July 15-16     we rose on friday and began the trip to Homer on the kenai peninsula. along the way we rode next to the Turnagin Arm of the Cook Inlet.   the road hugged the coast and mountains soared on our left and across the bay.  on the way we saw the volcanos across the cook inlet. there are seven of them along that stretch of the coast.   when we got to Soldotna we reserved a hotel room for the night. but continued on to Homer.  about an hour later we arrived in Homer and drove the length of the Spit, a 7 mile sand bar into the Katchemak Bay. a stop for a drink at the renownedOld Salty Dawg Bar, and we are then proceeding to find a restaurant for dinner, we went to AJ;s, wher we ate last time we visited Homer. they didnt open until 5pm so we had an hour to kill. Tony suggested we go visit the Kilchers, from the tv show, they actually live right outside of Homer along the Katchemak bay.

we found Kilcher drive, and went down the road a piece. saw a couple of their houses and then high tailed it outta there,  back to the restaurant still a little early, so we we walked to the beach for a few photos.  after dinner we headed back to the hotel in Soldotna.

Pat and I took a walk along the Kenai river. saw a lot of fishermen in the river catching salmon.


saturday morning we woke early and tried to get on the road by 8am, we had reservations for a Glacier cruise in Whittier about 2 hours away. only problem was that there is a tunnel to get to Whittier.  and the tunnel has only one lane with railroad tracks down the middle traffic goes one way into town, then one way out of town then the train goes through the tunnel.  if we miss the 11:30 crossing, we probably miss our cruise.

stopped for a fast breakfast, which was anything but fast.  left that place 5 after 9.  its gonna be close.  gps said we would arrive at 11:49.  too late!   well with Tony driving we got there at 11:15. plenty of time to spare.  at 11:30 they opened the tunnel for our trip through it.   we made the boat.  boarded at 12:45 and we were sailing by 1pm.

had lunch on board and then sailed up to the face of mighty huge glaciers down Blackstone bay.  saw some seals, and birds and otters, along with the very dramatic mountains and glaciers.  all agreed it was a very interesting voyage.

Back at the dock we now raced to the car to make the 5pm crossing through the tunnel or we'd have to wait till 6pm.  we had 10 minutes, we made it on time and headed back to our hotel in wasilla.

dinner at a local restaurant and we are in for the night, exhausted.

volcano along cook inlet

looking across cook inlet

tidal glacier from the boat

harbor seals

train pulling into whittier

at salty dawg, homer

inside salty dawg walls are covered with dollar bills.

view along highway 1 to kenai

on beach at kachemak bay