Week 11…Soldotna to Homer

We drove from Seward toward Kenai. We were hoping to camp on the water outside of Kenai at a boondocking spot, but when we got there we realized we could not get our big trailer in. There was a large bump at the entrance, probably to keep larger rigs out of there. We contemplated just continuing down to Homer and taking our chances finding something on the way but it was Saturday and we thought we’d have a tough time finding a spot.

We did spot this guy as we were driving around trying to figure out what we wanted to do and where we wanted to stay so that was cool.

We decided to park in the Fred Meyer parking lot in Soldotna. They allow free overnight parking for up to three days. Not our favorite thing to do, but at least we could park on the edge with trees on one side. And wouldn’t ya’ know it, there was a little trail through the woods that came out by a brewery. It was meant to be!

At least we were a little secluded at the Fred Meyer. But we were also in the trash wind tunnel.

We went to Kenai to a used book store I had found and traded in some of the books we have read so far. I think we are both on #12. We got a pile of new books and decided to check out Kassik’s brewing since we were so close. The brewery was kind of out in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t busy when we got there but there were a couple local guys having a few and it was fun to hear about growing up in that area and how the winters can drive you crazy when it’s dark all the time. We were invited to go watch a UFC fight and have some beers with them but thought we should probably not do that after the “we go crazy up here sometimes” talk.

Soldotna was a nice place to stop. We took Gus for a walk along the Kenai River and went to St. Elias brewing which was the brewery right by our campsite. It had good beer and cheap pizza.

As we were leaving Monday morning, a guy was walking around his motor home that was parked in front of us, kind of looking around and I thought it was weird. I put something in the truck and he asked if I wanted some pink salmon. He didn’t look like a crazy person so I said sure, if he was looking to get rid of some. As I walked over to his motor home, his wife walked up and was happy to hear that we hadn’t had much salmon and we’d love some. They were from Aspen, Colorado and headed for Valdez to fish more and didn’t have anymore room in their cooler. I walked back to the trailer with a bag of 6 huge salmon fillets and a big smile. Craig shook his head with a grin and said he didn’t even want to know. That made me smile even more.

I had contacted our new friend, Sheri, who we had met at Silver Gulch Brewing in Fox a while back. She is working in Fairbanks but lives in Homer. She let us boondock in her driveway and gave us all sorts of information on Homer and the things to do.

We got to her place and were in awe of her view. She has an awesome view of Kachemak Bay, the mountains and glaciers. If anyone watches Alaska: The Last Frontier, she’s just a few miles from the Kilcher Homestead and we drove past their road multiple times. We actually went to the beach and drove where they run their cattle to the head of the bay.

Our friend has a beautiful place and view

We spent our time in Homer touring the town, walking down on the spit, drinking a few beers. We went to the famous Salty Dawg Saloon and left our dollar bill.

We walked along the beach and Craig collected his stones while Gus discovered he doesn’t like salt water. A cruise ship was docked at the end of the spit so it was really busy when we were there. But it was a gorgeous day and we were able to take it all in. It’s a cool little town.

We drove 15 miles up to Anchor Point a day and went to North America’s Most Westerly Highway Point. We have a little research to do as we were told at the Manley Roadhouse, that since the Tofty Road to the Yukon River was completed out of Manley Springs, that now goes just a bit farther west than the point in Anchor Point, but we have not verified that yet. We took the picture anyway and now have been to both spots.

Craig had read that you can drive on the beach all the way to Homer. We grabbed a quick lunch and asked the bartender. She said we could as long as we knew the tide schedule. After checking that out, we went down to the beach and drove for a while. It was beautiful and weird because we can’t do that at home. Craig wanted to go all the way to Homer but we didn’t plan ahead and needed gas.

We took back roads back to Homer. We found a road that took us up to the houses on the ridge and got awesome views of the Spit up there.

We spent another day relaxing. Sheri’s views are so beautiful and ever-changing. One minute the sun is out and the view is clear, next you can’t even see the mountains and it’s cold! We were both enjoying our books and a new word game on our phones, so we just hung out in her driveway all day. Watching the sunset was gorgeous and we even had a rainbow appear one day. We would never get sick of looking at this view.

Today we found a short hike. We were all feeling a little sluggish after our rest day so it felt good to get moving. It was easy, but it was good to get Gus out and we enjoyed the sunny day!