent a restful afternoon reading, napping and listening to the rain on Q's roof.