Hello
Trackers:
June
21 – Today is our travel day. We are headed toward Homer. Homer is only 127
miles away. It is the home of the Spit. The sun is really shinning. Can you
believe this is the first time we have not had to wear our coats! PTL! The
drive is beautiful as usual. This time there are snow capped volcano mountains
and glaciers. As we passed the Russian River 20+ fly fishermen were circling
the waters bend in their tall waders and vest having a great time fishing. I
know Eddie H, Brian L and my brother-in-law Terry would have a field day doing this.
We found the state park, Anchor Point, where we decided to stay. It had 5
different areas. So we park the Hilton4. We know 2 we were too long to stay in.
So as the site hunter I needed to go and
investigate. Lo decided he would come with me. Oh boy. I pull out of the
parking lot and remembered I needed my purse out of the Hilton4. I circle back
to get it. As we pull out of the parking lot again, Lo says “are you going to
hit that pot hold again?” I tried to be nice and ignore him. I drive 200 more
feet. “Lo says this road speed is 35MPH”. I look at him and say, “Obviously you
want to drive.” He looks at me and knows it is on. He sheepishly says ok. No
problem. Better he drive than I club him before we get a site. The site we got
is next to the beach. We can look out the windows and see the Kachemak Bay. We drive the 15 miles into Homer to check it
out. Found the Visitor Center. They provided wonderful tips on where to see the
best parts of the city. We also check the Spit out and found a great bike
trail. Maybe a ride tomorrow. We went up in the hills of Homer and saw the
whole city, Spit, glaciers and Kachemak Bay. We will spend the day in Homer
tomorrow.
Question of the day – What is a Spit?
(And not the salvia kind) Well look it up and let me know your answer.
June
22 – Homer – We took our time getting up today. We decided that we would take
the bike ride on the Spit path. It is 4 miles long. It is our 2nd sunny day. We
thought it would be easier to park at the Spits entry and pedal down. Boy was
this interesting. We saw old ships, cars, trucks that were abandon. On high
tide some of these items would be covered up. The path was right next to the 2
lane road. Sometime the path was a bike lane on the road. This was a little
scary at times because big trucks with boats and motorhomes were on the road
next to us. We stopped at a fish cleaning area and saw 2 amazing bald eagles. One
must have thought he as in Hollywood. He preened for all the cameras. Nobody
was foolish enough to get too close. We also got a chance to meet a mother and
daughter from Destiny, FL. They have been coming here for years to spend the
summer clamming, mussel gathering and fishing. The father who is a retired
dentist was halibut fishing. When I first heard the mom speak, I thought I was
listening to my neighbor Louisa. I detected that Italian language right away. I
found out that Stephanie the daughter had just graduated from dental school and
was starting her first job as a dentist on July 9. She said she was a little
afraid as this was her first major job. The mom and I laughed because we both
knew she has no idea. She is young she will do well. Lo was watching halibut
being fillet. Boy, there is an art to this job. You got to be strong and
precise. We could not believe how the seasoned fishermen can fillet and leave
nothing but the head, tail and bone. While others left so much meat that some
watchers were able to take the leftover fish home to eat. We made it all the
way to the end of the Spit fittingly called Lands End. On the way back we
stopped at the little shops to check the deals out. Well, we are still awaiting
the deals. The cost of the items was worse than Carmel. $159 for a faux Eskimo
jacket that was from China. Really!! We stopped to check out how the fishing
derby was going. Every fishing town as a derby. There was a person from So.
Cally in the lead. Go Cally fisherman. Thought we would head back to the car.
By this time lots of people were coming to the Spit for the weekend. The one
thing we really liking about AK is everyone speaks to you. Every person we met
on the path spoke. All the people in the fish cleaning area took time to hold a
conversation. Amazing. We stopped and had dinner at Don Jose. On our way home
we crested the hill and saw Mt. Redoubt, the volcano in the far distance. It is
one of the four famous volcanoes in the area. (Mt. Douglas, Mt. Iliamna &
Mt. Augustine are the others) We could not believe it. We had to go back to
that hill to be sure. People told us on a clear day you could see it. Boy was
it impressive. It last erupted in 2009. When we got home our neighbor was having
problems getting his boat in his site. Lo was sitting in our window giving
directions that only I could hear. Turn right, turn left, no stop. I told him
to go help the guy since he knew what to do. Within minutes he had the guy in
the site. Boy was I glad. We had sun down prayer at 8:00PM. No more waiting for
that 12:00 AM for that sun to go down.
Question of the day – What are the
four volcanoes called? Well look it up and let me know your answer.
Bonus Question of the day – What color
is a Halibut? Well look it up and let me know your answer.
June
23 – Homer – It is Sabbath. Church is not until 3:00 PM so we decided to sleep
late. Yahoooooo! 3rd sunny day. We went to the Alaska Island and Ocean
Visitors Center. It is the wildlife and marine refuge center. The center really
gives you an understanding of how the animals, birds and sea life survive. We
saw how the fur trappers and whalers almost depleted the native animals. We saw
videos on how the native people in the area lived and what they needed to
maintain their existence. It is a shame on how they were treated. We found out
about the Aleutian Islands. There are more than 250 islands. Most of these
islands are not inhabited by people. There are different species of wild birds
and fish on the islands. There are over two million birds. Researchers monitor the
birds to determine how the sea life is surviving and how global warming is affecting
the world. I guess global warming is more than we thought. Looking at glacier
monitoring really makes one stop and think about what we are doing to the
environment. Not trying to be an activist. Just saying. We were invited to the
Homer church by Judith James whom we meet at camp meeting. This is a small
church and she had asked Lo what we would like to do to help. He told her that
I could sing. She asked him if I would. He said he thought so. What about him??
Hello!!! He was talking to her not me. So, I agree to singing. We had a good
time meeting the members at the potluck. One of the members, Polly, was raised as
from a Russian Orthodox. She gave us lots of info on her upbringing. She told
us where we could find a Russian Orthodox community and it was the church she
grew up in. Her uncle is the priest. We decided we would take a final tour of
Homer. We drove all the way round the bay until the road turned to a final cliff.
We found the Russian Orthodox Church. The priest was having a mass so we took pictures
very silently and left. Took one last look at the beach and turned in.
Question of the day – What is name of
the Refuge research vessel and what does it mean? Well look it up and let me
know your answer.
June
24 – Today is a travel day. Ok. Here we go with the rain again. Back to the
blue coats. We headed toward the Kenai Peninsula and stop in Soldotna. Of
course we found the Visitor Center. Sara, the assistant, was very knowledgeable
about the area since she grew up here. She is a language arts teacher during
the year. I told her that our daughter was a teacher also. She told us funny
stories about teaching and her kids. We took a tour of the cultural center. We
got to see actual caught salmons, moose, bear hides, etc. I saw what a king
crab looked like. I still don’t get why it is so popular. I guess this is why I
am a veggie. We went to dinner at the St. Elias Brewery. They are known for the
salads. One salad could feed a family. They also brew their own root beer. Of
course Lo was in heaven. We stayed in
the Lou Morgan State Park in Soldotna. We found out that there is a resident
moose. She seems to not to have a care in the world and went about doing her
regular things.
June
25 – Kenai – Still raining. We found out that the store Fred Myers allows RV to
stay for 3 days. Well they beat out WalMart. They provide free RV dump and free
water. They have certain rules. No leaving your kids and dogs all day in the RV
alone. NO setting up the BBQ outside the RV. Well, they better be glad they
don’t know my folk. That BBQ would be smoooooooking!!! We went to the Visitors and
Cultural Center in Kenai. This is one of premium centers. They have a lot of
cultural items from the different villages and lots of information on the dog
trainers of the Iditarod’s. There are videos on everything Alaskan. We watch a
very good video on what the Aurora Borealis really is. There are so many myths
out there on how it appears. We took a tour of the historical Old Town and
found another Russian Orthodox Church. It was built in 1894. We went inside and
were able to speak with the priest. We told him we were SDA. He started
laughing and said we were “half Christian” since we did not to do Sunday. He
was full of info on the church and explained that he was married and had been
in this parish for 4 years. He came from a village that is 400 miles away. It
could only be reached by plane. The church is small but has many artifacts. One
of the amazing items was the chandelier. It was almost as big as the church.
The church was one of the buildings that survived the 1964 earthquake. We
continued are tour and decided to take a drive along the coast. I couldn’t
believe my eyes when we passed by one of the big companies I used to underwrite
when I worked. Of course I had to take a pic and send to my friends where I
used to work. Boy does that sound good. Use to work. We decided to stop and
have dinner. We were told about a good restaurant. It is called Bucket Sports Grill.
The food was good and they had great french fries. Everything was served in a
bucket. Yummm. We called it a night and went home to watch Bucket List. How fitting.
Question of the day – What another
name for the Aurora Borealis? Well look it up and let me know your answer.
Until
next time Trackers. Keep a light burning for us.
Lo
& Bren
Bren, it's not just that they speak to you - they do that in Scotland, too. It's that you can understand them!
ReplyDeleteThat salad looks awesome, if a bit on the small side. Your insides thank you for eating it. ;)