Friday, July 27, 2012

Homer and Beyond


 Liz, Nan and I worked or way slowly towards Homer.  At Deep Gulch Creek we were able to watch the efficiency with which the Fishing Tour Boats get into and out of the water.  Those tourist are not going to get their feet wet at least not at this part of the trip. The guys driving the tractors and the one jumping on and off the boat trailers really hustle.  These are pictures of the boats coming back in after a morning of fishing.  There are somethings several sort of lined up out in the water waiting for "their" trailer to get pulled out of the line up on the beach and brought down and positioned for them to "run" right onto.



Just another "boring" pull out along the highway....sigh. Are you tired of these yet?  We aren't.


 We turned into Anchor Point so that we could get a photo...... Yes, there is one with people in it but Herschel couldn't understand we needed people as long as he is available. He got out of the rig special for this.


Watching a stand off...notice the eagle and the raven and the gulls. The eagle was eating  just fine and then the other birds started to tag team him.  He finally gave up and chased some of the birds and left the victory to the remaining ones.



Right outside Homer there is a large pull out with beautiful vistas and a large board complete with notations of the names of each visible peak.  On a cloudy day there are not as many to see.  Notice the spit of land over on the left. That is the "spit" part of Homer.  Actual Homer is larger and is filled with artists and fisherman.  There are lots of art galleries in town proper and out on the "spit."  Nan and I got to explore part of the town and hills above the spit on our way out of town on Wednesday with sunshine, I might add.


This is a record of Liz hanging out with her new found best friends in the "gang."  (The truth is they are probably all dentists and orthodontist out on a wild adventure....and now Liz is involved.)  Later while Liz was capturing some other shots around town with us....the guy on the left pulls up on his bike and does a double take..."Hey, I know you...."  Liz offers to take some more pictures for him to send to his girl friend.  


The owner's rig of the small RV lot where we stayed out on the "spit."   There was a time in the 70's when converting an old school bus was the entry level RV for many folks.  Not all had this much class though.


This is a second story sort of watch dog...


This is the view from between Liz and my rig...with the tide out.  With the tide in the water comes up to just on the side of the stones.



And for those without RV's.  They look nice under the sun, but not so nice when it was raining....I tried not to think of the wet damp clothes and bedding.  I do love my warm dry rig.


This camper was in another area...and judging from his work I would say he/she has a back ground in art.  Some might mistake it for a wind break if the wind hadn't been blowing so well from the other direction.   My daughter will have to chime in with the name of the artist that is famous for his walls and rock sculptures.  I know that I have seen his books and she shared some of his videos with me. CRS is taking over at the moment.


Stuart was the "walk around town" dog. It kept me out of most of the shops and saved me a bundle of money.  Well, except the ice cream shop which had not problem letting him come in and sit while I ordered my cone..... He and I walked the length of the strip and he slept well that night.

"Hey, are you sure this is how Herschel does it?"   "All I have to do is sit and smile. He made it sound so hard like I couldn't handle it or something," says Stuart.



A picture of Homer "spit" from the over look, without Liz's motor cycle buddies and with some sunshine.


Nan and I headed out on Wednesday back towards Anchorage. Liz and Birdie stayed for Birdie to pick up some mail she was expecting. They were also planning some exciting tours that Nan and I decided to forgo. Keep and eye on their blogs for pictures.

We did find some lovely vistas on the road back.



We took the turn off the main road and drove to Hope only to find the campground we were thinking of staying in was closed.   There was little Hope.  We stopped at one of the pull offs and both took naps and drove on around Turnagain Arm and stayed at the Crow Creek Mine campground.  

We got to watch a group rappel down into the gorge one at a time.


There goes one of the woman over the edge.


The young lade was second to last to attempt going over the edge to join the waiting group.  Soon we could hear the whimpers and tears and she was frozen in place.  The guide helped her up and later took her down the road to a shorter cliff to rappel down.


Later it was time to take a short hike with dogs.  "Look! Is this how the coon hounds climb trees?" asks Stuart.


"Wait, maybe the critter went this way. They are so hard to keep track of. I know they are here somewhere." shouts Stuart.


"Hurry. There is so much trail to explore and so little time."


Today we drove on into Anchorage and took a walking tour of Earthquake Park. We then drove around the old part of town and got a general sense of where things were and found the RV parking lot, paid out money, deserted the dogs and set out on foot to explore the shops and buildings.  Nan notice that a lot has changed even in the older section of town in the seventeen years since she was here last.  We now know where the big airport is, the small plane airport and the large RV dealer and Winnebago  dealer is.   

Seeing the large lot and the multiple bays reminded me of the story Birdie came back with after getting some repairs on her rig as she came through Anchorage earlier. She said that they really didn't seem all that concerned about fixing rigs...their main activity was serving as the "Mother Ship" for the majority of the rental RV's we had been seeing all over the roads.  She said that they had the system down. It was either 3 or 4 bays with room for 2 rigs in each.  Lined up at the entrance or exit of all the bays were everything needed....RV wash areas, dump stations, gas pumps, propane refill stations, fresh water....and each rig was attended to inside by a team of three young women with all the equipment they needed to vacuum and clean inside, including taking care of the laundry and putting new linens inside. (I imagine like a motel room only on a larger scale.)  Birdie estimated that they were turning the rigs around in about 30  minutes.  Quite an assembly line. 

We had a delicious soup and sandwich and realized that maybe we were hungry because it was 3 and well after lunch time.

One of the shops that we actually went into instead of walking by was the quilt shop.  Nan had been saying for several weeks that she wanted fabric that had an Alaska motif to it.  Well she found all that and more.  She is somewhat poorer tonight but a happy quilter!  The colors and the prints were beautiful. It was difficult to choose.  They do have a website so she can always come back and buy more later.


Tonight we are tucked in at a quiet Fred Meyers and will be heading off towards Valdez in the morning. 

1 comment:

  1. Of course, Hershel is the primary navigator and picture poser but it looks like Stuart has been learning well by watching and Hershel has been a good teacher. You have some really fabulous mountain pictures that look like they are floating. It will be interesting to see Nan's eventual quilt.

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