The Homer Spit is a 4.5 mile long, narrow strip of land that jets out into Kachemak Bay from Homer, Alaska. It’s extremely popular with fishermen and people searching the tide pools at low tide. We drove out on to the spit to look around but camped a couple miles away.
Panoramic picture of low tide at Kachemak Bay from our campground. The scenery was absolutely beautiful.
Another picture of low tide at Kachemak Bay.
Rain, rain go away...
If there’s been one consistency on this trip so far, it’s been rain. We have had rain every day since we crossed the border from Yukon. I’m not surprised or disappointed by that. I remember summers being pretty wet in certain areas when I was a kid too. The rain has been a blessing in a couple ways. It’s kept the mosquitos (unofficial state bird of Alaska) away and it’s helped keep our RV a little bit cleaner. I guess that’s the silver lining. On the downside, it’s been a particularly cold summer here. At home, they’re facing scorching heat. Here, we are running the heater at night and dressing in layers during the day. We are in Alaska though. I can’t expect tropical weather.
A couple days ago, we drove from Palmer to Homer. I didn’t originally plan for us to go to Homer first. It just worked out that campgrounds in Homer were available when Seward campgrounds weren’t so we went furthest south first. That ended up being a blessing because it’s salmon season on the Kenai Peninsula. That means tons of traffic going south the second half of the week. As luck would have it, we were going opposite the traffic. What a blessing!
We camped at the Ocean Shores RV Park in Homer. It’s a little outside of town but that meant it was quiet. It was also right on the ocean. The Kannery was a real good restaurant next door to the RV park. We really enjoyed our dinner there. For all you Bob Ross fans, they had a Bob Ross video playing on the TV at the bar. It’s been playing since the restaurant opened several years ago.
A Quick Stop in Soldotna
We drove through Soldotna both ways to and from Homer. When I was a kid, there was a gas station and RV park next to the Kenai River in Soldotna. My dad used to paint signs for the man who owned the the business. He gave us a free, prime camping spot in the RV park in exchange for my dad’s work. We spent a ton of time fishing in the Kenai River and caught a ton of amazing salmon there.
Old gas station building in Soldotna.
RV Park behind the gas station on the Kenai River.
Seward
In many ways, Seward was just as I remembered it. It had grown a little in other ways too. There’s now an Alaskan Sea Life Center in downtown Seward. That wasn’t there when I was a kid. We made plans to go there because the weather forecast was for…rain..yes, more rain! We got lucky though and had a decent, sunny afternoon. We loved walking through there and seeing all the sea life. There’s also a huge dock where cruise ships dock. Seward is still a fishing town but the cruise ships are a real boost for the local economy.
We stayed in two locations in Seward. We camped the first night at the Resurrection Bay Campground owned by the City of Seward. The location was perfect. We took a side trip to Exit Glacier while we were waiting to check into our campground the next night. The second night we stayed at Miller’s Landing a few miles north of town. It was quiet and we had a spot right on the ocean. The only bummer about that was it poured the entire time we were there.
Cruise ships in Seward
Puffins are some of my favorite birds. I haven’t seen them in the wild here but the Sealife Center made up for that.
The perfect Alaskan shot! A float plane flying over Resurrection Bay in Seward. I just got lucky with the timing of the plane flying into the picture but loved the outcome.
We hiked a couple miles up to the base of the Exit Glacier. It was a cold, wet hike but the scenery was beautiful.
Exit Glacier and River
Grand View
We left Seward this morning and drove through rain all the way to Anchorage. It finally letup a little as we were going off the Seward Highway and on to the Glenn Highway, heading east. We passed the Matanuska Glacier on the way. It’s a massive glacier and has a long, rocky river below it.
We are staying the night at the Grand View Cafe and RV Park. It’s literally the only thing on this part of the Glenn Highway. It has trails to go below to see spectacular views of the Matanuska River and Glacier. There’s mountains on both sides of the highway. I love the location.
Tomorrow we will drive to Vladez. The drive is absolutely stunning with snowcapped mountains and waterfalls. Rain is forecast once again. I guess we will look forward to another free RV wash as we drive down the road.
The Matanuska Glacier has receded quite a bit in recent years. The brown space to the left of the glacier is rock and silt deposits left where the ice field used to be. It’s still a massive glacier at over 27 miles long and 4 miles wide. It’s the largest glacier accessible by car in the United States.
The RV park owner told us we might see Dall Sheep on the mountain across the road. I got out my binoculars and right away, saw at least twenty of them. They’re the white spots in this picture. Dall Sheep aren’t always easy to find. They prefer hanging out on steep cliffs on the side of a mountain to coming down to the roads like moose do.
