Day 62

July 30, 2017

Travel day from Homer to Seward, 59 degrees to start, 164 miles, heavy traffic with folks returning to Anchorage after a weekend of fishing.  We had a bit of a late start as our CO detector alarm decided to go off, probably from the diesel fumes from the big rigs, took several tries turning on then off before it finally stabilized.  Holy Transfiguration of our Lord Russian Orthodox Church was our first stop to see the church with a veterans cemetery that was very moving as well as the parish cemetery for church members.  Services were about to start as this is Sunday so we were not able to see the interior.

 We made a stop in Soldotna at the Fred Meyer store for groceries and their fuel station for diesel.  Got a nice discount per gallon from our points on the Kroger card, 10 cents off.  Shortly after leaving Soldotna we had to put on the brakes and the supplement braking system on the car froze the wheels on the car and we left long black streaks on the road.  Got out and reset and continued without incident.  The was some great scenery along our route.  Some with dramatic skies.

Arriving in Seward we entered the City RV Park where we have view of Resurrection Bay from our Unity.  Nice!  Holland America cruise ship was in port at Seward and docked just west of our campsite.  

Update meeting at 5 PM for plans for tomorrow.  Dinner was at home with fried chicken and salad, Yum!  No TV here so we read after our dinner for a while and made it an early night as tomorrow will be an early start.

Smoky Bear was our only wildlife sighting today.

Day 61

July 29, 2017

View this morning from our campsite.

Big decisions today as to how to dress for boat travel.  Finally decided on layers, t-shirt, wool shirt, fleece for Bob and blouse, fleece and rain-proof jacket for Iris.  Arriving in Homer about 11 AM, we found a parking space good for 7 days so that worked, only about a block from our meeting place with David and Marianne who had arranged this wonderful day for us.  David had already purchased our tickets for the Danny J 

to take us out to Gull Island and Halibut Cove.  Gull Island is a bird wildlife preserve and was in good use full of bird life, we made a circle of the island then on to Halibut Cove.  

The trip from the Homer harbor to the island was about an hour.  Along the way we could see glaciers.

And puffins, sea birds, bald eagles and sea otters (to quick to photograph)

There we offloaded all the passengers and began the steep climb up the ramp to the buildings with elevated walkways connecting everything.  The steep ramp was due to the low tide making the climb from sea level to the permanent walkway a challenging climb.  At the top was the Saltry Restaurant (https://www.thesaltry.com)

where David had secured the best table.  We enjoyed some refreshment 

before ordering our lunch of clam chowder and salmon sandwiches for some and salmon tacos for others.  Dessert was pretty fantastic also.

We then had a walk along the boardwalk that connects one building from others all built on pilings that accommodate the 28’ tide change so at low tide we were walking high above the water and mud.  

This is a very unique place operated by one family but with other private properties visible from the boardwalk.  

Power and fresh water are supplied from underwater cable and pipe from Homer.  That must have been an interesting installation project.  Our return to Homer was faster as we did not stop to circle Gull Island this trip.  Arriving back in Homer we had a less steep climb as the tide was starting to come in.  We passed the catch from one of the charter boats.

Within a block of the ramp we came to the Salty Dog.  We snagged a table quickly, got some drinks and began to people watch.  The bar was about 3 deep standing and there was a constant coming and going through the front door.  The walls and ceilings were decorated with $1 bills, most with a name and date on them, there were thousands of them.

Leaving the Salty Dog we said our good-byes and found our car for the drive back to our campground.  Arriving there we found most of our group behind the Unity gazing out into the bay watching whales.  

They were so far out you could just see the blows by the whales.  After such a big day we were exhausted and found our bed fairly quickly after falling asleep in front of the TV.

Day 60

July 28, 2017

Today was house cleaning day so Iris dusted, cleaned the bath and Bob did the floors.  Doesn’t take long is the 25’ motorhome.  For lunch we had left over pizza from our recent Anchorage party.  Shortly before 1 PM we boarded the bus for a tour of Homer.  Janet was our guide and very knowledgeable about Homer as she has been in Alaska since 1977.  Our first stop was Norman Lowell Gallery where we viewed Norman’s painting from 1958 to 2015 in oils, acrylics, pastels, and watercolors.  Norman and his wife came to the Homer area and homesteaded in 1958 a few miles out of town.  He arrived by boat, got off the boat and picked his place, paid $15 for material for his first house that is still standing today but he now lives in a beautiful log house on the same property.  He’s now 90 years old, blind so does not paint anymore but is in the gallery to sell prints of his beautiful paintings.

Then a drive to the “Spit”, the narrow strip of land that runs into Kachemak Bay lined with shops, restaurants, RV parks, the harbor, ice house for the fish and limited parking for all the vehicles trying to park.  We were let out near the harbor which is very interesting for the 29 foot difference in the tide level.  

They have an ingenious method for floating  the boats, board walks, gang planks up and down with the tide (see pictures).  We had a walk-around looking at the various types of boats used in the fishing industry, had a smoked salmon and halibut sample, 

then back on the bus for our visit to the brewery where we sampled 5 kinds of beer brewed on-site.  Back at the Unity our friends, David and Marianne who live in Soldatna in summer and Georgetown in winter came for a glass of wine then we went to the Boardwalk Fish & Chips for dinner.  Iris had cod the rest had halibut and it was great served with french fries and coleslaw.  After dinner we walked to the gelato store where we enjoyed big scoops of ice cream.  Fun evening!  Back to the Unity by 9 PM and promptly to bed.

Day 59

July 27, 2017

This morning about 7:30 we had a call from Dee & Richard in Georgetown.  They confirmed that our new (old) car had been delivered last night to them in Georgetown.  Bob had received an email back in early June from the owner of the 1986 Panther Kallista that she wanted to sell.  She had gotten Bob’s info from an ad on the Panther Car Club web site.  After several emails back and forth, inspection by Road Ready Inspections, conversations with the mechanic that has serviced the car a price was agreed and paid and transport arranged to get the car from Cape Cod to Georgetown.  It’s going to be a lot of work but we’re looking forward to it.   This is what it looks like.

Travel day today.  55 degrees this morning, cloudy but about 20 miles from Anchorage the sun came out.  It didn’t get any warmer but it made us feel better.  The drive was just a shade over 200 miles today with some great scenery including mountains, the Turnagain Arm, lots of rivers and creeks, many of which had fishermen slaying salmon.  We also saw three moose - a female and two calves, but no photos.  

We stopped at a rest area to have our lunch, taking just a few minutes as we plan to have a meal tonight.  

We arrived at our campground just outside Homer about 2 PM, got set up and our view out our side window is the Kachemak Bay and a beautiful sight it is.

Bob grilled pork and Iris made a salad for our dinner.