North to Alaska!: Anchorage to Cooper Landing and Homer

Thursday we decided to visit the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum in Anchorage before leaving, which was very interesting--a little more so for Ernie than for me, but I did enjoy the history. A museum was a good place to spend the rainy day! After spending a few hours there, we left Anchorage, drove along the coast around the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet, and on to Cooper Landing, where we spent the night. Friday we drove down to Homer--in the rain and clouds! We spent a little time driving around Homer, but we couldn't really see much of the supposedly beautiful scenery since it was so rainy and cloudy. The Homer Spit, a peninsula into Kachemak Bay built on a glacial morraine, was entertaining even in the rain, though we could barely see the mountains across the bay. Homer, especially Homer Spit, seems very touristy and artsy, in addition to catering to fishermen. In spite of the rain, we went on the "Historical Walking Tour" of old downtown Homer, stopping in to visit the Alaska Wildberry Products store, which has been in business in the same place since 1946. Friday evening we ate at "Crabbies," a local seafood and steak restaurant, where I ordered fresh local grilled salmon. The waitress told us it was swimming in the ocean that morning, and they had picked up the salmon for dinner at the dock at 2:30 that afternoon! Doesn't get much fresher than that . . . and it was delicious!

Since it was still raining Saturday morning, we had another museum day, visiting Pratt Musuem in Homer and then the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center--both fascinating and extremely informative--not to mention a good way to stay out of the rain. We then drove back to Cooper Landing in the mist, occasional rain, and fog. At least we made better time than usual because we didn't stop to take any pictures!

Our intention was to drive to Seward today (Sunday) but we decided we needed another "down" day to do laundry, rest, reorganize, and dry out the camper. Since it's rained SO much, we can't ever get towels dry, and the entire camper just felt damp. Today was supposed to remain cloudy, but Monday is supposed to be sunny and 60, so we decided to hang out in Cooper Landing and wait for the weather to improve. We opened all the windows, turned on the fans, rolled out the awning, and let everything dry, which helped. Even though it remained cloudy, it didn't rain again, finally! Hopefully tomorrow will be a nice day, and we can see some more scenery in the sunshine instead of the rain!

Some scenes from Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet south of Anchorage--beautiful area!

Near Portage, which had to be relocated after the 1964 earthquake because the land sank so much. The dead trees are a result of the area being flooded with salt water, killing the trees.