Thursday June 20.
We arrived in Homer at the Land's End Resort around 5pm - we checked into our condo which exceeded all expectations - it was 2 stories with master bedroom on the top floor and lounge / dining / open kitchen on the first floor (ground floor was a lock off studio which was not occupied). It has 2 full bathrooms and a laundry. We have marvellous views over Kachemak Bay and the snow capped mountains of Kenai Range . We dropped our bags and had a pre-dinner drink before showering and unpacking then we had dinner in the resort dining room. Dieter had fresh halibut as Homer is the Halibut fishing capital of the world - perhaps the universe from the looks of things - the first question any stranger asks you is "caught any fish yet?".
Friday June 21.
Ah another wonderful sunny and warm (60'sF) day - we had bacon and eggs, which were left over from our stay at Orca Cabins for brekkie, then went to the local Safeway supermarket to stock up on groceries and grog. Back home we had berries and yoghurt for lunch then headed out on a 2.5 hour boat tour to Gull Island and some of the surrounding inlets. Gull Island is aptly named it was swarming with literally thousands of Kittywakes, common Murrens, puffins (several tufted and one rare flying horned puffin), cormorants and many others. In the inlets we saw many sea otters up very close and around 60-Foot Rock we saw a large raft of sea otters, many with their youngsters floating on their mothers tummy. We had dinner at home - spatchcock, potatoes and veggies.
Saturday June 22.
Yet another sunny day - high 50'sF. We had given up on try to get a stand-by rate on a fly-in bear viewing trip so booked a half-day trip for the afternoon. The trip was excellent - lots of bears but not quite as close as we had hoped for. There was another couple on the trip with us - from Germany and Holland. The day before our pilot (ex Miami Cop) had to overnight on the beach where we landed as his float plane got stuck on a falling tide - fortunately a friend of his was able to fly in with a wheel plane, land on the beach and collect the passengers. Since we only got back to our condo at 8pm we had dinner at the resort restaurant - fresh Cooper River salmon - delicious.
Sunday June 23.
As predicted it was a cool and dreary day - rain threatening at all times. We took the 45 minute ferry ride to Seldovia, a seaside town across the bay. It has no road access. On arrival we checked out the very picturesque town then had lunch at the only restaurant, the Tide Pool Cafe. We then did an 1.5 hour walk before having afternoon tea and heading back to Homer on the 4:30pm ferry. The ferry, a jet cat, is amazing - only 2 years old and still looking like new, it only makes the return Homer-Seldovia trip twice per day and only 5 days a week.
We arrived back at the condo and had dinner at home.
Monday June 24.
Last day !! it was off to Anchorage in cold and rainy conditions. We stopped at Girdwood ski resort, 50 minutes from Anchorage, for lunch at the very nice Alyesha Resort but opted not to take the tramway to the top due to the inclement weather. We arrived at the Sheraton Anchorage around 3pm - then went for a walk around Anchorage. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the most famous Brewhouse for fives'es - the place was booming - there was already a 45 minutes wait for tables. Fortunately we could sit in the bar area. For dinner we went to Sacks Cafe (as recommended on TA) and had a very nice dinner but we weren't too impressed with the very cramped tables.
Tuesday June 25
We spent the morning walking around the city and visiting the art gallery where they were showing an excellent film the the Aurora Borealis. We then caught our afternoon flight to Vancouver arriving at our hotel, the Club Intrawest at the Sheraton Wall Center just in time for a late dinner at one of our favourites, Joe Fortes.
Wednesday June 26
We hired a car and drove to the Capilano suspension bridge and park which was really nice but I felt the $35 entrance fee was a bit high. From there we drove to Grouse mountain where we took the gondola to the top, had lunch and did a walk. Then it was back to our hotel - we stopped and walked around the waterfront and had a early light meal. Then it was showers and packing and off to the airport for our midnight flight back to OZ.