Trip to Homer Alaska

On the way to Homer I knew we had to stop near Ninilchik to see the Russian Transfiguration of our Lord Church which was built in 1901, replacing the original church built in or around 1846.  Not sure if the church is still being used or not…it was noon, and there were only tourist, like ourselves, and one couple who were tending to a particular grave or graves.

It is a very pretty little church, and as you can see, the graveyard is not being kept up.  Next to this area is a American Legion graveyard which is also in an overgrown condition.  There are many veterans of the wars buried in each cemetery.  Kind of a shame.

The church overlooks Cook Inlet and the small community of Ninilchik.  Of course, we had to drive down to the Ninilchik…

   

Glad we did because we found our perfect Alaska house…only “if” the boat out in the front yard comes with the house of course…

    

What I really went down to Ninilchik for was unobstructed pictures of the Redoubt volcano which last eruption was in 1989 (left) and the Iliamna volcano which reportedly, but unconfirmed last eruption was in 1953 (right).   Would have been nicer if they were not partially hidden behind those clouds…and yes, it appears that a plum of smoke and/or steam is rising from the Redoubt volcano.

      

Homer is on the shore of Kachemak Bay, at the tip of the southwest side of the Kenai Peninsula.  The pictures above show the entrance to Cook Inlet of the Pacific Ocean (top), and the other two show the entrance to Kachemak Bay.  Homer is further to the left, out of these shots, but shown below.

Here is a shot of the Homer Spit, a 4 1/2 mile long, flat piece of land which jets out into Kachemak Bay.  Highway 1 ends at the end of the spit.

      

We had planned on camping on the spit over the 4th of July.  Although these pictures don’t show it…the crowds were huge, the parks were full, and I think we would have not enjoyed it as much as first thought.  But we changed our plans for Skruffy, and there is no doubt that the huge lawn we have here is way better than the small patch of sand and grass, mostly covered by a picnic table, that we would have had out on the spit.   Above is the end of the road, called Lands End (top), the Seafarer's Memorial (left) and the somewhat famous “Salty Dawg Saloon” (right).  Salty Dawg originally was one of the first cabins built in Homer in 1897, and after the earthquake, it was moved to its current location on the spit. It has been a saloon since 1957, and has been seen on the TV show “Deadliest Catch” many times.  Due to the crowds, we stopped so that I could get a picture, but we did not enter it.  It is said that there are thousands of dollar bills attached to its ceiling and walls.

If you ever want to see sea otters, just go out on the spit…there were bunches of them.

It took over two hours to get to Homer, about 45 minute in Homer, and 90 minutes to get back.  That is probably all that little Skruffy could handle, hence we did not spend more time in Homer.  We have so many concerns about Skruffy, something is telling us that she may not make it back home…she really is that sick.  We had started to give her a liver booster pill, and since then it has been a challenge to get her to eat.  After talking with the vet, we stopped the pill after giving it to her Friday morning, and there has been some improvement in her appetite, but not like it was.  We are really struggling in getting her blood sugars to level off, which is a big part of the problem.  Wednesday we find out if her red blood cells have gone up, down, or remained at their low level…that will tell us a lot…we are hoping for the best (which is higher red blood cells).

Bullwinkle J. Moose

Well, we did not see Bullwinkle, but we did see his wife and child.  All set to pull out of the Diamond M RV Resort/Park yesterday and I looked at the large lawn outside our door, thought about how Skruffy and Bubba both like the grass so much every day, many times a day.  Thought about how it would be in Homer…out on the spit.  I have researched being out on the spit a lot.  It will be crowded, it will be sandy, rocky, no grass, no peace and quiet…but the view would be out of this world.  Told Marcia that I felt we should stay…be close to the vet here that knows what is going on…and let the dogs enjoy the grass some more.  So stay we did, now through July 6th, Skruffy’s next scheduled appointment.

But that does not mean we are going to sit in the RV park all day…and we both wanted to go back to Seward before the huge 4th of July crowd arrived there so that we could say hello to Maxine, and let her know how Skruffy is doing.  We got over there, and Maxine was not at her trailer.  We looked all over for her, we talked to the campground host, but after a few hours she never showed up to her trailer.  We left her a long note, and I know she will hate the fact that she missed us.  It was on the way home that we saw the mother moose and her calf way in the distance.  Above you can barely see them…but eagle eye Marcia saw them.

Took us awhile, but we finally made up for that moose whose picture we missed on the way up the Alaska Highway.  That seems so long ago now…it was 36 days ago that we left Watson Lake, Mile Zero on the Alaska Highway.  It was 32 days ago that we first entered Alaska with our visit to Skagway…and 27 days since we re-entered Alaska.  So much has happened in this short time…so many good things, one very hard thing with Skruffy.  But we are making the most it, it will be easier when she gets stronger. We do see progress…she does not need help getting into the motorhome most of the time now.  She’s being a little picky with what she eats, and just does not want to take her antibiotic pill.  It is a struggle, but we are getting through it.

Since we had the camera out, Marcia got a few more pictures on the way back to Soldotna.  It sure is a nice drive, but a lot of concentration for the driver. 

At the turn to head toward Soldotna, there is a nice turnout looking over a huge open field with lots of water, they call it Tern Lake…the White Bird in the picture is an Arctic Tern.  There are lots and lots of birds, and the other day on our way to Anchorage, and earlier today we saw a Trumpeter Swan swimming around…but not on our way back.  Perhaps next week when we leave we will get a picture of it.

    

We drove to this view area, and there is what Marcia described as a Babbling Brook running under a bridge we drove over.  It is much more pretty than the pictures show.

From Tern Lake, the route to Soldotna follows the Kenai River most of the way.  The river is at a very high level right now due to the high snow melt and recent rains.  The river empties into the Cook Inlet just past Soldotna.  The other day we saw fishermen and rafters in the river.  Don’t know how they can stand the extreme cold water.

It was a nice day, despite some light rain, and despite not seeing Maxine…but leaving her a note about Skruffy was worth the drive for sure…seeing the Moose and scenery, well that’s the topping on the cake.   Unfortunately, as we got close to Soldotna, we came upon a wreck which shut the highway down…although we were able to bypass it on a dirt side road where traffic was diverted.  Found out that a 50 year old woman was riding her bike alongside the road and swerved into traffic, being hit by a F-350 commercial truck.  She did not make it…what a shame.

Tomorrow Bubba gets a haircut at Petco, and then we are going out to dinner with the twin brother, and his wife, of some people who use to attend our church back in Florida.  They just happen to live right her in Soldotna area, and are friends with the family who own and operate the RV Park.