Our next destination was Homer, Alaska, “The Halibut Fishing Capital of the World.” Our RV Park was located on the Homer Spit which is a long narrow piece of land 4.5 miles long, and in fact is the longest road into ocean waters in the world. “OH” what a beautiful place! The mountains seem to enclose it and the Spit is full of shops, hotels, restaurants and well over 1,000 water docks for commercial and private boats. We walked the docks at a time when the boats were coming in and it was unbelievable, the amount of fresh salmon and halibut we witnessed being cleaned. Several in our group went halibut fishing and returned with their limits of 2 fish each. Most are 7 – 10 bs, but the further out in the ocean can bring more than 100 lb. fish. The fish were cleaned and bagged for them (of course for a price). The fishermen and women were kind enough to share some of their catch on the last evening at Homer. If you have never tried grilled halibut you are missing something huge. It was a first for Cary and some others and they were saying Mmmmmmm for days afterward. Many went and purchased some to take home.
While in Homer we also visited the Alaska Islands & Ocean Visitor Center which had so many exhibits, films and hands on information. We went on to the Pratt Museum which had a large amount of exhibits about the history, native culture, fishing, quilts, birds and more information about the Valdez oil spill and how it effected Homer.
Saturday morning we went to the Homer Farmers market which featured fresh vegetables, with greens galore from local greenhouses and gardens, gorgeous bouquets of flowers, wild berries and of course cinnamon buns. The flowers in Alaska are everywhere and the reason they flourish is because of so much sunshine. We presently have daylight for 18 hours a day and it is not easy to make yourself go to bed early when there is still so much daylight. Back to the Farmers Market, we made the best purchase of the day which was Halibut Tacos which contained fresh grilled halibut cooked to order and the freshest homemade ingredients you could ever hope for. We ate while we enjoyed the live entertainment which was also unique. We also visited the famous Salty Dog Saloon with our group that day and posted another dollar along with the thousands of others signed and pinned up on the walls, ceilings, doors and more. Everything was covered with dollars and the bar and tables were covered with carved names and dates. It was so nice to find out that the dollars are thinned out yearly and donated to local charities. Enjoy the pictures and look for our dollar when you go! It says “Elvis was here,” and the date.
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