There's No Place Like Homer

The memory of my long road trip to Alaska has faded enough that I felt I was up to spending 4 hours in the car to visit Homer and the 3 day weekend provided the perfect opportunity to go.

I don’t even really know where to begin…Homer is beautiful…the pictures don't do it justice…and I didn’t even get to see it at its absolute best on a sunny day…I can only imagine how much more beautiful it is when the weather is completely cooperative.

This is the view just before coming into the town...

The Homer Spit

My mom has a friend from college who lives in Homer.  She and her husband have had their own fishing business for more than 40 years.  She offered me and the dogs a place to stay for the weekend and was my tour guide on Saturday.

She took me down to the Homer Spit…(a 'spit' is a small piece of land that juts out into the water) to show me where they store some of their fishing pots and gear…they do salmon fishing (with nets) in the summer and then cod fishing in the winter...

She took me to the boat harbor and showed me one of the fisheries...definitely not the most pleasant smelling area of Homer...

Her husband is currently in Juneau to bring their boat back to Homer.   It is a 3 day journey across the water but he was currently stuck there until at least Thursday because of poor weather conditions.


Here are some of the sites around Homer...

on the spit...

many charters...for fishing...for bear watching...

Fish from a fishing charter, they filet and weigh your catch and ship it to you...

bumper sticker in one of the shops...

for fans of "The Deadliest Catch"...they have two 'stores' in  Homer...and I was told that they had come in to town that weekend but I did not see their boat...one of their pots is set up outside this shop location - tall enough for me to stand in...Jeanne's husband actually went to school with some of the guys...

someone got creative with wood...that's a big whale...

The Salty Dawg Saloon...
Right next door though, is a rather non-descript restaurant called The Happy Face...this is where we went to dinner Saturday night and according to Jeanne where you get the best fish 'n chips in Homer...

as you know, I am not a seafood person, however I have been willing to try everything - this was the first time I'd ever ordered fish 'n chips in my life...so I have no other fish 'n chips to compare it to, but I CAN tell you it was REALLY good...so good, that when I woke up the next day I was still thinking about it and wouldn't have minded returning for it again...

It was breaded halibut and it was delicious...Jeanne said this is where many of the local fishermen go for lunch and it's some place I would definitely go back to the next time I visit Homer.


I have A LOT more to show but this post is long enough for now...these last few pictures were mostly taken around the spit as well -