July 18

Awoke to sunshine and warm temps but the mountains across the Bay have almost disappeared in a haze.  Quite a contrast to last night’s beautiful golden full moon rising over the calm Bay, light shimmering over the water and the mountains.  Brenna texted last night there is a forest fire near McHugh Creek, one of the last bends in the road between Turnagain Arm and heading into Anchorage.  We only know they have been flying over with retardant and helicopters are pulling water out of the Inlet and dumping it into the rocky terrain.  They called in the fire fighters who parachute in but their first obstacle was facing a mother bear whose cub had climbed into a tree and she wasn’t going to let them through.  The road for us into Anchorage isn’t closed but it can change.  Alaska has so few roadways, one of the reasons the fires are so dangerous to escape and this fire is very near houses in the far south Anchorage boundary.  Our host Ann says the ‘fog’ is from the McHugh fire (180 miles away as the crow flies), but we think it’s more to do with the extreme heat meeting icy water and mountain glacier.  We’re very lucky to have had the clear days we’ve had!  The Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage area have been on high to very high fire alerts, it is so dry with the heat and limited rain.

Ann says we can leave whenever we want today.  But the Fairbanks crew who took over the other cottages are quite loud and kids crying so seems a coffee on the deck and gone by 11A.  Pat is collecting her things and a white streak moves by inside the cottage.  Apparently there are even more host dogs, 2 more little fuzzy yappers.  One has decided to let himself in our door and visit. As I said, it’s time to go!  First things first, we head to Two Sisters Bakery for ‘breakfast’.  A brie/tomato/herb croissant, chocolate ‘bread’ and a cinnamon bun with lattes.  OMG!  The chocolate bread is a round of sweet bread dough stuffed with oozing real dark chocolate.  This means we must walk down the road to Bishop Beach and beach comb.  We are in Old Town Homer.  This area subsided in the ‘64 earthquake and no one really lives full time here anymore.  Besides the subsidence, the tsunami will get you in time.  So, over time this area has revitalized with funky cafes etc and small businesses.  Bishop Beach and Old Town are on the mainland and not the Spit.  The Beach is very nice and much less used than the Spit.  Beach combing around glaciers means rock collecting.  As the glaciers grind down through the layers of rock they release all kinds of interesting things and the waves do the polishing and shaping.  Between our pockets full of rocks and twisty driftwood we can barely walk back.  Decide to do the Spit shops which have we had avoided over the weekend.  Walked the Spit and found a few unusual items we just had to buy.  Dean is getting a cute fleece hat with a salmon swimming through it and found earrings for Bren and a Byron Birdsall print for us that is the exact view of the Spit with full moon that we saw last night.  One last time at Lands End, sitting in rocking chairs and a couple brews.  The humpback whales are active just off the shore.  We are getting quite a show. We meet a couple who partly grew up in Ohio and now live in Stamford, Ct.  Walking back to the car we stop at Boardwalk Fish.  Can’t resist a last Homer halibut fry up, it is a long way home after all.  While we are sitting in this little café, a humpback is acting very aggressively by pounding the water with his/her side fin.  Maybe a calf is nearby and the boats are bothering it.  The staff tells us there is a raft of 30 sea otters joined together in the area, they do this when the whales are around.  One quick stop at Homer Brewing for a growler of stout for Zach.  Finally on the road.  It will take about 5 hours to get to Anchorage.  The evening is beautiful although the fog is so thick across the Inlet we can’t see any sign of mountains let alone the big volcanoes. We have a pleasant and uneventful drive through the mountains until we round the bend to drive up Turnagain Arm.  Smoke fills the area and we can start to smell it.  There is no warning not to travel so we move on.  As we approach McHugh Creek area our eyes and noses are burning.  There is a huge plume of smoke coming out of the burn area.  The TV crews are on sight but we can’t see any flame.  We don’t want to stop but the views are spectacular with the orange setting sun coming through the smoke, the whole sky looks on fire.  We have to settle for pictures taken through the buggy windshield to capture the moment without stopping.  Once we pass the area all is calm.  We’ll have to turn on the news to find out the impact of the fire.  We have to go down that way again when Minde comes in order to start our RV trip.  We’re sure it will all be fine by then.  We make it back to the apartment, start up the big fan and unload our gear.  Off to see baby Dean tomorrow and find out what amazing things he has done since we left.  Night.