Day 15 – June 13, 2009
Today we took a day trip into Homer to do all the things that the town had to offer. We woke up to another day with a mix of sun and cloud, and of course wind being by the ocean. We were able to get a decent view of the mountains coming into town. We went into town for breakfast at the Sourdough Express Cafe. It is a cute little cafe near the spit with a “go green” and “organic” sort of feel. The food and the service were really good. I ordered the banana macadamia nut pancakes; fantastic! They had lots of other great baking, but we couldn’t try it all.
After that we decided to check out the local farmers market. There were lots of jewelery, trinkets, flowers, and even some calms for sale. There was also a group of street performers consisting of an accordion, base, guitar, and violin; quite the combination. There was one booth selling prints of pictures that a couple had taking at different places all over Alaska. They had some really great shots of animals and scenery from all over Alaska, but I settled for a print of a sunset over the spit at Homer. I guess I should explain what the spit is. It is a piece of land that extends for about 4 miles out of Homer away from the mainland. It seems like it is one more earthquake away from falling into the ocean, but it is very scenic and orientated towards the tourists. That is where we went next.
The spit is most comprised of RV parks, restaurants, gift shops, and fishing charters. Of course being a peninsula extended from another peninsula, it has tonnes of great beaches. Jason and I went for a walk on the beach at the spit for about a mile or so. They we walked the boardwalk at the spit and checked out the gift shops. We ended up getting a soap stone bear as a gift for my dad. Other than walking up and down the spit, there was not too much else exciting in Homer. We drove around the downtown and then headed back towards the campsite.
Homer is a neat little town to visit. It is the Halibut capital of the world and that was more than apparent by all the halibut that was brought in the short time we were here. Homer is located at the most westerly point of the peninsula and has an excellent view of the mountains on the opposite side on the mainland. It is hard to believe that there is a vast amount of water separating the two, since the mountains seem so close when you are in Homer. It is an interesting little fishing town and all the people seem to be really relaxed.
On our way out of town we stopped at Safeway to pick up a few groceries and laughed at the fact that they had absolutely no selection of fresh fish. Why would they? Everyone here can just catch it right out of the ocean. Speaking of halibut, we were excited to get back to the campground and cook up our gifted fish. We breaded it and pan fried it up. Totally delicious! I have never had so much halibut in my entire life. After supper we enjoyed a fire and watched the plethora of eagles enjoy the fishing leftovers. I think that we saw more eagles this trip than our entire life times! Good times on the peninsula (Whoot, whoot), but time to be headed back to the mainland tomorrow.