Sunny Day In Homer

We awoke to brilliant sunshine today.  It is cool and breezy though.  I sat in up front drinking my coffee this morning taking in the beautiful view we have from the MH.  Several little girls were playing on the beach.  They are Alaskans.  How do I know this?  They are dressed in T-shirts, skirts and Alaskan sneakers.  Alaskan sneakers are rubber boots.  Everyone wears rubber boots.  Some only come up to mid calf.  Others have on hip boots.  There is so much marshy, river banks and tidal flats to run around boots are a must.  Two things I find most Alaskans bring to the campground are rubber boots and a chainsaw.  I am not making fun.  These are simply observations.

View in front of us today.

I continue to be impressed with Alaskans in general.  They are friendly.  They love to talk about Alaska.  They eagerly share fishing tips, advice on where to get the best halibut in a restaurant and other essentials such as that.

The red salmon (sockeye) started running yesterday in the Kenai River.  We were up there a few days ago but there were very few fish in the river.  I stopped at the fish cleaning table here today to chat with guys cleaning salmon.  One young man said he and his group just got back from dip netting in the Kenai.  They got 500 salmon among them.   He told me they watch the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife website for fish counts. If there are only 5 to 10 thousand entering the river they stay home.  It is a big river.  That few fish are too spread out to catch many.  He said there are 50 thousand entering the river now.  They are literally on top of each other.   When the fish run, Alaskans drop everything and head to the river.  I love their priorities.

Red Salmon

Another man was cleaning cod.  He caught them here at the end of the spit.  He said there is a large discharge pipe there where the fish processing houses discharge their fish scraps.  It draws in the fish.  Darlie and I  had heard about this from others.  We rode our bikes down to take a look.  The shoreline was lined with anglers.  Soon a gusher of reddish water shot up in the air.  The seagulls swarmed around squawking and making a big ruckus.  It was dinner time.  I may go down there and throw in a line myself.

We made the rounds at the craft and gift shops.  Many of the little shops are owned and operated by the same people who produce the gifts.  They spend the winter making these things to sell to the summer tourists.  The workmanship is fabulous.  They don't sell cheap Chinese reproductions of native items.  They make these things themselves and the care and quality show.  It is very interesting talking to these people.  They love to share about life in Alaska.

We also stopped by the shop run by the Hillstrand brothers who star on the Deadliest Catch.  They are co captains of the Time Bandit, an Alaskan crab boat.  Neither of the brothers were in today.  When they are they will let you take your photo with them for $20.  By the size of the crowd in the store, I would say they are doing very well.

We had lunch at the Happy Face Restaurant.  They had a halibut and chips special.  We just can't get enough of that halibut.  I wish I could take a couple hundred pounds home.  We have met some fishermen from the lower 48 who come here every year to catch halibut.  One guy had shipped over 350 pounds home.  It costs about $4.90 per pound to do that.   Depending on where you buy it, fresh halibut runs from $10 to $25 per pound.  So the shipping cost isn't too bad.

Wind blown

I would love to be able to come up here every summer.  I didn't really get into it until we came down the the Kenai Peninsula.  I love this part of the state.  There is so much to do and see here.  I think it is the most beautiful part of the state too.  We have neighbors tonight who have been coming up for years.  They drove up like we did the first time.  Now they fly up and rent an RV for a month.  They said it is much cheaper and you don't have all those long miles to travel.  They come to fish.  They will send home salmon and halibut and if they get time, they will go clamming too.

Darlie forgot to take her camera with her on our bike ride this morning so I don't have many photos to select from today.