Anchorage to Homer, Alaska - August 16

We woke in Anchorage to a steady drizzle and after we had breakfast, checked out, and headed down the road, it turned into a heavier rain.  The temperatures never exceeded the 60s today which was a big difference from the previous week (and Texas too).  But the rain slacked off a little way out of Anchorage and we just had sporadic showers for most of the day.

We headed south on highway 1 with scenic views of the Cook Inlet and within the first hour saw a bald eagle on a nest high in a tree.  We would see three bald eagles today.  We also saw the first of our glaciers, called Portage Glacier, about an hour out of Anchorage.  Soon we were in evergreen forests with high mountains surrounding us on the Kenai Peninsula.  

  

We detoured off the main highway into the town of Kenai for our lunch stop.  Kenai was the second permanent town the Russians established in Alaska.  In recent years it was a major canning town for salmon.  We headed for Louie’s Steak and Seafood Restaurant where we had a delicious lunch.  Rita had grilled halibut while I had grilled salmon.  Soon we were heading south again in a food coma.

Near Clam Gulch we saw our first moose of the trip and he was a big one with a nice spread of antlers.  Unfortunately, just as we were stopping the car and getting the camera ready, he decided to head into the trees but we did get a good view.  Just a little way down the road we saw another, a female this time, but were driving by too fast to stop.  Hopefully we’ll see more.

We stopped in the little town of Ninilchik to see the old Russian Orthodox Church set in a field of beautiful wild flowers.  It was not open so we just viewed it from the outside and pressed on.

Eventually we arrived in Homer, checked into our hotel and set out to see the town.  Homer bills itself as the Halibut Capital of the World which it may be.  While the surrounding countryside is outstanding, the actual town seemed a bit tacky and trashy to us.  Too much junk scattered everywhere and cheap hotels.  There are no name brand hotels in Homer for some reason.  It’s a town of fishing charter boats and float planes to view bears in the wilderness.  We had an Alaska Amber Ale in the Salty Dawg Saloon which was suggested for local flavor of eccentric people – mostly charter fishermen and bush pilots.

Later we had a nice dinner at Captain Pattie’s Fish House with beautiful views of Cook Inlet and the mountains in the distance.  We shared a seafood platter with halibut, salmon, scallops and shrimp – all local and fresh.