At Home on the Homer Spit

(2023 Alaska Revisited Ep 19)

Before moving on to Homer, here is a little geography information about the ‘Kenai.’   The various references to Kenai can be confusing.

Kenai Peninsula? Town? River? Lake? Yes!

The Kenai Peninsula extends south of Anchorage.  It is approximately 90 miles top to bottom and 70 miles wide.  It is rather mountainous, with big mountains extending southwest across the peninsula. 

Seward is on the southeast side of the range, Homer, Soldotna and the town of Kenai are on the west side.   The Kenai River, with its multitude of fisherman, runs from Kenai Lake in the center of the peninsula westward past Soldotna and the town of Kenai, before flowing into the Cook Inlet. 

^{Volcanoes along Cook Inlet: Mt Redoubt and Mt Iliamna}

Volcanoes and Views

From the town of Kenai and Soldotna, we drove south toward Homer.  Homer has its own fishing frenzy – for salmon AND halibut.  In fact, Homer claims to be the Halibut Capital of the World. 

The highway runs along the west side of the Kenai Peninsula, where there are amazing views of the Cook Inlet and three volcanoes – Mt Redoubt, Mt Iliamna and Mt Spurr.  Mt Redoubt, the tallest at 10197 ft, last erupted with steam and ash clouds in 2009.

^{Homer welcome sign; View of Kenai Mountains, Kachemak Bay and Homer Spit}

As we neared Homer, we stopped to view the Cook Inlet, Kachemak Bay and the Kenai Mountains.  We could also see Homer Spit, a narrow sliver of land that extends about five miles into the bay toward the mountains.  This is where a lot of the fishing takes place.

Home, Home on the (Homer) Spit

The spit was our home for three nights.  Our campsite overlooked the Fishing Hole, a sizeable tidal lagoon where dozens of persons could be seen salmon fishing just about any time of the day or night.  The fishing was surprisingly good, as evidenced by stringers of 18+ inch fish being carried up to a fish cleaning shed not far from where were camped.

The shed was busy.   Salmon, rockfish and halibut caught on boats and salmon from the lagoon were placed on metal tables, where they were deftly cleaned, fileted and stored in coolers.  Fish carcasses were dumped into a tall blue bin, where they would eventually be hauled away and made into fertilizer.     

I met Jeff as he cleaned an assortment of fish caught that morning from his boat.  Originally from Soldotna, he, his wife and teenaged children fly from Minnesota for two weeks each summer to visit family and to fish.  He skillfully filleted several large halibut, starting with the white underside and continuing with the gray-brown top of the fish.  I found it interesting that both eyes of mature halibut are on the top side of the fish!

Jeff freezes the fillets, and when the family flies home, they are packed in coolers and sent as checked ‘baggage.’

As Jeff worked, we talked about a variety of things.  I learned that he works in construction and his wife is a school psychologist.  They are Christians who homeschool their children.  I encouraged him to be steadfast as the spiritual leader of his home and to value their family times in Alaska each summer.  Time flies quickly and their Alaska fishing trips will all-to-soon be treasured memories.      

Riding the Spit  

The days were sunny and pleasant, and we explored the spit on our bikes. We rode past a large marina, several seafood processing buildings and the Alaska Maritime auto ferry dock, where drivers can ferry to Kodiak or all the way to Washington state.  There were halibut fishing charter boats and water taxis that cross the bay to Kachemak Bay State Park and the small town of Seldovia.  In 2018, we crossed the bay for an interesting day hike to Grewingk Glacier. 

^{Pat cooked a phenomenal birthday dinner – pan-seared salmon and chocolate frosted cake}

The spit also has numerous small tourist shops and restaurants.  Our plans were to try halibut and chips while on the spit, but when a camping neighbor from Oregon gave us a fresh salmon filet, Pat pan-seared it with a wonderful butter, soy and lemon sauce.  She also baked a small cake in Pap’s oven.  These were a delicious way to celebrate my birthday!

^{Vegetables and Alaska weather rocks for sale at the Homer Farmers Market}

A Trip into Homer

One morning we drove into town, where we visited the Homer Farmers Market.  Locally grown vegetables, such as lettuce, carrots, radishes and green onions, were for sale, along with jams and jellies, baked goods, soaps and crafts, and even Alaskan weather rocks.

We stopped at Two Sisters Bakery to try a cinnamon bun and coffee. The bakery was recommended to us by Brad, the fellow traveler we met at several different stops earlier this trip (see 2023 Alaska Revisited Ep 17).   Check out our bun review below.

^{Views of the beach in Homer}

From the bakery, we walked a short distance to the beach.  The tide was out and we carefully crossed a shallow inlet to the water’s edge.  The wind was blowing fog across the beach and, just like that, the fog lifted and it was clear!

We visited the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center where we learned about the history and conservation projects in the Aleutian Islands, and before returning to our campsite, we watched several float planes take off and land.

Homer is the furthest that we will be from home – nearly 4900 miles.  When we left we were essentially heading home. 

But the LONG ROAD beckons with lots of new RabbiTRAILS as our travels continue.    

Cinnamon Bun Review

The pastry part of our Two Sisters cinnamon bun was amazing – fresh, flaky and flavorful.  However, the icing was okay. 

Better iced, we would have given the bun a perfect 5.0 score.  Bun score – a solid 4.5 out of 5.

Critter Count

Otters – 2
Eagles – 1
Seagulls – lots
Salmon, rockfish and halibut – lots, most being ‘processed’

Next week

We stop at Anchor Point for a night and then continue to Valdez, a town with scenic mountains, a beautiful seashore and the end point of the Alaska oil pipeline.