Homer to Ninilchik to Anchorage

Texas may have Blue Bonnets, but Alaska has Lupine!

Yesterday when we left Homer if was perfect weather. Sunny with hardly any clouds in the sky. The wind was sill quite brisk so we were chilly, but we were happy to see the sun. We stopped by Anchor Point on the way north. Anchor Point is the western-most point accessible by road in North America. We had to get a pic by the sign.We traveled a whopping total of 41 miles today to the little old Russian fishing town of Ninilchik. We stayed at Deep Creek State Park because I had been following the blog of Gene & Joyce, who are camp hosts there this summer. Gene has made some interesting posts about the area and I wanted to check it out. Talking with Gene
We got a site facing the water and could see across Cook Inlet to the volcanoes in the Aleutian Range. As we looked up toward the bluffs we could see several bald eagles flying. It was amazing site.After dinner we drove up into the little town to see the Russian Orthodox church and check out the old village.This morning we got to see 2 very interesting things. First we saw fishing boats being launched by huge tractors. The tractor drags the boat on it’s trailer way out into the surf until it is deep enough to float away. It’s neat to watch.We also drove down the beach in the Jeep and watched people clamming for razor clams. It was one of the lowest tides of the summer today so there were 100s of people clamming. They have this metal tube (called a clamming gun) with a handle on the top. When they see a dimple in the sand they push the tube down over it, put their thumb over the hole by the handle, then pull up. A bunch of sand comes up and usually there is a razor clam in it. I found this website that explains the process. We watched our neighbor from the campground find many clams.We also saw a bunch of bald eagles along the bluffs as we drove down the beach. I am talking 100s of eagles. All the tourists are taking pics and the locals just ignore them. I think it’s like most of us seeing sparrows. They are just everywhere.
Around noon we headed out of Ninilchik, and off the Kenai Peninsula and arrived in Anchorage. We just drove through last week but we decided to stop this time.

A beautiful view along the way today!

First order of business was SHOWERS! It had been 6 days since the last RV park with a shower in it. We did get a shower one night in the RV, but an RV shower is as quick as possible. I was soooooo happy to wash the stink off. I had Dori with me so I didn’t get to just stand under the hot water like I wanted to, but I will go back for another shower before we check out tomorrow. After showers we headed out for dinner. We wanted to go to a place called the Moose’s Tooth, but the wait was over 30 mins and we were hungry. We ended up a few miles away at a place called the Arctic Roadrunner. It’s been voted favorite burger in Anchorage many times. The food was good and we sat outside (it’s a lot warmer here!) along a little river. We saw some guys kayak by, some ladies in canoes stop for dinner, and some half dressed (and maybe drunk?) guys float up on little blow up boats.More on Anchorage in Eric's video blog entry above.