Thursday - The Road to Homer

We said farewell to Stony Creek RV Park this morning and headed toward Homer. The drive was about 165 miles with not really a whole lot to see. We stopped in Soldotna at lunch time. We visited a Fishing store where I purchased a pair of Helly Hanson Water Pants - LOL! They go nicely with my hot orange Helly H long underware, which by the way, I have worn every day since I bought them! On the way out of Soldatna, we stopped at a corner stand where a guy was selling hot dogs. It seemed like a popular place and the dogs were GREAT! This guy has 8 kids. He drives a school bus during the school year and in the summer he sells hot dogs and vegetables.

Shortly after we left Soldtna we drove thru Clam Gulch where I finally saw a Moose!!! So many years of going to Montana and other places, I have never seen a moose! Today was the day!

As we got close to Homer, the mountains re-appeared and were much prettier and closer than before.

Our RV Park is on Homer Spit which is a very cool place with lots of charter companies and little shops. Dave stopped into Bob’s Trophy Charters to check on his fishing trip for tomorrow. Unfortunately the season has been slow for the charters here and because of that they had to juggle customers around to fill the boats. Dave wanted to fish for Salmon & Halibut, but so far, the Salmon have not shown up here in Homer. He will be fishing for Halibut tomorrow.

We had dinner at a restaurant on the spit - I had peel and eat shrimp (YUM) and Dave had a Halibut Reuben sandwich. All this time I was trying to decide if I really wanted to spend a lot of money to go Bear Viewing….. I had decided not to go, then I talked with a few people who had been on the trip. I still wasn’t sure…. There is a really nice day spa here, and that would cost less money. Or I could spend the day shopping on the spit…… I also found out that the Bear Viewing trips are in the total wilderness. What exactly does that mean? Well…… NO BATHROOM. Now I have hiked, etc before so I have experience with this problem, but do I want to “rough it” in bear country with a bunch of strangers???? What to do, What to do…..

While I was contemplating this, we stopped into the Salty Dawg Saloon. It is famous here in Homer and we definitely saw some of the Homer locals there. They say that there are more than 10,000 $1 bills hanging on the ceiling & walls. We didn’t stay here very long as it was very crowded and I guess that smoking is allowed in the bars here in Alaska. I had forgotten how miserable it is to sit in a smoky place!

Last stop of the evening was a Charter company recommended by a couple of local ladies. I talked once again about Bear viewing and once again was told how amazing it was. So I took their advice and booked the trip!!!

As we were driving along the strip, we came upon these two guys who were hanging out on top of the Tsnaumi warning sirens....

Our spot at the campground is AMAZING!!!  I almost wish we could have stayed here the entire time.  Here is the view from our campsite.

Tomorrow morning I have to get up at 5:30am ARRRGGGHHHH!!! Dave has to be at the dock for his charter at 6:15am and I am being picked up for my flight at 7:10am….. It should be an exciting day!! And tonight is the first time in the entire week that I have seen a lot of blue sky and finally some sunshine! It is 10:00pm and the sun is shining and the sky is blue.  Maybe, just maybe, tomorrow will be a nice day.  Just remember, if I don’t come back at least I was having an Adventure! Tune in tomorrow for the bear story and pics!!