Dave & Julie's Alaska Adventure

davebennington · Jul 21, 2011

7-20-2011 Wednesday

We are now in Homer, Ak. The campground is Ocean view RV Park, nice place not too far from downtown Homer. Full hookups cable and a good WIFI, the sites are a little tight. We will be here for 7 days, they have a deal if you pay for 6 days they will include 1 more day for the same money.

It is beautiful here, I could live here (Jim do you need a Regional Director for Alaska?).

We took a few pictures on the way here and once we got parked Julie snapped off a few shots to show you the sights from the trailer.

Dave

porthole · Jul 21, 2011

davebennington said:
It is beautiful here, I could live here (Jim do you need a Regional Director for Alaska?).

Isn't one of the problems with Homer Alaska is that in January - it is Alaska

boatto5er · Jul 21, 2011

porthole said:
Isn't one of the problems with Homer Alaska is that in January - it is Alaska

Good point Duane!

floridarandy · Jul 21, 2011

Dave -

The Bay Realty property looks like a great site for a seasonal campground. We could develop it as a land condo and sell sites to fellow members here! Did you call and get the particulars. If not I will and let you know.

Randy

davebennington said:
7-20-2011 Wednesday

We are now in Homer, Ak. The campground is Ocean view RV Park, nice place not too far from downtown Homer. Full hookups cable and a good WIFI, the sites are a little tight. We will be here for 7 days, they have a deal if you pay for 6 days they will include 1 more day for the same money.

It is beautiful here, I could live here (Jim do you need a Regional Director for Alaska?).

We took a few pictures on the way here and once we got parked Julie snapped off a few shots to show you the sights from the trailer.

Dave

clubmgr · Jul 21, 2011

porthole said:
Isn't one of the problems with Homer Alaska is that in January - it is Alaska

Homer in January: sunrise - 10:05: sunset - 4:15: 5 hours and 59 minutes of sun: avg high - 28: avg low - 16: (it gets better from this): 2.23" of precipitation: northern lights: ballet: recital series (Dec-Apr): foreign film Fridays: movie theatre w/1st run movies: Winter carnival: snowmobiling (tell me you only ride your bike in warm, sunshiny weather and I won't believe it): stock car racing on a frozen lake: ice skating (indoor rink): downhill and X-country skiing: snowshoeing: eagle watching:trolling for "feeder king" salmon. OBTW free city wide excellent WiFi. and don't forget fantastic views of snow capped volcanoes across Cook's Inlet.

Compare this to Bracey, VA in January and there's a whole lot more happening in Homer and I wouldn't have to drive 14 miles to get to the grocery store

davebennington · Jul 22, 2011

7-21-2011 Thursday

We rode arounf the city of Homer today and took a few pictures; several are from the hill side overlooking Homer.

I tried to get a charter for fishing to day but everything was book for several days. We will try again sometime after Sunday.

Tomorrow we are going to try to get a charter to Katmai, to see the bears. This event is very high on our list of things to do. If all works out we should have some great pictures.

Dave

brianharrison · Jul 22, 2011

The satellite dish on the side of the red barn like building (on piles) looks like it is pointed at the ground, or maybe stealling signal from the neighbor? You sure are way up there, what is the satellite elevation angle? 2?

Thanks for the pictures and sharing your adventure.

Take care,
Brian

davebennington · Jul 22, 2011

Brian,

You are correct the elevation angle is very low up here. I cannot use my dish because it is too small.

People are trying to get the dish as high as possible, so I see dishes on tall poles and roof tops.

Dave

Nabo · Jul 22, 2011

Dave - a couple of questions.
1. One of the pics taken from the hillside looks like there is a community on the pennisula? Is that Homer or Homer the community at the bottom of the hill?
2. I know you had a geni installed before ya'll headed up. Have you had to use it any or at all?
B--

davebennington · Jul 22, 2011

Nabo,

The "community" if you will is little stores some are nothing more than shacks built to sell stuff to the tourist, this area is called "the Spit". When a cruise ship comes in to port they get really busy. There are a lot of fishing charters located here and they fill up fast. The view from the top of the hill is just great, there are a few houses up there and the prices are not that bad, compared to other places we have been.
Homer is the community is at the bottom of the hill, The "spit" is more of a fishing village full of shops, the cruise ships and ferry boats, and barges are all located here. You can camp out on the Spit in both dry camping sites and RV parks. OH by the way I do not know why they call it the Spit, I will have to ask.

I have a generator in the bed of the truck I have not used it yet. I only got it in the off chance we had to dry camp or had to power the air compressor or to change a tire quickly.

Dave

Karen/Gary Buxton · Jul 24, 2011

We are also pulling a Landmark around Alaska. Currently in Valdez. We stayed in that park a couple of weeks ago. Try a meal at the Sourdough Express in Homer....you won't regret it. Right now the reds are hot on the Kenai if you like to fish. Try digging clams in Ninilchik if you hit a negative tide. We left Soldotna a couple of days ago. Left Colorado on May 22. To see where we have been you can check buxtonsbyways.blogspot.com I think we have been many of the same places

davebennington · Jul 24, 2011

Gary & Karen,

It would appear that we have been in many of the same places. We did go to the Sourdough cafe for dinner last night it was good. Did you know that the cafe is for sale

I went halibut fishing today, caught the limit and back before 12 noon. we are going to Hallo Bay, Katmai National Park tomorrow to see the bears.

Then we are going back to Anchorage for a couple of days before going on to Valdez.

Dave

floridarandy · Jul 24, 2011

Here's the particulars. Nice piece of property.

floridarandy said:
Dave -

The Bay Realty property looks like a great site for a seasonal campground. We could develop it as a land condo and sell sites to fellow members here! Did you call and get the particulars. If not I will and let you know.

Randy

davebennington · Jul 24, 2011

Randy,

That sounds great when are you going to make an offer?

Does this mean that a campgound ownership is in your future?

Dave

Karen/Gary Buxton · Jul 25, 2011

On your way back, you should fish the Kenai if you have your own gear along. The fish are running 8-9 pounds. The reds should be quite a ways up stream from Soldotna by now ( still good fishing in town)...... Watch the road between Palmer and Valdez. It gets pretty bouncy in places. It is not marked and the bumps sneak up on you. The worst part is the first 80 miles south of Glenallen. Go slow. We are leaving Valdez Tuesday morning for Haines. I am not looking forward to the stretch of road between the border and Burwell.

Gary

davebennington · Jul 25, 2011

Gary,

Thanks for the update. I have fishing gear and will give it a try. We have had good fishing so far I wanted to try some fly fishing before we left.

Dave

davebennington · Jul 25, 2011

7-25-2011 Monday

Bears, Bears, Bears everywhere we went to Katmai National Park today to see bears, and did we ever see bears. Up close and in real life, would you believe as close as 50 feet, the bears are huge they are different colors sometime just like people have different color hair or eyes. There were bear tracks everywhere big ones and little cub tracks also, along with wolf tracks too.

This had to be one of the true highlights of our trip, we took a ton of pictures I will post some of the best shots that we have from the digital camera. There is and other ton and a half on film.

I put in a couple pictures of the surrounding area that the bears live in and a few from the plane. It takes about 1 hour to fly from Homer to the park in the little puddle jumper.

Dave

boatto5er · Jul 26, 2011

Lions, and tigers, and BEARS, oh my! Great pics Dave.

Freckles · Jul 26, 2011

Seeing over 7000 hits on this post , I'm not the only one following your post !!!! Keep the photos coming !!!

davebennington · Jul 26, 2011

Thanks to all of you who have and are following the posts, we are having a great time and we are happy to share this great adventure.

When we landed at Katmai there were bears on the beach digging for clams, what an amazing place.

When walking through the area you had to keep scanning around because the bears lay in the tall grass and nap during the day, the last thing you want to do is wake up a big bear and make him angry.

Dave

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