Day 18--Beautiful Alaska!

Salty Dawg Saloon

Mountains rimming Homer

Street coming into spit at Homer

$78 per night RV Park on Spit in Homer

Beautiful Wildflowers of Alaska

More Alaskan Wildflowers

Harbor on spit at Homer

Halibut weighing 60 lbs first on left ---------------- Shops on spit at Homer

Today is Thursday July 22, 2010. We drove back into Soldotna(about 60 miles) stopping along the way to look at various scenery. We bought a few groceries and came back to Nimilchik and dropped them off at the motor home. We had a sandwich and drove to Homer which was about 40 miles south of Nimilchik. Homer is a very unique area. We drove down to the Spit which is the peninsula roadway that ends at Kachemak Bay. The spit is very commercialized with building on both sides of the roadway that either house gift shops, charter companies, coffee houses or brew houses. One of the most unique bars is Salty Dawgs and it is built onto a lighthouse. Alaska must live on Espresso! Every 10 miles along the roadway is a little hut that is an espresso drive-thru. Homer was a beautiful area!! It is rimmed by the most beautiful mountains you could ever imagine. The spit is just a strip of land out in the ocean and when you get to the end of the strip it just falls off into the water. There are many RV Campgrounds along the Spit. Tom who was parked next to us at the Golden Nugget in Anchorage is also here as I mentioned yesterday. He told us that there was one of the RV Parks on the spit that was charging $78 a night to park. We found it and checked on it ourselves and, YES, to park there which is on the water is $78 per night and they had many people parked there. On the other side of the road, which also is right down on the shoreline was $25. I'm really not sure what the difference was because the $25 spots had a beautiful view. I guess a fool and his money are easily parted---so I hear!

We walked around the shops and saw them hauling Halibut in from one of the boats down in the harbor. We also saw them hanging the Halibut and also cleaning them at several places along the spit. At the first place we watched them weigh them and the first one was 54 lbs. That is a LOT of fish! The second place had one hanging that was marked 60 lbs. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to catch one. We checked into a charter trip at the campground and we could take either a Halibut or a Salmon charter. We signed up for a King Salmon charter which goes out on Saturday morning. I am looking forward to it. Larry and I had Halibut several times since we have been in Alaska and really enjoyed it. One day a guy we were talking to said that some of the Halibut that are caught are full of worms. Since then Larry cannot stand to hear the word Halibut. He has marked it off his list of favorite foods. That is why we are going on the Salmon Charter--even though he does not like Salmon. I, on the other hand, could probably eat Salmon 7 days a week--which I just might be doing if we catch them on Saturday.

It rained off and on today but by the time we got back to the RV Park, the sun was out and it was beautiful. We grilled a steak for Larry and a Salmon Fillet for me. We had fresh corn on the cob, Larry had a baked potato and I had a baked sweet potato. We visited with Barb and Jim that we met yesterday. They are parked next to us and are from near Wisconsin Dells. They also just did the sight seeing drive today. We had all talked about clamming today but decided to see the area instead. The weather is so unpredictable that it is hard to plan much unless you are willing to do it in the rain. We have done a majority of our activities in the rain since we hit the Anchorage area.

I know I repeat myself day after day but I have never seen such beauty that we see everyday here. I must have 500 pictures of the mountains and the water but I keep thinking I will actually capture the real beauty in one of them. I find this is impossible because as beautiful as the picture is, it does not compare in any way to seeing it with your own eyes. I just wish all of my family and friends had the opportunity to see Alaska. It makes you feel very small in the scheme of it all. What beauty God created here!

In the RV Park, there are several native Alaskans parked here for, I believe, the sole purpose of fishing. Every night they come in with huge catches. The wives garb up in their plastic aprons and rubber gloves and help the men unload the day's catch and then they all work on filleting them. They have a cleaning station at the end of the park as well as a smoker that is available for everyone to use. It is smoking day and night and I'm sure it is mainly being used by this group. We were talking with our neighbors last night and figured they probably exist on this during the winter. I doubt most of them can afford to buy much food as the prices here are very high.

The wildlife sightings have just dried up. We have not seen any wildlife since coming from Tok. There are signs everywhere regarding watching for the moose and they actually keep track of how many were killed by cars and post it on the signs. Either they have all been killed by cars or the locals have them all in their freezers. No moose, no deer, no bear--nothing --The gal that owns the RV Park said she has lived here in this same area for 8 years and has only seen 1 bear. Looking at the countryside, you could imagine the bear would be everywhere. Anyway we still enjoy looking at the wildflowers if not the wildlife. The wildflowers are so varied and they are everywhere you look. Like one big beautiful flower garden along the roadway.