"The ourside of a mountain is good for the inside of a man." (George Wherry)

When you travel weeks just to get to the border of Alaska and then you still have days to get to Anchorage, it is hard to imagine that you are barely there. Most of Alaska isn’t accessible by road and there are long distances from point A to point B. It is no wonder that airplanes are everywhere.

We drove the 226 miles from Anchorage to Homer Saturday on the Seward and then the Sterling Highways. The Kenai Peninsula, with the Homer Spit at the very end, is south of Anchorage with Cook Inlet to the west and the Aleutian Range to the southwest. From our campground we can look across the inlet to Mt.Iliamma, Mt Redoubt, and Mt. St. Augustine. All are over 10,000 feet and all are active volcanoes. Redoubt blew last in 2009. Across Kachemak Bay, we see the glaciers and endless succession of peaks of the Cugachs.

We are on the shores of Bishops Beach and due to the Solstice have had “minus” low tides. These are  tides that are far below normal and they expose miles of mud flats, tidal pools and rocks and allow access to bluffs and “heads”. Butch and I took advantage of this yesterday and walked four miles (roundtrip) out to Big Bluff to search a coal seam for fossils. We only found one micro amber and he gave it to a little boy. With more time and effort I think this could be a rich load for tiny fossils.

On Sunday I went to St. Augustine Episcopal Church which is within walking distance of our CG. It is a contemporary building with three huge windows behind the altar that look out onto Cook Inlet and the volcanoes. What with the magnificent view and the sea planes swooping by, I don’t see how anyone concentrates on the sermon. There were 12 of us, the Usual Episcopalians, and we recognized each other immediately. I felt right at home.

Last night we joined another couple from the CG and took the Kachemak Ferry (the Danny J) across the Bay to Halibut Cove. This is an amazing village built on stilts along the cliffs of Islamof Island and the surrounding mainland cove. All transportation is by the 12 blocks of boardwalk and by water or sea plane. Dinner was at the Saltry. We sat outdoors on the boardwalk by an open fireplace. Since there were only 10 of us on the boat and several of us were from the CG, it was like a private party.  This was indeed, a Peak Evening.

We “did” museums, galleries, and the wonderful Ocean Visitor’s Center today.  I think we may leave in the morning and plan to spend a day or two at Soldotna and Kenai before going on to Seward for the weekend. Or maybe not! It is unbelievable how little a schedule matters to us. We just sort of wander around, marveling at the magnificence.