Happy 4th of July!!

Yesterday we finished up with breakfast, packed a lunch and headed out to pick up Ed & Mary Jo for a trip down to Homer.  We all had wanted to check it out and we thought we might like to stay there when we leave here.  Homer is down at the bottom of the Kenai Peninsula and we’re almost at the top.  The one thing we forgot was that it was Saturday, it was the 3rd of July and it was the end of the Key West to Homer motorcycle race called the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge.  It’s not really a race, more like a road rally that started on June 20th in Key West, Florida and ends on the 4th of July in Homer.  Some riders have already arrived and family and friends are there to welcome them.  The prize for the winner is $500,000 in Alaska gold!!

On the way we stopped in the little town of Ninilchik.  Ed had heard you can ride 4 wheelers on the beach so he wanted to check it out.  When we got to the beach we found a lot of tractors.  These tractors are used to get the fishing boats in and out of the water here.  I’m not sure why they do this but we found it very interesting.

The lighthouse

From there we headed for Homer.  We found the Visitor Center on down the road.  I have to say, this is probably the coolest Visitor Center I’ve seen.  It was more like a museum.  It actually was part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve.  Because it’s a National Wildlife Refuge I got a stamp for my National Parks Passport book!!

They had a lot of displays

My favorite was the Puffins

Okay, on to Homer

Boy was Homer ever crowded!!!  There is dry camping and RV parks all over the place.  We checked out one RV park and the rate was $87 a night!!!  OMG!!!  I like where we’re staying better.  We also checked the price on some King Crab and salmon and it was double what the price was in Soldotna.

All the buildings here looked like barns

We headed back out of town and look what we saw!!!  I swear he was posing for us.  Nice picture for the 4th of July.

This looked like a boat graveyard.  I know my friend Steve would have a field day in here.

Another lighthouse

We stopped at the Kasilof River on the way home to see if anybody was catching anything.  Apparently the salmon haven’t come up the river yet.  For those that don’t know, the salmon go out to the ocean after they’re born upstream and then somehow their internal clock tells them after a few years that it’s time to go back where they were born.  Once they arrive, they die.  The fishermen catch them as they are going back upstream.  We saw LOTS of fishermen but nobody was catching anything.

We headed on down the road to go home but of course, had to make another stop!  We found a moose!!  There’s lots of moose here but this is the first one I’ve seen.  It’s a real problem for motorists as 174 have been hit by cars so far this year.

He really was checking us out.  I saw the antlers this time, JB.

THEN we finally headed home.  Well, after a stop at the grocery store.  LOL.  Today we’re heading over to Ed & Mary Jo’s for a barbecue.  It’s a beautiful day here today with the sun actually SHINING!!!  We haven’t seen the sun much up here.  I don’t think they do fireworks up here, either.  It never gets dark.  At least not that I’ve seen.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!