Where the highway ends, the adventure begins!

Day 59 – Saturday, August 10

We woke up this morning in Kenai to see an eagle on the beach looking for Spot. Jim was quick on the trigger and grabbed these great photos.  We thought the day was off to a great start, but it just got better and better!  We had a short 90 mile drive today, and it was a gorgeous one…We traveled down the thumb (past the wart) to the tip of the thumb, and all the way to the end of the highway,  Homer, Alaska. (see previous blog post for an explanation of “the hand”)  Homer has a motto, "Where the highway ends, the adventure begins!” 
As we approached the city, we took in awesome views of mountains rimming the shoreline and glaciers looking over from above.  There are volcanoes looming in the distance—what a sight, for sure! As we came to the top of the hill, we saw a panoramic view of the bay, and the Homer Spit.  
The Spit is a 4 mile narrow extension of land that juts into the bay, surrounded by glaciers and snowcapped mountains.  And…we are camping right on the spit!!!  It is just unbelievable!  I thought yesterday’s park at Kenai was one of the prettiest views, but there is a new favorite—Homer on the Spit!  In this picture from the top of the hill, you can see the rv’s along the shore.  Our wagon masters now have a problem—nobody wants to leave this place!
We look out our front window and see mountains, glaciers and water, and birds (Arctic terns)!   It’s absolutely beautiful! 
This glacier is directly across from us. 



We went to evening mass at St. Johns, right off Homer Spit road.  It was a simple-looking church from the front, but behind the altar were large glass windows, which provided an impressive backdrop of mountains and water and clouds…what a beautiful setting for a mass!


As we were getting ready to leave for dinner, we saw an eagle that was also on his way to dinner—he flew by with a fish in his mouth and landed on the light post by the rv.  (I really think the eagle from Kenai called ahead and told him that Spot was coming this way!)  Jim again was quick with the camera and got another great shot!


We had a wonderful seafood dinner, complete with fresh local salmon and halibut.  We passed on the oysters that were harvested from right here in the bay, but our Texan friend Patrick sampled them and gave them an A+.  We all gave a double thumbs up to the Alaskan desserts…..

We returned to the campground and had our first campfire on this trip.  It was the perfect setting! One of our Michigan friends had a mechanical marshmallow roaster that turned the marshmallow over the fire…pretty cool!  But, it’s a little different having a campfire while it’s still light outside!
Jim watched over the activities! Check out the sky…this is about 10:00 at night!

We did finally see the sun begin to set, and it created stunning shadows on the mountains, and magnificent color around us.

What a beautiful world we live in….