7/14/2009 Is This HEAVEN?

Moving day again today. Our time in Kasilof has come to an end and its time to move on. We're going about 40 miles or so down the road to stay with Quail Run friends Dan & Lin at their place in Anchor Point. Darlene, also from Quail Run is there visiting.

On the way we passed Mt. Redoubt but it wasn't very visible this tme because of clouds.

This active volcano rises from the water like a sentinel guarding the great and varied resources of Lake Clark National Park. Having been inhabited since prehistoric times, the area remains sparsely populated and aircraft provides the means of access. Does this mean the few people who live here fly to work everyday?

We found Dan and Lin's place with no problem. They have full hook ups on their property, hereafter known as the Hackney's Homestead, or if I get tired of typing that......HH.

They bought this place last year, 3.5 acres with an A-frame house on the property, a shed, and a dome. Yes, a dome. A very large dome.

The dome even has an apartment in it, though I haven't seen it yet.

Their plans for this property include remodeling the A-frame into a guest house, building a house for them, removing the dome and landscaping.

As I said, there is an A-frame house and of course their motorhome which they are staying in while doing work to the property. Darlene is staying in the house.

This is the view off the porch in the back yard,

There is a river that runs through the property and it has SALMON in it!

Dan had already had a afternoon fishing trip planned so we sat around a day time fire catching up with our friends lives since we saw them last in the spring.

By later afternoon is was determined that Bob and I had to go into the town of Homer, 20 miles away, for a beer/Pepsi run so we took off for that and a short auto tour of Homer.

We came around a curve and goose bumps started on my arms so bad that they hurt. Bob and I could not believe what we were seeing. Is this heaven, we wondered out loud.

You've all heard the term "God's country". Unless, you've been to Homer, Alaska, trust me, you haven't seen it yet.

Look just above the tree line in the left third of the picture below, that is the Homer Spit.

Homer is known as the Halibut capital of the world and have a sign proclaiming that distinction.

The white strip in the picture below running from left to right is a bank of clouds.

A "Going Down the Road" picture.

Surely, this must be heaven.

With every hundred feet further down the road we drive, it just gets better and better.

Here we are driving out onto the Spit.

Take note of the RV's parked on the right hand side. Its "dry" camping, but if we fill our tanks with water, make sure we have gas for the generator and we're careful, we can spend several days out here enjoying this. They charge $15.00 a night and I truly believe it will be fifteen bucks well spent!

Have you ever........

The whole time we're driving the road Bob and I are just in total awe! This scenery is truly magnificent! Breathtaking! Incredible! You know, there just aren't words for this.

We pulled over into another campground to check it out and we it at just the right time because it was fish cleaning time.

Actually, the seagulls gave it away.

These guys had a great day fishing!

A good sized halibut.

Its not hard to feel like you are in the remake of the Hitchcock movie "The Birds" when it is fish cleaning time.

This lagoon in the forefront is supposed to provide some excellent fishing when the tide is in. Bob hopes to find out!

We finally tore ourselves away from the Spit and all it has to offer for further exploring at another time. We were on a beer/Pepsi run after all.

We went to the local Safeway, stocked up on our liquid refreshments, bought the fixin's for a salad for dinner and picked up a few other odds and ends.

When we returned to Hackney's Homestead, we got a fire going again and sat around talking. Dan had gone on a pre-planned golf outing and we waited for his return to eat dinner.

We were having salmon, (I was having a steak) potatoes, broccoli/cheese mix and a salad. Apple pie for desert. We figured we would eat around eight. That was the PLAN.

I wondered around the property taking some pictures. Nobody knows what these are, but sure are pretty! Anyone have a clue?

The shed.

Not quite sure what this started out to be, but Lin made into her garden.

Some random shots....

Dan returned, we sat around the fire and talked some more and decided it really was time to eat, after all it was now 9:30! Since it was still broad daylight, it seemed perfectly fine to be grilling steaks and seafood at this time of day...er...night. At just before ten we finally sat to eat. It was midnight before the fire burned out and we all returned to our places to sleep. Of course we were still wide awake and were up until 2, Bob watching a movie, me doing the Facebook thing and reading. We can't keep these hours like this!

So to answer our question of earlier today, "is this heaven?" we have our answer. If it isn't, its the next best thing.