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Weather wise it hasn't been bright sunny skies , but hey ho we make the best of it and we have seen such dramatic skies and landscapes and marvelled at the conditions that the native people and Alaskan pioneers have coped so resourcefully and we have no idea what it would be like in winter.
Our journey for 3 days took us down the Kenai peninsula to Seward and Homer , we almost bumped into a cow moose munching grass at the side of the road - I was just going to say to Ros " there's a horse " when we both said ? " it's a moose ". We took a 3.5 hour boat trip and you will see from the photos it was rainy and cloudy but that didn't matter I almost lost count of the number of bald eagles we saw, sea otters, porpoises, delightful little horned puffins and numerous gulls and kittiwakes ...also huge sea lions basking on the rocks . (Speaking of rocks we saw uplifted ocean floor , basaltic columns, which is a bit strange to see when I know this is a volcanic area where the ocean plate dives down under the
continental crust....yes it's on the Pacific Ring of Fire and there's plenty of history of earthquakes and volcano eruptions which we saw documented in lovely local museums and visitor centres. That led me to buy a Geology book to learn all about this areas rocks and I found my answer there ). The highlight of the boat trip was at the mouth of the Gulf of Alaska we we're privileged to have an encounter with 3 Pacific Humpback whales. The whales dived displaying their tails and blew and showed us a fin and stayed around us for quite a long time 15 mins or so. We were very happy for that.
Another highlight was a walk to the Exit Glacier , a remnant of the Harding Ice field- a trail led us quite close to the edge of the glacier . There were markers showing where the ice had been during the past century and it was frightening to see the extent of the melting which had accelerated over the last couple of decades.
Homer was a pretty neat town with lots of flowers adorning the streets , cute buildings and when we had a late evening walk
At the Edge
Well,as far as we could go on the trail ! on the beach the clouds were lifting and we were awed by the scenery of Katchemak Bay. At the visitor centre there and museum we learned so much more again about the life of homesteaders and fishermen and more wildlife on the boardwalk we saw sandhill cranes and a mother duck (gadwall??) with her brood.
On our way back to Anchorage we detoured and stopped to see a Russian Orthodox church - not what I epected to see here but of course the Russian were here fur trapping in the Aleutian island and mainland and sent over missionaries to convert the natives !!! So there are a few of them left. As we arrived a lady appeared and said she would open up so that was a bonus.
Anither 15 mile detours to aplace called Hope ( we liked the sound of that ) looking out to the Cook Inlet ... we had HOPED for lunch but cafes were closed on Monday....however there were some really lovely old wooden buildings so it was a good photo opportunity.
So now to today , it's Indepence Day and we have been treated to a drive out with Nick and
Lita , walked to a waterfall along a beautiful gorge , had lunch in the lovely town of Palmer with its interesting visitor centre and garden and then were invited to the neighbours to meet their family and partake of a fesat of salmon which had been caught in one of the local rivers yesterday! How cool is that !
We have heard so many stories about BEAR encounters that we are terrified .... but tomorrow we are off to Denali National Park for 3 days and there will be a bus tour ...so perhaps we will stay in the bus and see a bear from there.
hope you like the photos.
I
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Buoys in Homer
What an amazing sight Lynne...buoys climbing from the front yard onto the verandah. One wonders if then into the house through a window. I wonder if anyone in Homer is missing a buoy or two for their boat or two!!!