Alaska – Homer- Day 5

Moon over Kachemak Bay - taken from our RV

July 2 Tuesday We all love Homer so much we decided to stay one more day. Nothing big planned, just wanted to check out a few things we hadn't seen yet. One of these was the Island & Ocean Visitor Center. In addition to a great display of native artifacts they also offered two very interesting films. One documented a research ship which spends the summers tagging, identifying and studying the bird population which is so prominent in the Kachemak Bay area. The second film focused on the abundant sea life and the tides of the bay. We also met a park ranger in the gift shop of the museum whose first name was Ithaca! 

Island & Ocean Visitor Center

Seal intestine raincoat

Hand carved wooden duck

We also visited the Pratt Museum and although it looked small from the outside, it was quite an amazing museum. I think we almost spent 2 hours there! There was an interactive area which gave a very different perspective of life on the islands. A couple of things that stood out to me, was an old style phone that you picked up to hear a woman's view of life in the 1930's in the Kachemak Bay area...life was not easy! Then there was a documentary film of a family that came to the area in the early 1940s to homestead and raise a family of eight. The film was narrated by the children of the family and contained many photos and some actual film footage of the family in their growing years. It was fascinating and I had to buy the DVD. There was also an aquarium area, art gallery and animal display there.

We had lunch at Captain Pattie's which was a nice restaurant on the spit where we had dinner one evening. After lunch, Gary took Reid practice driving on some of the roads on the bay and Gage & I toured the gift shops on the spit.

Driving onto the spit

Some campers on the spit

Captain Pattie's - restaurant on the Homer Spit