Woke up earlier than Sunday hoping to get out and to Homer before lunch. As Homer is at least four hours away it was important to get out early. Predictably it didn’t happen, with us leaving town about 9:45a after a pretty decent breakfast at the adjacent Village Inn and an unsuccessful attempt to buy some waders from R.E.I. was thwarted due to them not opening until 10a.
Headed out along the Turnagain Arm again via AK1, this time stopping at only a few points of interest. Bird Point was really nice and where we learned about tidal bores, a single wave that progresses up the arm twice a day with the tides sometimes reaching heights of six feet! With the new moon the bore would be particularly impressive but as we didn’t want to wait around four or so hours we reluctantly continued on. It wasn’t a total bust, though, as we did see a red squirrel. Along the way we also saw the Alaska tourist train (twice) and tiny white specks on the mountainside that I think were sheep but couldn’t verify. At the head of Turnagain Arm the road turned south and then west, past some marshy land that harbored two moose! Yay!
Alaska tourist train along Turnagain Arm
Turnagain Arm mountainside
Bird Point on Turnagain Arm
After a short climb of about a thousand feet the road descended to Kenai Lake and the Kenai River which were both a gorgeous turquoise color. The road then straightened out and the terrain got far less hilly. The vegetation thinned out as well, becoming more stunted evergreens. We entered Soldatna, an unremarkable town with an incredibly slow McDonalds. We decided only to get a little snack there as we really wanted to eat at the Blue Bus Diner in Anchor Point. Another hour’s drive (mostly due to construction) and a quick fill-up of gas (at nearly $4 a gallon!) placed us there.
Kenai Lake, note the blueish glacier-tinged water
Kenai Lake view
Kenai Lake
What a remarkable place. Great burgers, decent onion rings, and an absolutely amazing coffee milkshake. I asked her to go heavy on the coffee, that if she reached the point where she thought I couldn’t possibly want more in the shake to keep on going. She happily obliged. I told her that we had read about her restaurant (well, technically it was her mother’s restaurant of 19 years) in a guide book and they were excited and asked to see it. They were beaming at being mentioned so favorably in the guide.
By this time it had really begun to pour. As Anchor Point is the furthest west on the Kenai peninsula (and incidentally the furthest west point of the road system of North America) and thus closest to the volcanically active and gorgeous Alaska peninsula from which the Aleutians emerge we were bummed to not have a great view. Then the rain stopped and the clouds retreated up a bit allowing for some wonderful (if still a bit foggy) peeks at the jagged coast. I also am pretty sure we saw our first bear on the trip, but I am not positive. The weather continued to improve all the way into Homer, our resting place for the night.
View of the mountains of the Alaska Peninsula
I was a bit worried about Homer when planning this trip (a few weeks ago, haha, it came together fast) because I didn’t really have any plans for it. I had just read it was a nice drive (it was OK), had charming shops, and could serve as a launching point for some local exploration, and I managed to snag two rooms at the Land’s End and that seemed like it may be fun.
I needn’t have worried. Heading into town we could see down to the bay and the amazing Homer Spit, a five-mile long finger reaching almost halfway across the bay. At the end of that lay the Land’s End and beyond that, on the other side of the bay, lay the absolutely gorgeous glacier-studded peaks of the eastern Kenai peninsula — the ones in Kenai Fjords National Park. While the clouds still clung to the mountains the rain had continued to stay away and the view improved by the minute.
We drove past a small lake with several red seaplanes used for bear watching flightseeing trips in Katmai National Park on Alaska peninsula and drove along the spit There were gray rocky beaches, lots of driftwood, and derelict fishing vessels all around. Further on appeared gift shops, some eateries, charter companies, and the like to the right and the Homer marina to the left — an honest-to-goodness fishing town with a lively dock replete with cranes and places where fisherman were gutting their catches and posing their catch for photographs. Really cool. Homer Spit is a glacial moraine, deposited at the furthest extent of an Ice Age glacier 10,000 years ago.
Along the way we saw a couple of bald eagles in flight. I finally captured one closeup on film to my delight. Checked into our room and, I know I’ve used a lot of superlatives already on this trip, it has the best view I’ve ever seen. Just amazing, very hard to keep my eyes off of. Reluctantly we turned our back on the view and headed out on a walk up the spit to do some shopping and see the marina.
Bald eagle in Homer, Alaska
Fishing boat entering Kachemak Bay near Homer
Buoys at the Homer marina
The marina was very neat but the shopping not much to write home about. I took so many pictures, it seemed that everywhere I pointed my camera was worthy of capturing and the constantly changing light (due to a setting sun and the clouds lifting by the minute) made everything look different moment to moment. Bought the first of I hope many magnets as well. Headed back to the hotel and picked up the car, driving into Homer to see if there was any shopping up there. It was pretty disappointing though we did get to visit Beluga Marsh overlook and see some pretty (if devoid of moose and bear) marshland. Did get visited by some mosquitoes, though!
Shopping along Homer Spit
Cool dark blue fishing house
Homer marina
Homer marina
Homer marina with mountains beyond
Homer marina
Gravel bar off of Homer Spit
Fishermen showing off the day's catch
Salty Dawg in Homer
Beached boats as housing near Homer Spit
Overgrown stairs at Beluga Marsh
Beluga Marsh just north of Homer
Headed back to Homer Spit and ate some pepperoni pizza at Finn’s. Very tasty and they have a really cool two story restaurant with really nice views of the bay. Addison was excitedly planning his future, intending to homestead in Alaska on an island or something and build a fishing retreat. Headed back to the room about 10p to blog…
…except, once again, I didn’t. Addison wanted to go outside and enjoy the view and, as it was still very light, I happily obliged. We spent the next two hours talking, taking pictures, and skipping lots and lots of rocks. A really fun time. Darkness (or a bit less light) and the chill chased us in about midnight. I started blogging at midnight and here I sit at 2:30a — words for all three days written but nary a picture chosen for any.
Homer shopping / charter pier
Yet another view of Homer harbor
Eating area of Finn's Pizzeria
Our hotel, the Lands End in Homer, Alaska
Mountains across Kachemak Bay
Another view of the mountains
Route for Monday, July 13, 2015