Homer, AK

We did our history tour of the City of Kenai after breakfast this morning. Near the campground is the former site of the Russian Fort St. Nicholas built here in 1791. This area was visited by Vancouver, Cook, and the Spanish in the 1700’s. We found old houses and cabins remaining from the late 1800’s and one house has survived since 1866. This area still shows the Russian influence with a Russian Orthodox Church still in use today.

We pulled up stakes around 10:00am. We had been warned about heavy traffic since it was a three-day weekend and only one road to Homer. We were also told we would encounter a large number of campers and vacationers. We were not disappointed. Ha ha We made a few stops for photos and small villages along the way.   

We arrived in Homer about 2:00pm. The views from the bluff coming into town were amazing. It looked like you could reach out and touch the mountains. We looked at a couple RV parks in town but they were very small and crowded. We took the drive out to the Homer sand spit and found all of the people! This place is packed with campers and shoppers. There are many businesses offering charter fishing trips and a lot of T-shirt shops and restaurants. We saw a 141 lb. halibut hanging from a scale and people were bring many smaller fish off of the boats. Fishing was good today. We decided to spend tonight in the Homer Spit Campground with a few hundred other vacationers. It’s close to the food and shopping but a bit different from our experiences a week ago. The sites are in the open and if we extend the awning we will probably hit the RV next door. We consider ourselves lucky to have a spot for the night so we will make do and be happy. The sun is shining but the sea breeze makes it feel cool. There will be no lounging outside in the chairs tonight.

Tomorrow we are planning to do a boat trip to see the sites on the other side of the Kachemak Bay, if the weather cooperates. A second night here is planned. This is Sunday so most people will head home tomorrow. At least that’s our plan!

Russian Orthodox Church

Village of Ninilchik

Dry docked in Ninilchik

From bluff you can see the Homer spit

Charlie loved staying two days at the beach!