Homer to Seward

A Driving Day

Woke up in Homer this morning and couldn't help feeling a bit sad – I realized that I'm on the way home side of this trip.  Homer was the last place on the outbound trip, the rest is inbound, and even though there is another month left…oh well, let's make the most of it!

One of the things I read about in the Homer Visitors Guide was a scenic drive over a road called Skyline Drive.  Oh, my, was it worthwhile. The road takes you up to the top of the hills above Homer and meanders along the ridge. From here you could see the glaciers on the other side of Kachemak Bay, the whole Homer Spit, and much of the bay itself. I'm so glad I took the time to do this – it was so well worth it. I'm not sure, though, if I would like to live here in the winter!  The narrow curvy roads could be treacherous when it is snowy and icy!

It's amazing how much different a road looks when you are going the other way (and there's not much traffic).  ON the way down to Homer I never saw this construction out in the water – I'm not sure what it was, but I don't think it was an oil platform.  It was quite interesting to see this in juxtaposition with Mount Redoubt – an active volcano!

A roadside sign pointed to "old Kenai Village" and that sounded interesting, so I made a sharp left and went exploring. This part of the peninsula was settled by Russians, including this homestead (now a museum, not open today). I ended up on Kalifornsky Beach – wonder where that name came from??  I was hoping for some tidepool kinds of critters, but no such luck. But I wonder who made these tracks?  Gulls perhaps? The beach was at the end of Cannery Road – and at the end was an abandoned cannery, at least it looked abandoned.

A little further along, the road wound beside the Kenai River, which is the most beautiful color of blue-green.  Not all the photographs caught the color, but I hope some of them did, because it was quite amazing. The roadside pulloffs were all full of cars, because it's salmon season, and people are fishing all along the river.

I pulled into Seward in the late afternoon, found a campground, and went exploring. One of the attractions is Exit Glacier.  The mouth of the glacier is quite near the road, and I'll go back there tomorrow and hike as far as I can (hopefully to the mouth, but we'll see…)

The weather here is almost as nice as it was in Homer, and I still haven't used bug spray (not for 3 days now!).  Tomorrow is a full day, and I'm excited to see what sights it holds! Closing with a sign seen in Soldotna outside a building supply store -- I really got a kick out of it!