AUGUST 15-17, 2012---HOMER, ALASKA

Yet another travel day.  We have 227 miles to drive today.  The scenery today was absolutely beautiful.  It is the best view we have had so far on this trip.  Mountains and water,,,,gorgeous.  We are also on the most dangerous road in Alaska.  Lots of accidents, I don't know if it is because of the scenery or the twisty roads, in any case, we are going slow and enjoying it.  We stopped many times to just take pictures of the beauty.  Really didn't stop to visit anything on our way today.  

FIREWEED ALONG THE SIDE OF THE ROAD (IT IS ALL OVER THE PLACE NOW)

SCENERY ALONG OUR DRIVE

THE GROUP GATHERING AT ONE OF THE REST STOPS ON OUR DRIVE

Homer is the Halibut capital of the world.  People come from all over to fish here.  It is a neat place.  They have what they call the Spit.  It is a piece of land that jets out into the Gulf of Alaska with mountains and  volcanoes as a backdrop.  This is where all the commercial and charter fishing companies work from the harbor.  There are restaurants and gifts shops all along the Spit.  Also when the fishing boats come in you can stand and watch them unload the fish to be cleaned and sent to be flash frozen.  Twelve to fourteen of our group went on a charter boat to fish for Halibut.  It cost about $225.00 per person for a day of fishing.  They were allowed a maximum of 2 halibuts.  Each of them caught their two fish at about a total of 30 to 40 lbs of fish.  To have the fish sent home it cost almost $6.00 a pound to ship.  The next night we had a wonderful fish fry cooked by the staff.  Our wagonmaster went on the fishing trip and they cooked the fish for us.  We all brought sides and desserts and had a wonderful meal.

The piece of land going out into the Gulf of Alaska above is the Spit

Halibuts fresh off the boat waiting to be cleaned

Fish being cleaned and prepared for flash freezing and shipping

Harbor at the Spit

Glacier just beyond the Spit

Eagle on pole on the Spit

We spent the next few days just riding around the hillsides and enjoying the beauty.  We had rain but it was still beautiful.