We awoke early to get a start for Homer, Alaska down the Seward Highway. To start things off on the wrong foot Marriott got the billing on the rooms messed up, tried to charge us a fee for using Rewards points. After getting them to correct it and finishing breakfast, it got worse. Seems a guest had a Chow/Sheppard mix in the hotel and as I was going out the door to move the car it decided to take a couple of bites on my leg. Debbie being the brave soul she is, almost ran through the locked room door to get away, you might say she threw me to the dog. After receiving no sympathy from my traveling partners we finally get on the road to Homer. The views along the drive on the Sterling Highway are fantastic; we all remark that this is what we expected to see in Alaska, tall snow covered peaks and clear lake and inlets. We arrive at the Lands End Resort only to find our rooms are very small to say the least. The bed is a wooden box with a 2” thick mattress on it, very hard. No curtains were over the windows, only blinds with slats bent, doesn’t make for a good night sleep when the sun doesn’t set. Being the Road People we are we decided to tough it out. Homer is a coastal fishing village 275 miles south of Anchorage. It has a true Alaskan feeling to it, with all the fishing activities, camping along the beach on the Homer Spit, and seafood everywhere. We watch the fisherman at the “Fishing Hole”, a small man made pond with an inlet to the bay that funnels fish in. The spring King Salmon run in full swing and the banks are loaded with people filling their limits. We learn that the average King caught at the hole is around 30 pounds and that several thousand are caught during the run. I did get to see some of the crab fleet off the "Deadliest Catch", I was impressed. We ate dinner at the Chart House, great seafood and the signature dish was bake Halibut incrusted with crab, a great choice. During dinner we watched a bald eagle pair building a nest about 50 yards away. The eagles are numerous here, waiting for the salmon runs. We saw some catches of Halibut where the fish were 100 + pounds. We are all enjoying the town and people, very rustic but very nice. We returned to our rooms and we all start laughing at the situation, I kept telling Debbie to turn off the light, because of the sun shining in the window all night. Janice said you had to back in the bathroom because you couldn’t turn around when you get in there. Oh well, it’s about time a place had less that an A rating. Time to go for now, more later.
Total Miles To Date: 6498
Residence Inn Anchorage - B
Dog at Residence Inn - H (Hungry)
Lands End Resort - D
Duncan House Cafe - A++
Chart House - A
