Homer June 2011

Matthew and I love Alaska in the summertime! It is absolutely beautiful ! and we love to explore all it has to offer. This summer we decided to go to Homer and do some Halibut fishing. We had a wonderful time. Our only regret was that we couldn't stay longer. It is a long drive from Fairbanks to Homer (10-12 hours depending on who's driving) so we broke up the drive on the way down so we could attend the temple in anchorage. I'm so glad we did. We love going to the temple and look forward to the day when we live closer to a temple so we can go more frequently. It was definitely a highlight of the trip. we drove from Anchorage to  Homer in one day and we took our time to stop in places we haven't before and just enjoy the beauty that is Alaska. The next day we did our halibut charter, and then drove all the way from Ninilchik to Fairbanks in one day. About 10 hours on the road, it was a long day. We really enjoyed our little vacation, and we now have a new favorite place to visit. :) We did  We ( I ) took lots of pictures during the trip, enjoy some of the favorites! 

So this is a recreational site in the Chugach State Park. The State Park and Forest is gigantic, this is just one stop. It has a really beautiful view of Turnagain Arm, and lovely stream. There is also a nice picnic area, and some hiking trails. We look forward to going here again the next time we go to Anchorage. 

These here are at a pull out just past Hope Junction, on our way to Hope. Matt is being silly as always. ; )

You may notice that there are some pictures that I simply took while we were driving out of the windshield. If we stopped every time I wanted a picture we never would have made it down there. 

So Hope is a tiny fishing town. and the whole town seemed a little sketchy to me. All the buildings there looked like they were about to fall down. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. 

This is the "gas station" if you want to call it that. Matt and I both just laughed when we saw it. 

These pics are at Clam Gulch. It was cloudy out and my camera is not that great, so sorry they're not that great. :(

Some Pics as we came into Homer

Some more pics of the view at Homer. I really wish I had a better camera, these don't do it justice. It's ridiculously beautiful!

We drove down the spit and there was a sea otter about 3 feet from the shore. He just sat there putting on a show for the dozen or so people that were watching him. A part of me wanted to take two steps and pet him, but somehow I didn't see that ending well. haha!

We went for a walk along the shore and I couldn't resist taking off my shoes and wading into the bay. I thought about going for a swim, but not only was the water freezing cold, it was chilly outside as well. 

More pics. 

We went on a Halibut charter in Ninilchik, which is about an hour from  Homer. We only wished we had caught one the size of that plastic one! It was a really fun time. I've never been fishing in the ocean and it was a really fun experience. we went to a spot where by the time we got our line down (which took like 1 min. the water was about 200 ft deep) we had a bite within about 15 seconds, and then it took me like 3 min to reel the thing up! the limit for halibut is 2 per day per person. So a lot of halibut got lucky, if we were able to keep what we wanted we would have brought home the 20+ halibut! Everyone on the boat caught there limit. It was a really wonderful day!

we saw this motorcycle with the buggy attached and Matt got a huge smile on his face and asked if we could start traveling in of these. I laughed and said NO WAY! 20 hours sitting in a car isn't fun and I don't think riding it that for 20 hours would be any fun either.