July 17-20, 2014
we flew in from Anchorage about a 30 minute flight on RAVN Air
local airport
Homer, Alaska is one of the places in Alaska that gets the title of “end of the road” as it is the end of Alaska Highway 1. It’s about a 5 hour, 225 mile drive south of Anchorage so driving is an option as well as a quick 30 minute flight. During the summer is a very popular destination for those visiting Alaska from outside, but we saw just as many, if not more, visitors that were from Alaska. Many people were visiting from as far north as Fairbanks, the Mat Su and Anchorage. People head to Homer for a number of reasons but fishing is the biggest!
This is a view of the 4.5 mile spit from the air. As you can it feeds right into the bay.
the change in water color is due to the fact that much of the water comes from the glaciers across the bay and glacial water is full of silt which leaves the water greyish in color and ‘thicker’ looking!
Homer is known for the surf and individuals travel here so enjoy the waves.
The Spit is where a lot of the ‘tourist’ things occur. This Spit is a 4.5 mile strip of gravel, rock and sand that stretched out into the ocean. The spit was developed by glaciers in the past and most likely is the moraine from that glacier. Since it is surrounded by water on both sides, it is reshaped often. Historically there was a community on the spit from 1896 to 1902 but it was deserted after that. When a road connected Homer to Anchorage in the 1950’s the town grew quickly up into the hills surrounding the water.
probably the most known establishment on the spit, though it’s menu has shrunk over the years.
view out of my hotel room at Land’s End Hotel; view rooms are worth it.
arts and gardening combined.
11:30 at night, not bad!
as we were flying out I captured this view of the bay with the Grewingk Glacier flowing into Katcemak Bay
Across from the spit is Kachemak (Catch-a-mack) you can view many glaciers flowing from the Harding Ice Field, named after President Harding. 30 glaciers flow out of this ice field which is about 3oo square miles. The 3 that can be seen from Homer are Grewingk, Portlock and Dixon Glaciers.
creativity on the spit
these floats pouring off a businesses porch in Old Town
Homer is an artistic, farming community. There were fresh, local vegetables on every menu in town and each store highlighted local artists. This farming in this area has grown significantly in the past few years. Homer has aspired to be known as THE ART community in Alaska. Many shops carry local art, but the fun place to visit is the Farmer’s Market on Wed and Sat mornings. You can buy not only fresh veggies but a lot of art work.
If you have a change be sure to take the ferry and visit Seldovia while in Homer. It is a quaint town that depicts off the road communities here in Alaska. The Island and Ocean Visitor Center is also a nice stop. It offers a great overview of wildlife in the area and showcases history of the region. s://timistravels.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=3478&action=edit&message=6&postpost=v2
yeppers, Moose running down the road, captured on the iphone of colleague J.Reeves
The thing that was most challenging for me was to view the 100’s and I am not exaggerating when I was 100’s of RV’s that were parked in the RV parks. When a community is on the road system this is an outcome one might expect. It was also odd to see tents set up on the spit as there is NOT one tree on the spit so it is wide open camping, I suppose I prefer camping in the woods !
this fellow sat outside our meeting room for an hour on Sunday morning.
255 miles South of Anchorage
timistravels 
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