July 12 A Day On The Homer Spit

As we drove down the 10 miles of Sterling Highway to the "end of the road" in Homer, Barry was awestruck by the view coming down over the hill in to Homer. It is truly one of the most magnificent views you will ever see, especailly on a beautiful day like we had this day. The mountains and glaciers overlooking Kachemak Bay are absolutely breathtaking. It is well known here that many tourists have become permanent residents of the peninsula because of their first look at this scene, (bottom right). Our closest family friend, Ed Seims..."Uncle Ed" to our kids.. (2nd on top row & middle left), and a former colleague of Suzane's, came down to join us for a morning of tidepooling on the Spit. Ed & Suzanne came down together for many years with their classes of kids to do this very thing! The tide was a -4.8 so we took full advantage of it. We donned our water boots (middle left), and headed way out to where the water met the sand and rocks. We saw everything from crabs to sea anenomes, tons of barnacles, shrimp, blemeys and even some cool things we couldn't identify. There were even some pockets of coal several inches deep that Dan wanted to collect for his blacksmithing work. Barry was fascinated by the many different kinds of seashells (center photo) and had quite a collection after the 2 hours we spend on the beach. Maybe you will be one of the lucky recipients of one of his collection! Before we left the beach, we got out the kite and let it fly into the windy skies. It was perfect conditions for kite flying!

After tidepooling we went out to the tip of the spit where all the cool shops and restaurants line the narrow streets. No trip to Homer is complete without a stop at Boardwalk fish & chips (lower left) for the best halibut you've ever tasted. Then it was off to window shop for the afternoon. Homer has the best little tourist shops on the peninsula because of the abundance of artists that live there. It is truly a fascinating place. The day ended with a walk on the docks of the Homer Harbor to look at the cool boats. We were certainly missing ours and wishing it was with us so we could traverse the waters of Kachemak Bay but that was not to be this time around. But despite the setback, we had a marvelous day with glorious weather that you don't often see in this often very rainy, coastal town!