Homer, Alaska

July 10 - Homer is in our sights but there are a few places to stop along the way. The first was the Cook Inlet Hatchery. The salmon are running upstream and this non-profit hatchery captures fish and milks the eggs just as they do in the hatcheries in Michigan. The fish we saw were identified as pink salmon by another visitor.

The drive is along Cook Inlet and a view of Mount Spurr, Mount Augustine, Mount Redoubt and Mount Iliama. They lie across the inlet and known as the Ring of Fire since they are active volcanos. Mount Spurr last erupted in 2009.

We saw a small church a quarter mile or so from the road. A quick check of the Milepost showed it was a Russian Orthadox church. There is a small cemetery and the church was open. Inside, there was a lady, her name was May and she told us about herself, the church and the little fishing village of Ninilchik where she grew up and raised her family. May donates her time to teach visitors about the area.

The church was on a hilltop overlooking the village so we drove down to the and discovered many eagles flying back forth. I guess where there are fish to eat, the eagles will gather.  Ninilchik was a nice stop.

We arrived in Homer and stopped by the visitor center. We do that whenever possible just to get out bearings, pick up local maps and learn what is suggested to see. We are told about the farmers market, the eagles nest across the street from the post office, the Skyline Drive overlook and of course, the famous Homer spit which is a narrow piece of land that juts out into the Kachemac Bay. 

The spit is teaming with people and parking is at a premium. We found a choice parking spot near the Lands End Motel and walked out on the beach to watch some folks fishing from shore. 

Homer is known as the halibut fishing capital so those who want to bag a large halibut will charter a boat like this. The charter business is booming during the summer.

We ended the day at the Skyline Drive overlook and took photos of overlooking the bay and spit.

We saw no No Camping signs so we settled in for the evening but I couldn't help setting my camera up for a midnight photo of Homer and Kachemac Bay. It's "sort of dark" but this is Alaska and dusk is about as dark as it gets

Have you noticed all the Alaska shows on TV lately. Ice Road Truckers, Alaska State Troopers, Alaska: The Last Frontier. This list goes on but a couple years ago, when we decided to do an Alaska trip, we started watching some of them. Alaska: The Last Frontier that featured the Kilcher family. Of course the show has a bit of hollywood but the Kilchers still actively farm the 600 acres so we drove the 11 miles to tour the farm and learn how Yule Kilcher came to settle on that land and raise a family of eight is a little log cabin. 

We got there early and but were met bay one of the family members who told us to look around and take a walk down to the bay if we wanted. We walked maybe a half mile (all downhill) and knew we would have to make the trek back up so we didn’t make it all the way to the bay. Hay is their biggest crop. It's a mix of timothy grass and clover and they have to make enough to feed the 250 or so head through the winter. In the summer, the cattle free range at the head of Kachemac Bay.

But the scenery was great and the view of the glacier across Kachemac Bay gave an indication why Yule Kilcher decided to settle on this spot.

Yule's grand daughter talking the history of the Kilcher homestead.

After the tour, we saw Otto Kilcher, the son of Yule and one of the stars of the show, putting air in a flat tractor tire. If you watch the show, you know how Otto is a make-do sort of guy so in true fashion, his air tank was made of an old LP tank. We stopped for a moment to introduce ourselves and he was kind enough to let us take a picture before going back to put air in the tire. 

Well, the tire wasn’t exactly new so air came out almost as fast as it went in. In stride, he said well I think I have another wheel and tire...I’ll just have to change it. So if you happen to watch the Kilcher’s show, yes it really is a working farm.

We drove back into town to drive the spit one last time and check out the farmers market. It was fairly small and had a few produce stands but mostly, it was baked goods, home made jams & jellys and crafts. We only bought some jelly - tart cherry and moose berry (they called them high bush cranberries).

Our pleasant stay in Homer came to an end and we headed back up the Sterling Highway. Next stop, Denali.