Homer Sweet Homer

On the weekend of November 2-4, we ran down to Homer AK to celebrate my 30th birthday. I knew we were going to Homer, but I didn't know where we were staying. Becca kept it a secret until we pulled into the parking lot... we stayed at Alaskan Suites of Homer, which was a string of 5 little cabins sitting on a bluff overlooking Kachemak Bay. So we had privacy, but it wasn't the rustic interior you'd expect from a log cabin. In particular, it had a flatscreen TV with full cable, surround speakers, a microwave, nice bathroom, etc. If it had been a little warmer outside, we would've enjoyed the communal outdoor hot tub and fire ring, and the stainless propane grill on our back deck. We didn't get any pictures of the place ourselves, but click on their link for pix and panoramas. Below is a zoomed-in view of Augustine Volcano, from our back deck.


Unfortunately, Maia was sick for most of the trip, with a double ear infection and probably also the stomach flu. This made her a very good sleeper during the 4-hour drives there and back, but she wasn't taking fluids or her oral antibiotics. We nearly took her to the local ER, but she turned the corner on our first night there at just the right time. Oddly, in between bursts of being sick, she seemed to be having a pretty darn good time. So for the most part, it didn't stop us from getting out and doing what we wanted.

Homer is a small town (5,400), including a 5-mile-long gravel "spit" that sticks out into the bay. The spit has a boat harbor, businesses, restaurants, cute little boardwalks, RV parks, and at least one hotel. The view across the bay is pretty amazing as well, with glaciers and snow-capped mountains providing a nice backdrop for my ladies in the next pic below. Of course, it was already November and pretty cold when we got there, so the tourism was pretty dead and the fishing seemed to be as well.


Homer is HQ for a regional wildlife refuge, so we stopped in at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitors Center which was pretty neat. We also tried to stop at the Pratt Museum (natural history), but they were closed so they could set up for their big "Putting on the Ritz" shindig. A few restaurants were also closed due to lack of tourists (the sidewalks roll up in Homer during the off-season), but we had some excellent meals just the same. Fat Olives was a good Greek/Italian place, where I got to sample a local brew. The morning we left to head home, we had a great breakfast at the Sourdough Express. The original "Express" was a van that the owners baked bread from (and lived in), making money as they made their way to Homer, where they parked it on the Spit. It's now out front, for the kids to play in. Maia and I showed off our matching UAA hoodies inside:


The drive back to Anchorage starts on hilly ground, but then moves to higher elevation with mountains on both sides. It was pretty snowy up there! We also passed a few glacial rivers and lakes, which were a shocking teal-blue color. (I guess that's due to lack of impurities, or the particular composition of the glacial ice?) It was pretty amazing, especially because Anchorage and Homer were relatively snow-free.






See more pictures at Maia's Fotki site, under "October 2007". We'll definitely have to run back to Homer again in the spring, when there's more action, we'll be able to enjoy a water wildlife tour, and maybe do some fishing with Uncle Jeff in these rivers on the Kenai Peninsula. It's great that although we're tourists in Homer, we can come back down anytime we have a few days free.

Happy Birthday to Me!