Homer . . . The spit, the brewery and king crab

We are staying at Baycrest RV Park on the hill just above Homer. You can't see the spit from our campground but the views are still a sight to behold and today we watched whales out in the Cook inlet.

 The view for our campground from a nearby vista

 Homer Spit from the Vista above it
The Pic on the right is a magnified view of the pic above.



We started our day with a visit to the spit . . . looking for the prefect gift for a special little girl. We also stopped at the local fish market for some Alaskan King Crab which would be our dinner this evening.
 What visit to Homer would be complete without a visit to the local brewery. Al had the Broken Birch Best Bitter which had been recommended by the waiter from the Seward Brewery and I had the Rhubarb Spritzer . .  .both were delish.

A word or two about the flora in Alaska; when we left Vermont on June 25th the peonies in our yard had just gone by. Here, on July 30th the peonies were in full bloom. We had been told by may locals that their winters were very similar to ours in VT. Interesting about the flowers here.

 We saw these gorgeous Delphinium at a local green house as we came off the Spit. Very eye catching blue.

A fine dinner of Alaskan King Crab Legs on our last night on the peninsula. Today has been picture perfect and more like Summer than any day yet.


Headed back to Anchorage tomorrow for an oil change, a fill up of propane, laundry and a bath for the van before we head to Valdez.

Cousin Time in Ninilchik

We had so much fun last weekend at Pat and Mert's house that we decided to stop by again for another visit and to see Guy again while he was down from Palmer fishing. Friday was a rainy nasty day and we drove from Cooper Landing to Ninilchik. Not a long drive and we didn't leave too early because of the drizzly rain. We arrived mid afternoon and Pat, Guy and Jane ( a visiting friend from Seattle) were preparing to head out for some night fishing . . . keeping in mind that nighttime is only a relative term to refer to the time of day not the amount of daylight. They left around 5:30 and then Mert, Al and I went to the local pizza place for some dinner. We returned to watch a baseball game and have a nice fire in the wood stove before bedtime. Sometime in the night the fisher people returned with more salmon which would need to be prepared for shipment back to Seattle. Overall Pat thought that they had prepared about 100 lbs of fresh caught salmon.

Driveway camping at Camp Wells

Guy preparing fillets from roughly cleaned slabs (the guts and bones are already removed)

Fillets ready for Saran wrap and then the freezer                                                               

                                                    Frozen fillets being vacuum sealed 

Mert,, Pat,Me and Guy

One more with Al . . . Thanks Jane!

Cousin Love

On to Homer for the rest of the weekend . . . a couple of breweries, maybe Alaskan Crab and sightseeing                                                                                                                                  

An Anniversary Float on the Upper Kenai River

I wanted to find some memorable way to celebrate our Anniversary while traveling this year; to that end I was successful when I found Kenai Riverdog Tour. We joined 4 other people plus our guide for a 3+ hour float down the Upper Kenai River. The day started kind of overcast but quickly cleared and by the time we hit the river at 1:00 in the afternoon the sun was shinning like we have rarely seen this trip and although the water was chilly we were perfectly fine in just long sleeves. I guess it paid off to be a Vermonter for so many years. On the Kenai Peninsula it is a warm Summer day if the temps reach the mid 60's. Sunny and 60's can be pretty nice after several cloudy misty rain days, believe me.

 We have observed an interesting sight at many boating accesses across Alaska. There are life vests available for children to borrow while in the area. We found it surprising that these life vests are used and returned and not stolen. Such a good idea but I doubt if it would work in the Lower 48.

A great day for a river raft float in Alaska.

21 years today . . . I'm hanging on to him

Of course what would a trip in Alaska be without wildlife.

Bald Eagle watching everyone go by

 And black bear cubs playing on the shore as we went by.

Not too far from a nearby fisherman

Pulling the raft out of the river after the float

A toast to a great day and wonderful Anniversary on the deck of the Kenai Princess Lodge overlooking the river.

Friday we head back to Ninilchik for a little more time with my cousins.

Back to Seward for a boat tour in Kenai Fjords National Park

Retracing our tracks back to Seward for a 7 1/2 hour boat tour
Our campground in Seward was a municipal RV Park right on Resurrection Bay and if you look carefully in the second picture in front of the house on the right you can see our little teeny house next to all of the other big rigs.

Up early and ready to board at 9:30. 

The weather was overcast but it wasn't raining and for that we were grateful.                                           

 The 1st wildlife we saw other than sea birds were these Harbor Seals. There were also Dall's porpoise but my limited photography skills kept me from capturing them at the precise moment they were surfacing.

The scenery as we traveled toward Holgate Glacier was outstanding. Lots of rocky islands popping up from the Gulf of Alaska.

The boat pulled up as close as safely possible to Holgate glacier and you could hear the sounds of the glacier shifting and popping as it calved.

 Small chunks of glacial ice floated in the surrounding waters.

One last look back as we left that glacier and made our way towards Aialik Glacier.

 As we cruised the captain spotted an orca. I got a few pics but once again they are not so easy for an amateur to photograph. The National Park Ranger that we had aboard for the cruise was able to identify this particular orca from his distinguishing fins marks. He had a whole notebook of whales which frequent this area.

my favorite and best pic of the orca

oops too late

and again

got him

not as good but the fin is visible

 Then we had some sea otters. When a group swims together like the above pic they are called a raft. The guy to the right was just hanging out all by himself (herself)

Next we saw a black bear foraging around on a rocky cliff.

Aialik Glacier was huge and had a blue hue to the ice. There were  lots of Harbor seals floating around on ice chunks as well as a kittiwake or two.

unidentified wildlife

 The only picture I got of a humpback whale even though we saw many.

A Horned Puffin

 A rocky island that on this day was inhabited by Stellar Sea Lions

 

The ride back was quiet as we all reflected on the wonders we had witnessed

Seward in the distance

The Sheltered Boat Harbor

A great day filled with memories . . . so glad that we came back and were able to enjoy this adventure into Kenai Fjords National Park     Next stop is Cooper Landing for a Kenai River Float.