We left Seward and headed over to the Homer, AK area where we celebrated our Independence Day. On the drive over we stopped at Tern Lake and got some pictures of the lake with the mountains as a backdrop:
Notice the geese and goslings!
We were on the Sterling Highway which followed the Russian River for a ways. Lots of fly fishermen on the water. We pulled over at a very wide part of the river and got these shots:
Traveling south on the west side of the Kenai Peninsula we stopped at the Mount Iliamna Viewpoint to see the mountain across the Cook Inlet.
Mt. Iliamna is situated in the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.
We finally arrived at the Whiskey Point Cabins and RV Park. A nice campground that sits on a point overlooking the Cook Inlet.
They also had a wood carving of an bear:
After we got set up we headed into Homer which is about 20 miles away. We settled on Captain Pattie’s Fish House for seafood. It was great! Katrina and I split the grilled seafood platter and Katrina actually enjoyed the salmon!
From there a had a gelato at Carmen’s next door.
We had to make a stop at the Salty Dawg Saloon:
The following day, being the Fourth of July we had planned on sleeping in and then grilling out and making some homemade halibut ceviche. For the most part we stuck to our plan with a quick change of trying some Alaskan wine at Bear Creek Winery.
The “wines” were mostly liquidfied berries that “knew” somebody. Way too sweet for our palates. Needless to say we didn’t buy any bottles after our $10 tasting. They had some local art depicting bears picking berries:
Aren’t those cute?
Back at the coaches, Molli made a delicious salad, Katrina made the “better than Highliner” halibut ceviche and I grilled up some turkey burgers.
We caught a wonderful sunset over Cook Inlet with the mountains as a backdrop:
Our plan to boat over to Lake Clark National Park to see the grizzlies were scraped due to ill weather. We did get refunded, but really believe we missed out on an unique experience. Making the most of the free day, we headed back into Homer for some shopping and food. We saw an oysters place called Kachemak Shellfish Growers and the restaurant called Broken Oar where we got the oysters and some outstanding Creole and Pan Roast (lobster bisque).
Everything was so delicious! Highly recommend this place. It reminded Katrina and I of a place that we loved in St. Martin called Andy and Cheryl’s Baywatch. YUMMY!
From there we did a bit more shopping, at least browsing, before heading to the Kannery for our planned dinner. OMG, the salmon was the best I have ever had!
A must go to place for food just off the Spit!
The flowers in the area are just phenomenal:
The following day we were supposed to fly into the Katmai National Park to see the grizzlies. Rain – no go. Sheree was able to find us another flight the next day. Yay Sheree! It was a good thing that Molli scheduled us a buffer day in case of inclement weather. Yay Molli!
That gave us some time to book some future endeavors like ferries to/from Victoria Island which lead into changing some other bookings along the way.
Since we enjoyed the oysters so much we decided to go back and also to stop at the brewery. The oysters were excellent again and we also tried everything on the menu except the ceviche. The owner overheard us saying this and brought us a sampler gratis.
We also met a nice family from Houston (Ryan and Lindsey Macleod) who came up here to fish. they caught 42 pounds of fillet sockeye and it cost them $500 to ship it home. Ouch!
From there we briefly hit the Homer Brewery:
The brews that we tried were ok – I wont drive back up here to grab another pint.
Sunday was the best day ever! So glad we were able to stay and get on a flight to go see the brown (grizzlies) bears over in the Katmai National Park alongside the Brooks Falls. We flew a float plane over on Bald Mountain tours and landed on the lake near the river and falls:
Although it was stilled cloudy, we did get some nice pictures out of the plane:
After a bear briefing (no food, guns, spray, gum, no petting the wild animals, etc.) we walked the walkway across the river
and up to the falls where we had to put our names in to get up to the falls viewing platform. As we waited (about 45 minutes) we got on the river viewing platform:
Falls platform:
Great place for a group picture:
We got back to the plane around six for the flight back to Homer. We flew over Katmai at about 2500 feet where we were awed by the pristine landscape below us.
We also had a bit of a scare when the little plane ran out of gas in one tank and the pilot (Gary) scrambled to switch tanks. I think all of us skipped a heartbeat. Apparently we were protected from above:
Here’s our crew with the pilot:
Here’s our picture with the Brooks Camp Katmai National Park and Preserve sign:
Upon our return we heard from Ryan and Lindsey Macleod (the family from Houston that we met at the oyster bar). They went out halibut fishing and caught their limit and they were willing to share a few pounds with us. We stopped at their Airbnb and picked it up! Ryan refused any money from us! I’m sure it’s going to taste great and we will think of them when we devour it! Thank you so much Ryan and Linsey!
We also plan on connecting with them when we pass through Houston in September.
On the drive back we spotted a moose:
What a fantastic day!
The next day we were back to reality and started driving back towards the lower 48.
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