Our first morning in Homer we grabbed some coffee and muffins and took Hank to the beach. It was a beautiful sunny morning, fresh after the previous night's rain. The tide was low so Hank had hundreds of yards to run all over the beach while we could saunter along and not worry that he might get kicked by a moose. We have heard how drastic the tides here change and it was very interesting to see that the water had clearly been at least 500ft up the beach and there were small rivers rushing out to the bay from where it had puddled.
(Imagine Grant walking on beach with paper coffee cup (which was made in Homer for Captain Coffee), Hank sprinting full speed in circles, and large, snowcapped peaks behind the soft glow of the morning sun glistening off the water)
It rained some in the afternoon so we used the opportunity to unpack the kitchen and attempt to find spots for everything in 2 cabinets, 1 rolling kitchen island, and 0 drawers. At least when you all come to visit you won't have to search long to find silverware.
Monday morning was still a little rainy so we did errands in town and by the afternoon it was beautiful and sunny. There is a hiking trail about 1/4 mile down the road from our house we decided to explore. Parts were very nice hiking trails and parts required you to find the trampled grasses while bush-wacking through 6-foot high plants. Coming from dry open Colorado and knowing there is even a slight possibility for a very large mammal to be lurking in the bushes was very unsettling and I was glad we had the bear spray with us, even if locals might laugh at us. The trail wound down a hillside covered in thick green bushes and magenta fireweed and had some incredible views of the bay and mountains. We could even see the volcanoes across the Cook Inlet to the west, which I didn't see at all when I visited in July. Grant put it well when he said that if someone dropped him out of a plane here, he would have no idea where he was and may even think he was somewhere closer to Costa Rica on a cold day.
(Imagine lime green bushes 4-6' high, hot pink cone flowers and a snow-covered volcano in the background with the sun shining on the bay)
I know I keep emphasizing the sun is shining in the "pictures". This is because I was expecting it to be cloudy all the time. While I know this still will probably happen and it is never cloud-free, just partly cloudy, it is a nice surprise nonetheless. Also, after listening to some weather reports on the radio, the amount of clouds is pretty much all they report on since the temperature stays the same. The weather report on the radio sounds like this: "Town A is partly cloudy this afternoon, partly cloudy tonight. Town B is partly cloudy this afternoon, partly cloudy tonight. Town C is partly cloudy this afternoon, mostly cloudy tonight (poor Town C). Town D is somewhat cloudy this afternoon becoming partly cloudy tonight." We will need to learn the differences between slightly, somewhat, partly, and mostly cloudy. The good news is the temperature is always comfortable for jeans, a t-shirt and jacket (and for Grant shorts and t-shirt). Can't complain much about that as we're still trying to un-bake from our abnormally hot summer in CO without AC.
We've also become official Alaska residents according to the DMV and Big White has some shiny new yellow plates from the Last Frontier.
(Picture of Big White the 2002 Chevy Silverado with yellow Alaska plates)
Work starts tomorrow for Katie so off to do a little more sight-seeing!
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| The melding of our two homes. Koozies compliments of Ryan & Brianne Stromquist |
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