Some places feel like home, some don’t. Seward felt like home, Homer didn’t. Homer and the views across the bay are beautiful but the “Homer Spit” where we stayed was a bit like, well, real spit – icky and gooey. The landscape presented an interesting contradiction of beauty and debris.
The narrow sand and gravel peninsula that extends from the mainland into the Kachemak Bay is a busy place. It is a port with a ferry terminal, a large marina and lots of industrial traffic. The campgrounds are gravel parking lots and although they all have great views and waterfront, they are muddy and cramped. The spit was also a bit of a junkyard with a boat graveyard and cast off rusting industrial equipment everywhere (the icky part).
The “spit” also has a lot of character and characters, some of whom stayed in our campground it seems on a semi-permanent basis(I won’t go into details). The main tourist economy is based on halibut fishing charters as the town claims to be the halibut fishing capital of the world. The “spit” is spotted with quaint shack/shops, half of which are fishing charter businesses, the others house a variety of eatery’s and local art. Some of the bone carvings and other pieces of local art were really impressive. I picked up a few cards along the way for potential future purchases.
There is a nice hike and bike trail that extends the length of the “spit” which we rode when it wasn’t raining (the gooey part). The sun peeked out here and there but our stay was mostly cold and rainy.
The boys cast their lines a few times in the lagoon next to the campsite when the tide came up. There is a 28 ft. tide, one of the largest in the world, and in some places there is 1/4 mile of dry land at low tide. They didn’t have any luck though, we ended up with tacos for dinner instead of fish.
The Alaska Islands and Oceans Visitor Center turned out to be a gem especially on a rainy day. They have a very nice museum covering the history and ongoing research in the Aleutian chain. We attended a talk on the Kasatochi Volcano eruption and saw a film about the amazing amount of wild life that call the chain of islands, home.
We also took a classic family “Sunday drive” (ha, the kids really loved that!) on the mainland along the bay. I can see why people would want to live here. The rolling hillsides overlooking the bay were lush with great views. The best part were the spacious homesteads dotting the land instead of high rise condos obscuring the land and views that we would normally see in the lower 48 in a place like this.
Another highlight were the bald eagles – everywhere. There were two that had favorite perches next to the campsite. Eagles could be seen flying overhead all day and there was a nest in town right next to the road with two adults and two juveniles that could be viewed as easily as a stoplight.
So, although the “spit” was kind of “spitty” with ick and goo, we managed to sort through the debris to see the beauty and make our stay a little more homey.
“Hybridity keeps me from being rigid about most things. It has taught me to appreciate the contradictions in the world and in my life. I scavenge from the best.” Jessica Hagedorn
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