Homer

Wednesday, July 14. Today we "did" Homer. There are several good viewpoints driving down into Homer, where you can see the Homer Spit.

Our first stop was at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center. We missed exploring the tidepools with a naturalist, but we did do the beach walk and spotted 2 sandhill cranes and a chick. (We didn't know what they were, so we asked back at the center). They were too far away to get a picture, but they were in the marshy area of the second picture.

Inside the center was a good map of this area and the bay where we went out to fish. In these photos, I'm pointing to the farthest place we fished, and Mazie is pointing to the Homer Spit area. We were told it was about 33 miles out to "Flat Island," where Tim took us to start fishing.

Here's the harbor in Homer. It's a pretty busy place.

We had lunch on the Spit (halibut again) and walked in and out of some of the gift shops. David found an outfit he thinks he wants for pajamas, since he's always freezing.

Our next destination was the Bear Creek Winery, where they offered lots of wine tasting. They had lots of neat bear carvings, including this cool bench. Mazie and Dave enjoyed this more than Joe and I, since we are not too heavily into wine.

I thought this bear with the wine bottle on his back was particularly appealing.

There was a lodge here as well, and the grounds were beautifully landscaped.

Joe and I walked around while David purchased his wine. We even found a maypole with swings. Of course, when we got off we were dizzy, and we didn't know if the dizziness was from the wine or the swings!

On our way back into Homer, we came upon a moose right beside the road. John, this is the one we saw when I was talking to you on the phone.