Homer

We decided to make it a leisurely trip to Homer. The first night we stayed at Cooper Landing at the Kenai Princess RV Park which was just a couple of hours outside of Anchorage.  We needed to do laundry and catch up on pictures and paperwork. This is a beautiful area and the campground residents can use the hot tub at the Princess Hotel.

 
Wednesday we drove a couple more hours down the road and stopped at the Klondike RV Park in Soldotna for the night.  In Soldotna people were dip netting for fish.  We were disappointed to find out that the quilt store we had visited 6 years ago had gone out of business.

 
During our drive down to Homer we had great views of  Mt. Redoubt, Mt. Spur, Mt. Iliamna and Mt. Augustine.  These 4 volcanoes are referred to as the "four sleeping giants."

 
The last time we stayed in Homer we camped at the city park which was inexpensive and right on the water.  However, since we have a leak in our fresh water tank we needed to stay someplace with water hookup.  That is how we ended up at The Heritage RV Park which is comparable to staying at The Hilton.  We had full hook up, cable tv, wifi and the park was located on Kachemak Bay.

 
During our stay at Homer we did a half day fishing charter with Central Charter.  We had to be at the dock at 5:30 am.  It took 2 hours to get out to where we would be fishing.  There were 28  people on the boat.  Our fishing poles were all set up with bait on them and a 3 lb. weight.  Our lines went down about 250 ft. and every time we hit bottom we got a bite and then had to reel in 250 ft.  After several false alarms--the fish ate our bait--we were exhausted reeling in the hook. Finally, both of us snagged a fish and pulled it to the surface and then the boat crew helped us pull in the fish.  Within 2 hours all 28 people on the boat caught 2 fish--which was the limit.    We were lucky to have a calm day for this trip and I must admit it was a lot of fun and a lot of work.

  
The next day we took a guided natural history tour in Peterson Bay through the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies.  In true "Tom Sawyer" fashion our boat docked at a float and we had to use rope and pulley to move the raft to the island.  The naturalist took us on a hike in the morning where we learned about the plants in the area and also viewed some fresh bear scat.  After lunch we took off for the tide pools and discovering crabs, jellyfish, starfish etc.

   
Two Sisters Bakery had been recommended as a great place to eat in Homer and it lived up to its reputation.  Sue had the best crispy  rock fish on coconut rice and slaw while Terry had the beef stroganoff. The rockfish was to die for. It was by far the best meal. The Stroganoff was good but Sue’s rockfish was great.

While we were in Homer we only saw a few eagles which was surprising.  Six years ago the eagles were all over the place.  We are not sure if this is because the "eagle lady" passed away.  Also people did not seem to be catching fish  in the fishing hole,  but we did see several harbor seals swimming in the hole.

All pictures are here.