Another rainy day, but that does not deter your intrepid twosome!!
We drove 80 plus miles down to the end of The Kenai, as far south as you can drive in Alaska on normal roads, without getting on a ferry or a plane. Or swimming.
The town of Homer sits on the end of the peninsular, and then a huge Spit of land sticks out like a giant fishhook into Kachemak Bay, which is the southern end of The Cooke Inlet, where it meets the Gulf of Alaska.
On the way, for miles, the fields and roadsides are awash with purple Lupines and Indian Paint Brush, full of bees and other assorted flying creatures. Very pretty.
The village on the end of the Spit has been originally named Homer Spit.
As you drive over the causeway road thing to the Spit, there is a lake called Beluga Lake, why, is a mystery coz it is landlocked, and a beluga whale would have trouble getting into it unless it was a flying whale, or if there was a whaleway, ( terrible pun) and there were dozens of float planes coming and going. Busy, busy, busy.
There are millions of RVs camped all along both sides of The Spit, whose main touristy attractions are halibut fishing, ocean kayaking and sightseeing tours of the glaciers.
We wandered into the only original building still remaining from when the town was founded in 18 something, now converted to a pub called the Old Salty Dawg.
Very quaint, the walls covered with dollar bills pinned there by customers, who have written their own comments on the money in black marker pen.
Of course, we are upstanding citizens, and would never dream of defacing property of the treasury, with comments such as “Marlipops and The Captain”, and “Come On You Wolves”. Never. Nor would we search for a glass full of thumb tacks to pin the dollar bills to the wall. Not us.
Unfortunately, it is with great sadness that I have to report that the locally brewed ale on offer was pretty horrible, served in plastic bottles which were not allowed to leave the bar, as they were recycled. The beer tasted as though it had been recycled as well, through a few halibut. It was bad.
Also, the ban on smoking in public places has either not reached this far south, or is just ignored, so the atmosphere was, well, smokey!
Anyway, we left the pub and wandered across the street, to Boardwalk Fish and Chips, in Cannery Row.
The halibut was served on a skewer, fried in a very light batter, and was absolute heaven. It was far better than that reported from Haines a few weeks ago.
The chips were pretty good too, and vinegar was on the table without being requested. Very civilized!
We then walked around a bit, checking out the various offers on fishing trips and sea kayaking, and I have to commend one of the young ladies behind the counter at Mako’s Sea Taxi.
As usual, I was the comedian to Marlipop’s straight talking, and when I asked about alligators on the glacier wildlife cruise, this young girl, without a second’s pause, came back at me with “Of course, sir. We have the white alligators, the Northern species. They are white, to hide in the snow, and their claws work real well on the glaciers.” She then proceeded to explain that the kayaks all have some kind of skirt, but I would look good in a pastel shade, not the standard black. She was very good, almost a match for me, and so refreshing compared to the usual “like, like, like” which is how kids today talk, like.
On our way back to Homer from the Spit, Marlipop’s research had uncovered the fact that Homer Brewery was open to tours, so we thought we would give them a chance to redeem themselves, and paid them a visit.
The brewery, shop, sampling area and register are all in one room. The tour consisted of “Which 3 of our 10 ales would you care to sample?”
So, forewarned being forearmed, or something like that, I tried 3 that were not on sale in the pub earlier.
The brewery redeemed itself.
The samples were very generous, and after the 3, I was feeling no pain!
It would have been rude not to buy some beer, and so I purchased half a gallon of fine ale, for $ 10.00, plus a fee for the designer flagon. Considering the price of beer here in Alaska, and the fact that these people only have a short season in which to fleece the tourists, it was not a bad deal. Only problem is I had a headache when I woke up, hence the reason this travelog is being written a day later than normal.
Homer is an artsy type of town, and some sights were pretty neat, particularly the blue RV, see pix.
Also, the tracked ATV pic is for Geoff, who probably needs one in Florida!
We were very tired, so on the way back, pulled off the road to have a snooze. We were woken by a woman knocking on the window, who had seen our license plate from Florida, and wanted to chit chat coz she was from Florida. Who cares???? Go away, we are tired!!! But we are very polite, so we weren’t rude, but we wanted to be!!
Wildlife watch today was lots of bald eagles, again, and tons of dead halibut.
