Alaska Summer 2022: Homer

By the time we got to wonderful Homer, I felt we had really hit our slow travel groove. We were enjoying a nice balance of fun adventures and down time. We were exploring classic sites but also the road less traveled (sometimes too less traveled, see below haha). We were enjoying time as a family but also keeping in mind that every day needs an adventure so we can work up both our food related appetites but also our appetites for down time and family time.

After a long but beautiful driving day from near Girdwood down to Homer, we were ready for a break. Fynn had woken up or had blow outs at inopportune times so we had made a couple unscheduled not ideal location stops- 3 actually- so what would have been a 4 hour drive without a newborn became a 6 hour drive. This was okay- I had specifically not scheduled more than 4 hours of planned driving, knowing this can happen- but our nerves were fried from the 10 minutes of bloody murder crying that Fynnie required to fall asleep after each pit stop.

Unfortunately our drive to Homer was a bit more adventuresome than planned and both the GPS and the driving description to our VRBO took us down a crazy bumpy, narrow, unpaved, uphill, curvy gravel road that literally had us driving over a log. We weren't particularly phased because many Alaska roads had been like this. We were also (inappropriately) unphased by the no trespassing signs because they also tend to be posted even on roads that are for public use. But when we passed a couple of burned out old vehicles we began to be concerned and when the scruffy, flanneled Alaskan man ran out at us saying "didn't you see the signs?' we realized our error. Once he realized we were innocent and had little kids in tow, he was EXTREMELY helpful in getting us to back down the crazy bumpy, narrow, unpaved, now downhill, curvy gravel road that emptied onto a two lane highway with a blind curve (it was CRAZY!) but not without regaling us with tales about his Chicago days....while Fynn was screaming bloody murder for the 5th time that day. It was a bit much but Adam handled it like a champ, Zo and I were relatively non plussed and thankfully Ollie was sleeping.

But the house was worth it! So. Worth. It! After 8 (?) days of camping we were very much in need of showers, space to play and internet to plan out the rest of the trip. This is when we started getting more creative and flexible, booking things on the go, and it was so great. So freeing to look at a few blank days/weeks ahead of you and decide what activities make the most sense for how your family is doing at that time, the weather and what you learn while at a destination. I LOVED IT.

11:30 PM Sunset

So while we enjoyed the amazing views of active volcanos from our porch (!!!, members of the ring of fire!!!!) while eating house cooked meals and drinking wine, we relaxed and laughed and really felt like we were on a chill vacation for the first time. Camping is amazing and I LOVE how it forces so much outdoor time which is really amazing, but there is something to be said for some family time without so many camp chores as well:) We loved our 3 days in this house so much, not to mention the lovely 70 degree and sunny weather that we booked an additional house last minute for 3 more nights:)

Sunset

The first full day we took it super slow and easy. We slept and played and nursed on comfortable chairs and relaxed and did a Creatures of the Doc tour with the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies. This was an awesome super cheap and fun family activity where a naturalist takes you around the Homer docks and shows you creatures. All of us really enjoyed learning about the creatures, and Ollie impressed us with his knowledge particularly of kelp (did you know kelp is not a plant or an animal? It's an entirely different kind of creature called a heterokont!). We also visited the Islands and Oceans visitors center which was a nice quick stop. The visitor's centers in Alaska were really fabulous.

KELP!

The next day we had another relatively short adventure to the Eveline State Recreation Area. This was a great alpine meadow hike- the views were classic Alaska with fireweed and other wildflowers in the foreground and glacial mountains and the ocean in the background. There were booklets to borrow at the trailhead that showed all the flowers we could expect to see. It was very fun to identify the flowers as we went- Z got pretty into it. We then discovered the fantastic Homer playground which we visited nearly daily the rest of our Homer time.

The next day was house transition day- from one to another. When you are camping with a trailer, you need to be pretty cognizant of transition days because you can't take your trailer just anywhere. In some instances we book the campsite we are at for an extra day so we can keep exploring until we are ready to transition to our next campground, the equivalent of a hotel late checkout. But with houses that usually isn't possible so we had planned for me and the bigs to bike ride on the Homer Spit as Adam and Fynn sat with the trailer in a parking lot in between check out and check in. The bike ride was really fun. So much to see on the spit. The ocean, the old boats, the docks, wildlife and a fun rock beach at the very end of the spit. I just love seeing places by bike. You cover more ground than walking but you can see much more than you can when whizzing by in a car- the perfect balance.

The end of Homer Spit

Otter

Then after a quick playground visit we headed for the last minute house. And what a house it was!! This house sold me on last minute travel flexibility. We literally booked it the day before and it was this absolute gem of a house right on the Kachemak Bay facing Kachemak Bay State Park and the many glaciers that are in that park. So we had the whole classic fireweed, water, glacier, mountain view from the windows of the house, from the gorgeous deck, and from the HOT TUB! Our kids love water LOVE it. Alaska isn't much for water play because it really doesn't get that warm in the more populated parts of the state. But this hot tub more than made up for the lack of pools and swimming on this trip. Both kids seemed to get what an amazing location this was and we spent as much time as we could relaxing and enjoying the view on the deck and in the hot tub. We have a term we use when we are at a house but really we are spending almost all waking time outside- hamping. It's what we do we visit our beloved Beaver Island for example. Well we hamped away at this amazing last minute house with, sorta ironically, our off road trailer parked in the driveway:)

It felt fleetingly silly to have brought this trailer all the way from IL and use it only 70% of the time. But really, it was perfect. This trip was about outdoor time and exploring nature- the camper allowed us to do that well. But it was also for together time. Admittedly, camping is truly a lot of work, especially with young ones who can't help that much and especially with a newborn because one adult is pretty much occupied with the baby 24/7. So it was really, really nice that we had these 6 nights together in gorgeous houses with amazing views that encouraged us to be outside but that also gave us a little "break" from all the camp chores. I greatly enjoyed my wine and cheese with a view of my baby to one side, two laughing kids in the hot tub to the other and this view in front of me:)

Walking to the trail head

One of the Homer days we did an incredible day hike in Kachemak Bay State Park that I highly recommend. We took a water taxi (we used Mako's Water Taxi, they were great!) to Glacier spit trailhead with the plan to be picked up from the Saddle Trail trailhead roughly 4 hours later (click here for map- we did Glacier Lake Trail to Grewingk Lake then the Saddle Trail) . Well, actually due to the water and tides that day we were dropped off about 0.25 miles down the beach from the trailhead. This definitely added to the adventure since our driver made a big point of showing us the trailhead from afar and being sure we kept a very close eye out for the tiny orange tape that marked the start- people miss it all the time. Given we thought we were cutting the whole thing pretty close already - not knowing how fast our 4 year old's legs would carry us over the 5-6 miles of the hike and wanting to stop to enjoy the glacier- you better believe we didn't want to add any more distance than needed. That said, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this hike in particular and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND time pressure on hikes. The kids got it- they understood there was no turning back, that the boat was picking us up elsewhere and that we really had to keep moving. In parenting, it is very helpful when a third party is to "blame" for any negativity. "I'm sorry kids, what can we do, if we turn back there will be no one to pick us up". Hard to argue with that. And the whole being dropped off by a boat in a wilderness area really adds to the adventure feel. We certainly weren't alone- we came across 2 or 3 other hiking parties on the trail (another with a baby!) and maybe 5 or so more at the glacier but in this type of setting it feels welcome to see other people- it's otherwise just so remote.

Elephant iceberg

Back to the hike. So the first couple miles were in forest, then it opened up to more to the dry less vegetated outwash plain of the Glacier. The glacier and the glacier lake were really cool to see. While we had hiked ON a glacier already this trip (Matanuska Glacier), we hadn't seen proper icebergs and here they were visible in full force and we even saw/head a calving of an iceberg into a smaller iceberg (okay so calving is actually when the iceberg forms from the glacier itself, but you know what I mean). The return trip was back through the outwash plain then the foliage changed dramatically into lush, wet green, with scenes of the blue water of Kachemak bay- very reminiscent of New Zealand and got me really jazzed about the idea of taking the kids there on a big adventure soon (which we've now done since I first wrote this copy months ago!!) We made it the the Saddle Trailhead pick up with plenty of time and waited on the rocks for our ride home. What a wonderful, wonderful Alaska adventure day:)