2014 Alaskan Adventure: Day 21 Sunday, July 20, 2014

Day 21 Sunday, July 20, 2014

We awoke to yet another (!) sunny day in the Bidarka/Best Western Hotel in Homer, Alaska, “Halibut Fishing Capital of the World.” Honestly, I expected very little from this hotel in such an out of the way location, but I was pleasantly surprised at the hotel’s very tasteful décor, large and luxurious room and bed, and especially the included hot and very extensive breakfast offering in a huge, well-appointed breakfast room with a set of picture windows overlooking Kachemac Bay. Great way to start a great day.

While reading the local newspaper during breakfast, my eye fell upon a small notice that a walking tour of the Beluga Slough Trail leading down to the Kachemac Bay was leaving from the nearby Islands and Ocean Visitor Center in Homer, starting at 11 o’clock that very morning. We quickly agreed to accelerate our preparations to include the walking tour into our day’s activities.

Our guide was something of a surprise- short, and black in an area with few blacks, and a native of Alabama. Caylon Likely was a volunteer student and was personable and knowledgeable of Homer’s indigenous plants and animals, especially the rare Sandhill Cranes that reside in the grasslands of the Bay, in a unique area where both fresh water and salt water feed the eco system depending upon the tides.

The educational one-hour trail and boardwalk tour over, we thanked Caylon for his efforts, explored the museum in the visitor center, and headed to the famous Homer Spit, a narrow, three-mile long protrusion out into Kachemac Bay, surrounded by magnificent mountains, the Bay, blue skies, and glaciers in every direction. The Bev and I selected a quiet spot near the very tip of the windy Spit, and set up our high-tech folding chairs on the beach, Bev reading “The Pilot’s Wife” and me flying the kite that I had brought along for this very occasion. We watched seals fishing for their lunch before the wind and cool temps got the best of us. We packed up and toured the numerous and kitschy shops on the Spit as well as the extensive dock area with hundreds of boats of all sizes and purposes.

By 3 o’clock we were overdue to leave for the 200-mile drive around the Kenai Peninsula to Portage, Alaska for a night in one-room Cabin #4 at the Portage RV Park run by owners Scott and Tammy and manager, Tim. They directed us into Girdwood, an 11-mile drive, for a fine dining location.