At Home in Homer

[From Craig] Well, I guess we have come as far west as we can in Alaska,  based on this sign at our current campground:

Most of our fellow campers here are fisher-people, and some just drop in to use the fish-cleaning facilities.  But they have to take their byproducts down to the beach for natural recycling:

We spent most of a week at Kyllonen's RV Park in Anchor Point, about 17 miles north of Homer. I tried to get reservations in Homer at one of the few places that had full hookups, but had no luck. One told me they had a caravan coming in, another was just full, and the last was closed. We could have gotten a dry camp spot, but Craig would rather have hookups.

Kyllonen's is small, and typical of the independent places we have seen in Alaskan Kenai peninsula. Nice owner-operators and good for fishermen. It is after all, all about the fish! 

There is a boat launch at the beach at the end of the road.  

One of the afternoons we were there, we took a short walk on the beach. The tide was out, and the water was quite far away.

Tractors are used to haul the fishing boats to the water. None were being launched when we were there, but there were dozens of empty boat trailers lined up above the high water mark, and tractor prints in the sand.

These tracks were fun to see.

Were they coming or going?

There must be a kelp forest out there somewhere.

The beach is on the eastern side of Cooks Inlet. When it was clear, we could see a mountain range across the water that includes a couple of volcanoes.

Giant Hogweed with Mount Iliamna in the distance

When I took this picture, I hoped to capture both the flowering weed and the volcano. It worked, and I got a bit of the water as well.

We drove down to Homer several times. One of those days the fog was heavy over the water, with the mountains in the distance above.

It was so beautiful.

We did not find Homer interesting nor attractive. We did go out on the "Spit", a small gravely island connected by a causeway to the mainland. It is a major RV parking area. Hundreds of RVs, big and small crowd into the parking lots. Only a small number of the spots have any hook-ups. Most are dry and squashed together. 

There are several clumps of tourist shops, restaurants, and fishing charter offices. We went for a fish dinner on Saturday. I must say the halibut we ate was v ery good, but it was very expensive and the portions were small.

We also went to the Homer Farmer's Market. It featured the usual cast of handicrafts, jams, and flowers, with a few farmers thrown in. Large leafy things were plentiful. The kale, chard, lettuce, and spinach were wonderful. Several kinds of spring onions and garlic were also available. 

We bought some of the largest oyster mushrooms we had ever seen and used them to make one of our favorite dishes, Rigatoni Casanova the next night.   

Something fun happened on the first day we were here. Craig was outside and I was putting things in order in the Alfa, the he called to me "One of your blog followers is out here, come and meet her."

Cynthia of Ease On Down the Road was also at Kyllonen's. We have never met before. She said she has followed my blog for a long time, and recognized the duct taped front end!  We chatted for a while, and now I will be following her down the road as well.

I love it when we meet friends we have never met before! 

We left Kyllonen's on Sunday and went north about 30 miles to Scenic View RV. It is another small, peaceful place. It is not listed in the 2017 Mile Post because there was a change of ownership. I found it in "Alaskan Camping" which I have found to be an excellent resource.

We will be slowly migrating north through the Kenai Peninsula for a while.  Suggestions for things to see and do are welcome!