Just for the halibut...

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Homer is a tiny little fishing port at the far south of the Kenai peninsular. To get there from Seward takes a good three hours, longer if the roads are being re-paved as they are at the moment. The road follows the Kenai river, which is the most ridicuous shade of blue when the sun shines, and was busy with fishermen and boats even this late in the season. It then hugs the coast of the Cook Inlet as it travels through Soldotna, Clam Gulch and Ninilchik, all of which are pretty small towns that mostly close during the winter season. The sun was high in the sky and the scenery was magnificent. At one point we could see four active volcanoes - Redoubt, Iliamna, Augustine and Spurr - which make up part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

We finally arrived in Homer and once again the weather was absolutely perfect. You could see the Homer Spit from miles away and we decided to head straight there and see what was around (Laura was on a mission to find the Time Bandit boat from Deadliest Catch as it was rumoured to be docked there.) We first stopped in the Salty Dawg saloon for a drink, we had heard about this place and was recommended to stop by. It was a little smaller than we had imagined but it was unique inside with it's dollar bills pinned ALL over the walls. It's become a tradition for visitors to write a message on a dollar bill and then pin it anywhere in the bar. Apparantly they have around $45,000 pinned up so every so often they take some of the dollars down, exchange it at the bank for legal tender (once money is written on it's 'invalid') and then they give the cash to local non-profit organisations. We thought it was a great idea so wrote our message on our note and found the smalled avaliable space left in the room.

Next up was a stroll around the docks. Laura was in luck and not only was the Time Bandit moored, but also the Ramblin' Rose, Cornelia Marie and Cape Caution. All in all it was quite an epic fangirl moment! We then took a very brief drive around the 'historic' part of the city but there wasn't too much to it so we decided to stop by the beach and have a quick picnic lunch. Once again we were spoilt by the view of the mountains and sea and then right on cue an eagle flow overhead. On the drive home Daisy spotted another moose so we pulled over and managed to get some more great photos.

When we finally arrived back in Seward (it's a long, long drive to Homer and back in a day) we went to a local restaurant called Chinooks and although they were all out of salmon, we both tried to be non-tourists and have some sea food. It was utterly delicious and the glass of wine went down well too.

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