We headed south from Anchorage to Homer today. Started out as a beautiful day, temps in the 50s and blue skies! Just south of Anchorage the road winds along the shores of Cook Inlet providing some more spectacular scenery.
We were hoping to see some beluga whales but it was not to be. However, we did see some Dahl sheep on the mountainside but did not get a picture.
There were several glaciers and lots of snowcapped mountains of the Aleutian Range for the first half of the trip.
We stopped at the Alaska wildlife center where injured or orphaned animals are kept in a small drive through park.
Temps actually got into the 60s and it was quite nice out for a change.
The baby muskox were our favorite although one of the moose took a liking to Nancy.
Further down the inlet the land flattened out in low lying marshes and scrub forests but we began to catch breathtaking views of two huge volcanic mountains on the other side of the inlet. Rising nearly 10,000 feet from almost sea level they are very imposing. We found that being nearer the ocean had dropped the temperature about 10 degrees, back into the 50s.
Yes, this river really is this blue.
Lots of wildflowers everywhere.
We also stopped at this picturesque little Russian Orthodox Church.
We see a lot of graves with these little picket fence enclosures and sometimes little wooden buildings over them.
This was our first view of the Homer Spit, the little sliver of land jutting out into the bay at the lower left of the photo. Our campsite is at the tip of the spit.
The mountains across the bay from Homer are very beautiful.
We had dinner at the Lands End Restaurant with a view of the bay and mountains. I had a great dinner of halibut, asparagus, salad, and dessert. After dinner Nancy and I walked to some of the nearby shops then came back to the campground where some of our group had a campfire going. By 8pm it was quite cool and the wind picked up and it starting raining so we called it a day.
Gas was $3.73 in Sterling. We filled up there because we thought Homer would be more expensive but it is only $3.67 here.
Love your photos of the mountains reflected in the lake, awesome! Yes, I do believe you about the blue color of the water, hard to imagine, but true!
ReplyDeleteHave been enjoying following along on your trip.
ReplyDeleteThe little wooden houses over the graves are "spirit houses". We saw a great number of them in Eklutna when we visited in 2001. They are intended to house the spirits of the dead as they make the transition from this world to the next.