Alaska - Homer & Soldatna Year 2000
Homer, Alaska. That's why they named this the Ocean View RV Park.
Columbia Glacier boat ride. Awesome beauty!
Our catch in Seward. This gave us wild Alaska salmon for the entire year after we returned to the lower states.
Very good steaks in Anchorage at the Sour Dough Mining Company.
Donna taking her walk in Seward, Alaska (do you think it's cold?).
Very large halibut for a lucky fisherman in Seward, AK.
Homer (7/30-8/4/2000)
Oh, wow! Coming into Homer is really pretty incredible!! First you climb a steep hill then swoop down into a wondrous sight of the beautiful Kachemak Bay surrounded by glaciered alpine mountains. Ocean View RV Park was “all that”. We woke up each morning to this great landscape. We met up with Gene; Dana again then headed off to Young’s Chinese Restaurant. The food was pretty good, but we were already spoiled @ the Oriental Gardens in Seward. Gene; Dana told us all about their clamming trip for razorbacks @ Ninilchik. Gene gathered up about 30 clams by digging down 2 ½ shovel scoops then grabbing the razorback by its foot. His clothes, shovel & bucket were a muddy mess; he broke many of his clams. Nevertheless, we decided we’d try our luck the next day.
The extreme minus tide was to be at around 10:00 a.m. Everyone told us to be sure to get to the beach @ Ninilchik about an hour before the lowest tide & stay at least an hour after the lowest tide. Allen got Gene’s shovel; we gathered our rain gear & boots & off we went in search of the elusive razorback clam (not knowing just how elusive they would be). When we got to Ninilchik, there were at least 100 others out on the beach clamming. Allen donned his waders & raincoat; grabbed his shovel while I put on boots (non-waterproof, I might add); grabbed the buckets. I was going to be the spotter; Allen was going to do all the work. All I got was immediate wet feet (I should have worn Allen’s rubber boots); was only able to spot 1 clam all morning. We just hopelessly roamed around the first hour, but finally hooked up with an Alaskan who knew what he was doing. He expertly guided Allen & I followed along with the buckets. Allen really did quite well; only broke 2 of his clams, but stopped after about a dozen clams. It’s such hard work. Allen was laying flat on the ground turning his body so he was up to his shoulder digging. The reason they call them razorbacks is because of the sharpness of the shell. Allen didn’t wear gloves because it’s too hard to find the clams without using your bare hands. His fingernails were a bloody mess by the time it was all over. Unlike Gene, Allen washed off each clam in water puddles nearby as he captured it; cleaned himself; the shovel off before we got back to the Jeep. All in all, it was a fun experience, but we wouldn’t want to repeat it. Allen washed, shelled & cleaned all the clams when we got back to the rig. I told you he did all the work!!
Aside from the Chinese food, our only other dining out was to the local pizza/ice cream establishment. This was during the Republican convention we had been tracking. The owner was Republican & had a big screen TV tuned to the convention. We discussed Alaskan politics a bit, but mainly asked questions about the Homer area. We later drove around the whole Home area to get a feel for how the residents live. Unlike many of the tourist havens, the majority Homer residents stay year-round. It’s also an artists’ community like Ojai or Taos.
Each day we went out to the Homer Spit to check out the daily catch. We decided to sign up for a charter. However when we got back to the rig, we found out that the weather was going to be terrible the next day so we postponed our charter. The weather never recovered while we were there; all charters were cancelled during the next 3 days. So we never went out on a charter @ the Halibut Capital of the World. Guess we’ll have to get back there one of these days!
Another highlight of our visit to Homer was building a bonfire on the beach with Gene; Dana. Gee it’s sure nice to be retired with no stress or major responsibilities. The frustration of missing out on the halibut charter led Gene; Allen on a flounder expedition in Gene’s boat. What a nice alternative…yum! yum!
Soldatna (8/5/2000)
It’s Saturday, time to move back up to Soldatna for one day at the Edgewater RV park, which is our first Coast to Coast ($6.00) park on this trip. Gene and Dana left for Soldatna yesterday and we will join them today.
The trip from Homer took but a few hours. After checking in, I went down to the Kenai River to check out the fishing. The fishing appeared slow as there were not many fishermen trying their luck so I passed up the fishing until I could speak to Gene and see what’s up. Later that afternoon, Gene knocked on our door. He said everyone was using salmon eggs, so off to the tackle shop I went and $20.00 later had my eggs, hooks, sinkers, etc. We went fishing that night and braved the cold…no fish…vowed we would return at dawn and try again. At 6:00 a.m., I took off for the fishing hole. Gene was already there, had his eggs on his hook and was waiting for a bite. This was also the morning that we were moving on to Anchorage so I could only stay a few hours. After having no bites and falling in the mud, I said goodbye to Gene and headed home.
Oh, wow! Coming into Homer is really pretty incredible!! First you climb a steep hill then swoop down into a wondrous sight of the beautiful Kachemak Bay surrounded by glaciered alpine mountains. Ocean View RV Park was “all that”. We woke up each morning to this great landscape. We met up with Gene; Dana again then headed off to Young’s Chinese Restaurant. The food was pretty good, but we were already spoiled @ the Oriental Gardens in Seward. Gene; Dana told us all about their clamming trip for razorbacks @ Ninilchik. Gene gathered up about 30 clams by digging down 2 ½ shovel scoops then grabbing the razorback by its foot. His clothes, shovel & bucket were a muddy mess; he broke many of his clams. Nevertheless, we decided we’d try our luck the next day.
The extreme minus tide was to be at around 10:00 a.m. Everyone told us to be sure to get to the beach @ Ninilchik about an hour before the lowest tide & stay at least an hour after the lowest tide. Allen got Gene’s shovel; we gathered our rain gear & boots & off we went in search of the elusive razorback clam (not knowing just how elusive they would be). When we got to Ninilchik, there were at least 100 others out on the beach clamming. Allen donned his waders & raincoat; grabbed his shovel while I put on boots (non-waterproof, I might add); grabbed the buckets. I was going to be the spotter; Allen was going to do all the work. All I got was immediate wet feet (I should have worn Allen’s rubber boots); was only able to spot 1 clam all morning. We just hopelessly roamed around the first hour, but finally hooked up with an Alaskan who knew what he was doing. He expertly guided Allen & I followed along with the buckets. Allen really did quite well; only broke 2 of his clams, but stopped after about a dozen clams. It’s such hard work. Allen was laying flat on the ground turning his body so he was up to his shoulder digging. The reason they call them razorbacks is because of the sharpness of the shell. Allen didn’t wear gloves because it’s too hard to find the clams without using your bare hands. His fingernails were a bloody mess by the time it was all over. Unlike Gene, Allen washed off each clam in water puddles nearby as he captured it; cleaned himself; the shovel off before we got back to the Jeep. All in all, it was a fun experience, but we wouldn’t want to repeat it. Allen washed, shelled & cleaned all the clams when we got back to the rig. I told you he did all the work!!
Aside from the Chinese food, our only other dining out was to the local pizza/ice cream establishment. This was during the Republican convention we had been tracking. The owner was Republican & had a big screen TV tuned to the convention. We discussed Alaskan politics a bit, but mainly asked questions about the Homer area. We later drove around the whole Home area to get a feel for how the residents live. Unlike many of the tourist havens, the majority Homer residents stay year-round. It’s also an artists’ community like Ojai or Taos.
Each day we went out to the Homer Spit to check out the daily catch. We decided to sign up for a charter. However when we got back to the rig, we found out that the weather was going to be terrible the next day so we postponed our charter. The weather never recovered while we were there; all charters were cancelled during the next 3 days. So we never went out on a charter @ the Halibut Capital of the World. Guess we’ll have to get back there one of these days!
Another highlight of our visit to Homer was building a bonfire on the beach with Gene; Dana. Gee it’s sure nice to be retired with no stress or major responsibilities. The frustration of missing out on the halibut charter led Gene; Allen on a flounder expedition in Gene’s boat. What a nice alternative…yum! yum!
Soldatna (8/5/2000)
It’s Saturday, time to move back up to Soldatna for one day at the Edgewater RV park, which is our first Coast to Coast ($6.00) park on this trip. Gene and Dana left for Soldatna yesterday and we will join them today.
The trip from Homer took but a few hours. After checking in, I went down to the Kenai River to check out the fishing. The fishing appeared slow as there were not many fishermen trying their luck so I passed up the fishing until I could speak to Gene and see what’s up. Later that afternoon, Gene knocked on our door. He said everyone was using salmon eggs, so off to the tackle shop I went and $20.00 later had my eggs, hooks, sinkers, etc. We went fishing that night and braved the cold…no fish…vowed we would return at dawn and try again. At 6:00 a.m., I took off for the fishing hole. Gene was already there, had his eggs on his hook and was waiting for a bite. This was also the morning that we were moving on to Anchorage so I could only stay a few hours. After having no bites and falling in the mud, I said goodbye to Gene and headed home.
posted by Allen @ 9:49 PM
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