Day 5 - 8/26/2018 - Travel to Homer
Today's weather: 60 degrees, light rain and some fog
This morning we said goodbye to our host, Laura, at Alyeska Creek Chalet. We enjoyed our comfy apartment with the rain forest and creek in our back yard just off our patio. Girdwood is a beautiful little village surrounded by mountains and streams and we could have stayed even longer to enjoy all that is in the area.
Alyeska Creek Chalet
Alyeska Creek Chalet back yard
More back yard and creek
We drove south again along Turnagain Arm on the Seward Highway and then on the Sterling Highway toward Homer—“the end of the road” at the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula—over 25,000 square miles of scenic park lands, forests, volcanoes, glaciers, coastline, rivers, and unique communities. I wondered why the inlet we drove along was named Turnagain Arm so did a little research. I learned the Arm is a little ocean inlet of the big Cook Inlet near Anchorage. When early explorers were exploring the area Captain Cook asked some some of his crew to sail down the inlet to see if it connected to the other ocean. When they got to the end of the inlet it ended in a river so they had to turn around and head back. When they got back Captain Cook questioned them and sent another crew to verify. The crew named the inlet Turnagain Arm because they had to go twice and turn around again twice when it ended. While the first explorers might have felt frustrated having to sail down the Arm twice, we loved the panoramic vistas and enjoyed driving both directions several times. The Kenai Peninsula is surrounded by the Cook Inlet to the west and Prince William Sound to the east. Rivers and lakes throughout the peninsula are a shade of turquoise not often seen in nature—a result of glacial runoff and snow melt.
We took a short detour off the Sterling Highway (Alaska refers to their roads as highways, but they are mainly 2 lane roads) to Anchor Point which is the westernmost highway point in North America. We spotted our first eagle flying over the beach there. In the summer of 1778, Captain James Cook sailed into Cook Inlet looking for the Northwest Passage. He lost a large anchor here to the powerful tidal currents, giving Anchor Point its name.
When you approach Homer, one of the first things you see are the prominent peaks of Mt. Redoubt and Mt. Iliamna, which are in the Chigmit Mountains of the Aleutian Range across Cook Inlet. They both rise more than 10,000 feet above sea level. They were both recorded as active volcanoes in the mid 18th century. In 1989 Mt. Redoubt had a major eruption which continued through April, 1990 and then subsided to steam plumes. It is still considered an active volcano. There’s an overlook at the top of the hill on the Sterling Highway where you get your first glimpse of Homer and the Kachemak Bay.
We checked in at Cozy Cove Inn B&B for the next 3 nights which is located high on the hill above Homer surrounded by beautiful spruce trees with views of Kachemak Bay.
The weather was rainy for most of our ride today so we skipped many of our planned sight-seeing stops. Therefore there are fewer photos on today's post.