The Sun Shines on Homer!

Herring Gull auditions for Crested Puffins

sea otters

Seldovia

* A note on the photos.
I spend a silly amount of time arranging the photos so that they fit the text. Blogspot has its own ideas about where they should go and rarely do they match mine.

Thursday, Aug. 19th - Homer Spit

Last night's dinner saw us back at Captain Pattie’s: Dar has scallops wrapped with shrimp and I have a very rich seafood linguine.

On Thursday the waves have calmed and we take our charter and include a stop at Seldovia on  the other side of  the Katchemac Bay. Lots of gulls and murres and cormorants but only two crested puffins among the thousands of birds nesting on Gull Island. We see lots of sea otters too but they are wary of boats and are not really close enough to photograph. Seldovia is a pretty little town but it suffers from its isolation - only accessible by boat or air - and the First Nations Co-op will close in September because it has ceased to make money.
Dinner is steaks on the BBQ with garlic bread and a great salad.

OBSERVATIONS:

Just strap it on, fire it up and go

• Bungee cords and pool noodles are an essential part of RV life.
• So is an ipod loaded with tunes. Sirius has serious problems up here - no signal.
• Alaskans seem determined to have fun. On just our bit of beach we have seen surfers, kayakers, paraboarders, long boards with paddles, horses, a donkey and this morning a guy who strapped a large fan to his back, shook out a parasail, and took off over the beach!
• Homer has the only Farmers’ Market I’ve seen where the jewelry kiosks outnumber the food kiosks by 10:1. It was actually very sad.
• Alaska King Crab is everywhere and everywhere it’s ridiculously expensive. I can buy it cheaper “outside” - which is how Alaskans refer to the lower 48.
• As soon as you’re two miles outside any city the average number of bullet holes on any traffic sign is 6.4.
• In spite of the fact that guns are prevalent and hunting is a way of life, there don’t seem to be a lot of gun shops.
• The ladies and girls dressed up as Snow White in bright coloured satin, head caps and long flowing gowns are not going to a party. They’re ethnic Russians. This seems to be the daily wear. The men are much more subdued but I did see a belted tunic and Tevye’s cap!

By the side of Silver River

Friday, Aug 20th, by the side of Stormy Lake

We’re getting better at this “boondocking” thing. (Pull up, drop the stabilizers, shoot out the slides and call it home for the night. Buying the generators has proved to be a smart idea; they’re getting a lot of use.) We tried Capt. Cook State Park but the angles were wrong or the site was too short and after two attempts we decided to move on. Now we’re overlooking a lovely lake and that $15 shall go back into our pockets.
In the morning we bike back to the park to check out the bluffs and Mt. Redoubt and then drive back into Kenai, visit the river’s edge, a historic Russian Orthodox church and an art market and then on across the peninsula. Lots of people drift-fishing the river. It’s Saturday and sunny and Alaskans are making  the most of it.

Sat. Aug 21st, by the side of Silver River. (I  think)

Another boondock - this time beside a small river with lovely rapids; kayakers and rafters entertain us as they shoot through. Just across the stream we have a bald eagle, keeping an eye on us lest we leave a salmon unattended - or a small puppy.
At dinner time two suspicious layabouts pull up behind us in a beat up car and - after a cigarette and much discussion - haul a bunch of stuff down to the river’s edge. Just your average two guys out on the town, wearing their Sponge Bob t-shirts and camouflaged hip waders ......... panning for gold! It’s Zane and Jessie and when they get too cold they pack it in and we talk for 30 minutes about the vagaries of gold panning and how, if they had a dredge ($4200.) instead of just a sluice they could process 20 yards of gravel in four hours and maybe take home a 1/4 ounce of gold. When they leave Zane presents us with a gold pan in case we catch the fever. My god I love this state! Eagles, kayaks, rafters, and gold seekers - just ‘cause we pulled over and stopped for a night.

Monday, August 23rd, by the side of the Taklina River

We’ve moved on. Spent last night at the Mat-Su Tourist Information Centre in Wasilla so that we could pursue a leaky faucet with Earl at Valley RV in the morning. He can’t find the cause either, but I do buy a can of spray lube to soften the squeaks and squeals of our rear stabilizer jacks.
Leaving Wasilla I miss the exit to Palmer (not uncommon when I drive anywhere) but this takes us to Eklutna. We decide on a bike ride by the lake which is approached by a literal “ribbon of highway”.  And someone has tangled the ribbon. And cut off the edges. There are no shoulders, just a really skinny winding road with drop offs on either side that would cripple us were we to visit one. So, of course, I try.
In a fit of thoughtless generosity I pull over to let a car pass on what I think is a fairly stable edge. No, no no. Tires spin, rubber burns and we slide slightly backwards. Hearts race and adrenaline pumps.  And so for the first time on the trip I switch to 4x4 and now the truck pulls easily back on to the road. Crisis averted.

By the side of Eklutna Lake

The bike ride by the lake is really beautiful along rocky paths and dirt trails. It ends when  we see very fresh bear scat, full of the berries we’ve been passing. We both decide we’re ready to move on to the Glenn Highway and set out for Glenallen where we turn right on to the Richardson Highway and head for Valdez. After dinner tonight we go for a walk, cross a bridge, and discover that a mountain has appeared in the distance garbed in sunset hues of pink, purple and salmon. Just another day in Alaska.

Mt. Drum shows itself in  the evening