Beautiful Kenai Peninsula & Homer
Photos - Alaska Trip - Kenai Peninsula & Homer
Yesterday we left cold, rainy Valdez and took a ferry to the Kenai Peninsula. On the ferry, the weather was beautiful and it's stayed that way since. It's been sunny and gorgeous for the past two days.
The ferry was fun. It was luxurious, with comfy seating, pretty art on the walls, a cafe and tons of windows for viewing the scenery.
Once we got off the ferry, we followed the cars to a place they were lining up. At first Randy thought we didn't want to go that way but then I remembered that the ferry captain had said we would be "right on time for the tunnel." It turns out there's a one-way tunnel from Whittier, where the ferry lands, to the peninsula which serves trains, cars and pedestrians. It opens in 15 minute increments to allow the different sides through.
Once we got out of the tunnel, there was a sign by the highway designating it as a "scenic highway" and it sure was! I could hardly stop taking photos. Everywhere we turned it was beautiful, whether it was the bright pink fireweeds against the green grass, the sparkling rivers, the mountains topped with snow or the green hills.
We debated going to Seward because we'd like to see it but our B&B is in Homer. We decided to go straight to Homer and I think it was a good decision because it was quite a long drive, which we hadn't realized. We saw some nice rivers along the way where Randy plans to stop and do a little fishing tomorrow when we drive out of Homer to Anchorage. Homer is right on the ocean and has a bunch of companies that fly people out to fish halibut or view bears.
We settled in our B&B, then got something to eat and drove around. It was a beautiful night, with a sunset on one side and a moon rise on the other.
Today in Homer was a shopping day for me. There are lots of cute stores here both in town and on "the spit," a long narrow piece of land sticking out into the bay. We went to the museum and a bunch of stores where I found stuff for myself and a few gifts to bring home. Randy was a good sport about driving all around. When my parents settled in their home in Lynden for retirement, they had one bedroom they called the "Alaska room," where they put a bunch of their Alaska pictures and memorabilia. I'm thinking of copying that idea and doing that with our guest room.
We stopped at Bear Creek Winery and tasted wine. There are no vineyards in Alaska. Most of the wines are berries or a combination of berries and grape they get from elsewhere. Randy liked the blueberry best, we also liked raspberry and peach apricot. Very fun.
I'm sure it helps that the weather so incredibly good, but I never knew Homer was such a pretty place. It's surrounded by the ocean and mountains.
