Baby It's Cold Outside--Homer, Alaska--July 22-29

From Kenai Wildlife Preserve we drove to Homer, Alaska. It was a nice drive, but cloudy. Once in Homer we headed for The Spit. We found a great site overlooking Kachemak Bay. This is what it looked like at low tide. Yes, those are tidepools! We looked in them and only saw barnacles and mussels--no starfish or anemones like we saw in Oregon.We were near the small boat harbor.The day we arrived had some sunshine and a few clouds--but it was cold! We shopped in the stores around the spit. Time Bandit from Deadliest Catch is based in Homer so they have a small store with souvenirs. Most of the stores had the same souvenirs we have seen everywhere we've been.

One thing about Homer--the weather was always cold and cloudy. Most days it even rained! We stayed in the rv if it was a hard rain...we went out in the drizzle or we would never have gotten out to see the sights. We could see Grewingk Glacier on our first day, but not again until our last 2 days.

One day we drove Skyline Drive above Homer. We had a good view of the spit....
....and of Homer.This moose was munching the tall grass near the road.Another day we went to Anchor Point geocaching. We drove to the most westerly highway point in North America. This is not the original sign--vandals destroyed it during the winter several years ago.
From Anchor Point we visited the Russian village Nikolaevsk. Most of the Russians originally settled in Willamette Valley, Oregon. In the 1960's many of them moved to Alaska to keep their children from becoming too Americanized. Church of St. Nicholas sets this town apart from the other small towns and is the only display of its Russian heritage.Norman Lowell has a gallery outside Anchor Point. You may view his and other local artists' work as well as tour his original homestead from 1959. The homestead makes you go hmmmmm. I wonder what it was like in the winter with no insulation, just the log walls, windows and a fire in the wood stove!Another day dawned and it was raining once again in Homer so we took a day to visit the local winery and brewery. Grapes don't grow in Alaska so wine in concentrated forms is imported and infused with local fruits and berries....very interesting.
Two eagles have taken up residence on one of the busiest corners in Homer. The traffic doesn't seem to bother them as they mind their baby in the nest.Another eagle liked to sit on the light post in our campground. I parked the car right below him and didn't even know he was there!After we hooked the car to the rv, the eagle was still in place.
We enjoyed our trip to Homer, but we are ready for some warmer weather! The temperature never made it to the mid 50s while we were there! Inf fact, the weather was so bad a couple of days that the ferry didn't run to Seldovia across the bay!