Alaska Day 14 07/02/2011 Photo Album
We woke up Saturday morning to a steady light rain in Homer, AK. After our usual tasty breakfast of giant muffins we set off for the Homer spit. This is a narrow extension of land that extends into Kachemak Bay just south of Homer. It contains beaches and numerous boats and cruise ships as well as restaurants, bars and shops.
Dave on Homer Spit Boardwalk with Wooden Fish
We found a nice convenient parking spot next to a strip of shops and a miniature boardwalk and began browsing the shops in the light rain. We covered nearly every shop and when we returned on the other side of the main street, we saw the Salty Dawg. Taylor and Bill Edrington mentioned this as a must see landmark so I took a photo and then we stepped inside. It was a dark musty bar with a low ceiling and dollar bills pinned to every wall and ceiling with individual’s personal signature on the dollar bill.
Inside Salty Dawg
Barnacles
We continued down the road and then found a place where we could stroll the beach. The beach was quite wide with several tidal pools draining back into the main body of water. We walked the beach a bit and then headed back to the road at a point where there were numerous RV’s and tents ready for the holiday weekend. As the steady rain fell the tent campers looked pretty miserable, and I felt sorry for them.
Jane Shows Surfing Form on Homer Beach
Camping on Spit in the Rain Looked Pretty Dismal
We crossed back to the other side of the road and found a seafood place for lunch. We started chatting with our waitress, Mimi, and discovered she was from Vermont, and graduated from George Washington University with a major in aerospace engineering. She was working in Homer for the summer and had worked at Breckenridge for two winters, but her parents wanted her to find a real job. We gave her Brady Young’s number and suggested she call him to network in the aerospace field.
Our parking time was up so we left the Homer spit and returned to an area near the maritime wildlife museum and took a walk on a trail that led us to Bishop Beach. We were fascinated by the huge difference in the tides in Homer, Alaska. Cars and trucks were allowed to drive on the beach where we were and we saw tire tracks, but no vehicles shared the beach with us on Saturday afternoon. As we walked back to the car we discovered a nice little restored area of Homer with several bars and restaurants and pledged to return later.
Spotlighted Peak in Range on Other Side of Bay
We found another hike in our Homer booklet that was east of town, and it looked like a nice intermediate distance so we drove to the trailhead. This trail was in an evergreen forest for much of the distance we traveled, but also traversed a marshy area. The trail builders had constructed a narrow boardwalk over the wetlands. The mosquitos were horrible and the weather had cleared to the point that the sun came out occasionally. The mosquitoes were really bothering us so we turned around after a mile or so and returned to the car the way we had come.
We decided to return to the area we’d just left and find a place for tea and coffee, and that’s exactly what we did. We discovered a cute little deli, the type with the menu choices etched on a blackboard in artsy writing and cookies displayed in clear cookie jars on the counter begging to be eaten. We responded and purchased tea and cookies and relaxed in the small deli. As we left we walked around the block and found a bookstore with an adjoining restaurant and decided we’d like to eat our dinner there.
We returned to our room and cleaned up and then returned to the Mermaid Bistro. We had not made reservations so decided to arrive early to assure seating and this worked out as planned. We were the first guests there, but the place gradually began to fill as we were eating. After dinner when we returned to our inn and walked down to the sea wall we noticed that the surf was pounding the wall and spray was flying up above it. Earlier in the afternoon there was at least fifty yards of beach visible at this same spot.