Homer Sightseeing

This morning we rode our bikes five miles from our site on the spit to the town proper. There is a very nice, paved bike path all the way into town which parallels the highway. Along the way we enjoyed the view of the bay on one side of the spit and the inlet on the other. I noticed a mature bald eagle on the top of this power pole:

And an immature one peaking out of this huge nest:

Our first stop was the Islands and Ocean Visitor Center. What a gorgeous facility! There has been a lot of money spent on this building and exhibits. We spent a few hours there learning about the animal and sealife refuges throughout Alaska that they oversee, the early inhabitants, the Russian sealing period, and we watched some films about Kachemak bay.

I liked this big seal statue at the entrance and puffins are my favourites of all the seabirds.

Even the elevator is beautiful!

Next, we went to the Two Sisters bakery café for lunch. Their food is natural, in-store made, and absolutely delicious.

The great lunch gave us almost enough energy to make it up the hill so we could go to the Pratt museum. It had excellent exhibits on the volcanoes in the area, what it was like to be a homesteader, the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 and its impact on this region, and lots of information on bears.

We spent quite a bit of time (and money) shopping at the Alaska Wildberry Products store. I think we’d better quit going into stores as we always find something to buy for someone when we do! The original Homer post office (this little cabin) is in the parking lot of Alaska Wildberry Products. It was built in 1927.

This is a funky little coffeeshop in Homer. I think maybe there are some ‘Hippies’ around here???

It was time to head for home by then, so we did, with just a short browse through the Farmer’s Market on the way. (Didn’t buy anything!)

There are so many interesting signs if you but keep your eyes open. Notice the white sign on the right of this picture:`

The wind had come up and the temperature dropped by the time we rode home. After walking and feeding the dogs, we got on the bikes again to ride further down the spit to pick up our frozen halibut from the fish processer. We ended up with 28 meal-size packages of halibut. They say it will last 3 years frozen so we don’t have to eat it up too fast, thank goodness.

Tomorrow we will retrace our steps northward on the Stirling highway to where it connects with the Seward highway so we can visit the town of Seward next.