Highlights Map
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This morning is when we have to leave Homer and relocate to Seward for our next cruise. But before we leave we have to take a few photos of the squirrels playing around on the roof. They seem to be quite intent on taking the Christmas lights apart – it is quite late in the season so we agree with them.
We also take one more walk around the Airbnb and see a black capped chickadee flitting around in the trees. Curious we follow it and it leads us to its new housing that it explores quite excitingly.
Our first stop is at the Homer Farmer’s Market. As it is rare we can visit one we really want to see this one and are surprised at how many people are here. Even parking is difficult but we find a spot and afterwards walk through the Farmer Market rows looking at the produce and honey, lots and lots of honey.
Next we leave Homer and after a relatively short drive stop at Deep Creek State Recreation Area. It is a brief stop as there isn’t a lot to do except walk for a few mins along the river where the only interesting bird we see is a kingfisher patrolling the river.
Close by is our next stop, Ninilchik, dating back to the early 1800s. It is a collection of log buildings with the gift shop being the major attraction. We spend a few minutes inside marveling at the objects and talking a bit with the shopkeeper who was here for the summer before continuing on.
We spend a few more minutes exploring the small village, it is quite scenic and even though we don’t see any other inhabitants most houses seem to be lived in and in good condition.
There are a few swallows but the most common bird here, unexpectedly for us is the bald eagle.
In fact we do not see many mature bald eagles but there are lots and lots of juveniles in the area. Wherever we look there is one or maybe two or even more sitting or fishing or just enjoying life it seems.
Next we decide to drive on the spit of land between Ninilchuk and the sea. It has some great views of the village from the other side, it is quite scenic located as it is between the creek and the hillside.
The beach is quite wild and there are a few Alaskans wandering and catching crabs or something else from the beach, we are not sure what. After watching them for a while we continue to the harbor which is quite small with only a few boats and then it is time to move on.
But we are not going far, in fact we are going to the top of the hill above Ninilchik where the Orthodox church is located. In fact the Holy Transfiguration of our Lord Russian Orthodox Church built in 1901, a historic bluff-top structure sporting five small golden onion-domes is the star attraction of the area.
We enjoy for a while the views and the beautiful flowers and talk a bit with a woman that was also visiting with a camper and was driving from the US before moving on to the next attraction.
The next stop is one that we discovered while driving to Homer and we did our research while staying at the AirBnB and decided to stop here when returning. It is the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center just a few miles of the main road and barely marked at least in the beginning. However the visitor center is clearly identifiable by the big moose statue in front of it and after parking we are ready to visit the area.
We start with the visitor center which has a few exhibits and allows us to get an idea of what we can expect to see outside, flower wise, but soon we are done and ready to explore.
Outside we start with an old fishing cabin brought here from the other side of the lake that we are planning to hike to. It is quite basic inside and we are happy that our accomodations are more high end (but we will have our own interesting experiences later).
Another thing that we find interesting is to see how a supply cache looked in Alaska. It is built on stilts so it can be seen also in the winter but we still are not sure how people lost would have known how to find them to get to the supplies.
And then it is time to go on the trails. We soon learn to stay on the main trail, any side trail that is more overgrown is a mosquito haven and they swarm us almost immediately. There are lots of flowers on the trail, and we can identify some of them based on the info we have gotten in the visitor center which is great.
After half a mile we reach the lake which we were hoping would alllow us to see some interesting birds. Nothing is moving though except a few gulls and soon we have to return to the visitor center via another trail.
There is no one else on this longer section of the loop returning to the visitor center even though the trail is in quite a good state. We see a few woodpeckers and chickadees but nothing new compared to what we have seen already in Alaska. Also there are more mosquitoes here so we pick up the pace until we exit in the parking lot and take refuge in the car.
The next stop is at Tern Lake right where the highways from Anchorage, Homer and Seward meet. It is a very scenic spot and according to the internet a good spot to see some special birds and maybe even Dall Sheep in the distance.
However today besides the titular terns, a few gulls and a loon there is nothing else in sight. It is also quite cold and it looks likely to rain so after some time spent scanning the mountains for sheep and the lake for interesting birds we continue on.
On this stretch to Seward we have the weirdest encounter, a police car stopped with a naked man in the middle of the road. The policeman tried his best to convince the man to get dressed and leave the road but he refuses and then when the officers try to book him he starts hitting his head (by himself) against the door and the road. It is a gruesome spectacle and we are happy when reinforcements arrive and cover the man and start giving him treatment.
After the long wait on the highway we arrive at our accomodation relatively late in the day. Luckily we find someone that was able to help us find our cabin which is actually quite nice and isolated versus the main building.
It is also well appointed and we enjoy its interior, it seems it is quite new and tastefully decorated.
However we are hungry so it is time to drive to Seward to find something to eat. We decide to try fish again, of course we are in Alaska so what else should we eat?
While waiting for the order we decide to explore the area a bit as we are close to the harbor. Unfortunately as we exit the rain that followed us the whole day decides to start so we can’t explore as much as we wanted.
We still make it to the harbor proper just to see how the seabirds do not care about the rain at all before retreating to the restaurant to pick up our food. We eat in our cabin while also making reservations for our cruise next day. We had to settle on a specific cruise to take and in the end we decided to take a 6 hour one of Resurrection Bay that also includes lunch on Fox Island. After that tired we are ready for bed as next day we have quite a few things planned.
