Homer bound

Thursday, July 19, 2007

HOMER, ALASKA — Haul out all your fish jokes; this is the place to use ‘em! There’s something fishy about Homer....we thought we’d come just for the halibut....and now we’re hooked! This seaside town is set on a bluff looking across Kachemak Bay, which is a finger of Cook Inlet, which is a finger of the Gulf of Alaska. Below the bluff is the Homer Spit, as it’s called; a long thin arm of land that provides docking space for hundreds of boats on an inner marina, while on the outer rim are rows and rows of fishing charter services, outdoor outfitters, ice cream stands, taco shacks, and shops with wood carving, jewelry, sweaters, toothpick holders and every other charming thing you could want, stamped with HOMER or ALASKA on one side and Made in China on the other. Every other square inch of the spit is filled with RVs, trucks, boat trailers, derelict boats and seagulls by the gazillion. Oh, and hordes of humanity as well!
Across the bay is a magnificent array of mountains, capped with snow or sporting a thick glacier or two, dusted with clouds and set off like a jewel by the blue ocean.
The staff at Oceanview RV park, where we are staying, took one look at Val and assigned us the tightest, trickiest campsite they had. They planted a "Speed Limit 5" sign with an edge like a blade at one side of the narrow opening, and a site sign at the other, with a garbage can tied to it for good measure. They built a low retaining wall across from the site and arranged for the campers next to it to park their vehicles at the very edge or jutting out just a little bit. And they built the site on a hill, terrace-style, for a final twist. Then, they asked a number of other campers to arrive at the same time so they could be waiting for us to get off the thoroughfare and watching Val’s every manouevre. Well, he rose to the challenge! He had to use the slide-back feature of our fifth-wheel hitch to purchase a bit more flexibility, and try it from a couple of different angles, but his persistence and patience paid off. The folks at the next site above ours were out on their lawn chairs taking in the spectacle and added their kudos to mine when the deed was accomplished.
We had a lovely trip from Seward this morning, despite the rainy start to the day. Fortunately, that didn’t last. The first 27 miles of the road was the same one we took coming in, but then it split off to the west toward Homer, and took us across the flat centre portion of the Kenai Peninsula, where there were no mountains and a fair bit of marshy plain, a favourite spot for those skinny, spiky black spruce to grow.
At lunchtime, we stopped at a place called the Town of Living Trees, where several log cabins were set out in a semi-circle, and where several chain-saw sculptors were hard at work, creating bears, fish, eagles and other figures out of huge logs, with sawdust and wood chips flying and saws blaring away. All around the buildings were these whimsical creatures — pot-bellied cowboys with floppy stetsons, cross-eyed moose, snarling orcas, as well as beautiful wood furniture, such as benches with horse heads at either end or chairs shaped like fish. They also had a carrousel with wooden Alaskan animals to ride, set against colourful paintings of northern landscapes on the inside walls. It was a terrific display!
As we approached the western shore of the peninsula the black spruce gave way to taller pine trees and deciduous trees, and millions of enormous Queen Anne’s lace flowers on either side of the road, as well as tall, purple lupins in great clusters. We stopped at a turnout and the Queen Anne’s lace was growing taller than me, with stems as thick as cigars! We passed several fields full of these white and purple flowers that any gardener would have been proud to say they had planted. And in places where the blue-green Kenai River flowed alongside the road, the effect was enchanting.
There were lots of boats and people fishing along the river in hip waders. The towns of Soldotna, Kasilof and Ninilchik revealed their Russian and Aleutian origins in their names, and their devotion to the sport fishing industry in their numerous commercial enterprises. When Kachemak Bay came into view we could see, on the other side, the "ring of fire" volcanic mountains. One of them, Mount Augustine, erupted as recently as 2006! Others last spewed forth in 1989 and 1992.
Once we finally got parked at our site, we inquired about getting out on a halibut fishing boat, or onto a plane that would take us to bear country. It wasn’t looking too hopeful, but we finally did manage to book a spot for Saturday to go fishing, so we’ll stay here in Homer for three nights.