| We stayed almost in Kenai
but took a day trip the 80 miles further south to Homer. This is Homer
Sound. The town is down to the left. |  |
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There is a spit out into the sound from the town. It is mostly full of RVs
who are camped there. |
| We drove out along the
spit to the ferry terminal and then back towards the mainland. |  |
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We went for a ranger-guided walk in the wetlands of the estuary and spotted
these sandhill cranes with their fledgling and a territorially possessive
duck. |
| Homer has a small museum
which we visited. This is a research vessel for the US Fish and Wildlife
Service, the 416 ton MV Tiglax. |  |
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This is a highly volcanic region with active volcanoes and frequent
eruptions. This 3km diameter island is being studied since the eruption in
2006. The picture shows how its outline has changed. |
| The Star of Alaska is a
full rigged iron sided ship built in Glasgow in 1886 to carry fish between
Alaska and the lower 48 states. Its original and current name is Balclutha.
The real ship is on display in San Francisco. |  |
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A display of models showing the relative sizes of the different species of
salmon found in Alaskan waters. The five varieties spawn and are therefore
are fished for at different times. |
| A display of crabs some
of which are much larger than I expected. The largest, in the top photo, is
about 18 inches across. |  |
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The museum garden with dozens of varieties of indigenous plants. |
| A homestead house dating
from 1934, complete with outhouse. Accommodation here was still quite
primitive in those days. |  |
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The view inside of the very basic contents of the single room. |
| The bed is on a mezzanine
floor. It must have been very cold in the winter. |  |
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Heading back towards Kenai and looking across north from the peninsula to
the uninhabited mainland. |
| There are active
volcanoes within 50 miles to the north but we couldn't work out exactly
where. |  |
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There are no alternative routes so sometimes the road that you travel is
under construction and can be quite difficult. This was not too bad. A new
and bigger culvert was being installed. |
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