On down to Homer, AK

July 25-27   Day 47-49

We stopped at the Kenai library to "Skype" with the grandkids.  It's safe to say that nearly public building we have visited in Alaska has some sort of taxidermied wildlife inside.  The libraries are no exception.  We went on down the road to Soldotna, a few miles from Kenai, to watch the fishermen along the fast moving Kenai River.  Their fishing technique was much different from the dip netting.  Here, they would cast their bated line out to the 12 o'clock position, let it drift to the 4 o'clock position, then quickly jerk it out of the water and repeat the process.  The process worked because we saw them catching 24"-30" red salmon, sockeyes.  As we were walking around, we came across the town bakery.  If you ever come to Soldotna, be sure to stop at "The Moose is Loose Bakery".  We purchased an apple fritter, cinnamon roll with raisins, and a pecan roll.  I don't think I can pick a favorite, and the portions were to my liking.

 

 We have to go back through Soldotna when we return from Homer.  HMMM??!!

As we continued on south through Kasilof and Clam Gultch, we stopped for the night at Ninilchik (pronounced ni-NILL-chick), a sleepy little village of 842 people to which is referred as the third largest city in Alaska on Memorial weekend when thousands of Alaskans arrive for the fishing.  They claim that 50lb. king salmon are frequently caught here.
There is a Russian Orthodox church here that dates back to when Russia owned Alaska, and there are still several people with Russian family names.

 

 

You will notice on the steeple of the church and the crosses in the cemetery, there are three bars on the cross with the lowest one always on an angle.  You can Google '3 bar Russian Orthodox cross' for the history.
It rained all the way down here so hopefully when we are in Homer, it will have let up a bit.
(July 26)  Upon arriving in Homer, the rain did let up and gave us the opportunity to relax a bit.

After all, vacationing can be stressful!  :-)

It is clearly obvious that the Alaskans and the tourists come to Homer to fish.  Since we were here on the weekend, it was even busier.  There are many fishing charters that run from Homer, particularly for halibut.

But there were still a lot of people fishing for salmon.  We rode our bikes ~8mi (RT) to the end of the Homer Spit.  The view of the boat harbor was very picturesque with the mountains in the background,

as well as the open bay.

There was one place out on the Spit they call the fishing hole, where lots of fisher men, women, and children fish.  The fish are very active as you can see in the video,

especially during incoming and receding tides.
I found a fresh fish market and bought a fresh caught, fresh cleaned, fresh filleted sockeye salmon for dinner last night.  Grilled over a bed of charcoal, it was great!

OBSERVATION or rather interesting information from the wildlife people:
Prior to arriving at Homer, different times we saw a grizzly sow and cub(s).  We found out from the department of wildlife that a grizzly sow may have more than one cub depending on her health.  If she has more than one cub, each cub has a different father.  So when one of her eggs is fertilized, it is stored until she is done mating, then all eggs develop at the same time and she gives birth all at the same time.