Homer, Alaska

Homer is a small community at the end of Kachemak Bay, Alaska, surrounded by mountains, glaciers and volcanoes. Bald eagles fly and fish there by hundreds. Many of the locals are artists of several arts - painting, pottery, sculpture, music and more. There are fine galleries, a museum and several nature centers.

City of Homer

http://www.ci.homer.ak.us/

Homer data:

• Longitude 151° 25' W• Latitude 59° 36' N

• population 5 400

Whether you come by land…

By air…

Or by water…

Getting to Homer is an odyssey ! All routes cross a region of natural wonders:

Kachemak bay

Grewingk Glacier is a 13-mile-long (21 km) glacier located in the Chugach Mountains, near Kachemak Bay, 24 km east-southeast of Homer.

Mt. Augustine volcano above Kachemak Bay .Augustine is an active volcano. Each huge landslide coming off its flanks raises a tsunami upon reaching the sea, and these great waves may raise well higher than the surrounding coastal settlements.

The 1 260 m high volcano has created its own island of past eruptions’ debris. Images are from 2006 eruption.

Homer : mountains, glaciers, dense evergreen forests, the 4½ mile long sand spit, and a thriving community.

The Homer spit with the Kachemak Bay and snowy peaks.

The Homer Spit is the exposed part of an underwater moraine from an extinct tidewater glacier.

Homer town still displays some beautiful buildings and cabins, mainly shops, cafés and hotels along Pioneer Avenue.

But new buildings also house some of the best attractions in town.

The old post office

and the new one.

Kbbi, Homer radio station “Where the Sound Meets The Sea”

Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge This 37,000-square-foot facility offers trails, state-of-the-art exhibits, a refuge film, daily naturalist programs in summer, and a discovery lab.

Alaska Islands & Ocean Visitor Centerhttp://www.islandsandocean.org/

The Homer Maritime Refuge Museum visitor's center is really impressive. The building is an architectural jewel and the displays are beautiful and innovative.

Seal skin kayak on display at the Ocean & Islands Visitor Center

Includes outdoor botanic garden, Harrington historic cabin…•http://www.prattmuseum.org/

The Pratt Museum shows the Kachemak Bay wildlife and a marine gallery, alaskan art, native peoples culture displays.

Outside the Museum is the Harrington Homestead Cabin. It tells many stories about the hard-working people who homesteaded the Kachemak Bay area: hand tools, daily diaries, crochet work and kitchen supplies, the history of a self-reliant era.

Orthodox mission church in Homer

Homer theatre

http://www.homertheatre.com/

Theater, movies, shows

Bunnell Street Arts Center

Bunnell Street Arts Center exhibiting center for innovative contemporary Alaskan artwork, lectures, discussions and concerts.

Homer Public Library

Opened the doors at September 16, 2006

“All through the house”, shop on Pioneer Avenue

Landmark bar and party room

Alice's Champagne Palace

Historic Hotel in the heart of downtown Homer, Pioneer Avenue

Duncan House Diner

Homely local restraunt, filled with antiques

Beluga lake

A 1968 Helio H-295 in Homer. This aircraft is typically seen at the west end of Beluga Lake along Lake Drive.

Kachemack Bay Air ServiceBeluga Lake

This Travel Air 6000 has been working continuously since 1929. It's based in Homer.

Floatplane Lodge, B&B by the water at Beluga lake.

Beluga Lake drive

Café Cups

Café Cups, on Pioneer Avenue

Coulored mosaics and large cups reminiscent of the “Alice in Wonderland”

Cafe cups is a charming, eclectic restaurant in Homer

Serves creative sandwiches and wonderful desserts

The Homer bookstorewith expresso

Also in Pioneer avenue.

Expresso to go ?!

The Sweet Berries CaféIn the heart of Homer, in one of its oldest buildings

The Tsunami café

The Homer Spit sits about 19 feet above sea level, making it susceptible to storm surge. Tsunamis are also a known threat. An explosion from the nearby Augustine Volcano could bring a giant wave to the Spit within minutes, giving residents very little time to react. 

Accounts of the 1883 eruption of the volcano describe 6- to 9-meter-high waves that struck the coastline.

The Mermaid Café A charming Victorian style construction - features local artwork.

Since 1946

Handmade wild berry jams and jellies, smoked salmon, ulu knives, souvenirs, gifts, and gift baskets from Alaska.

The Driftwood inn

Historic Inn located next to the beach, in the area of downtown Homer.

The Homer LighthouseIt never worked, and is now part of cabin tourist complex.It’s located at the beginning of the Homer Spit.

At low tide

The Homer Spit is a piece of land that juts out 5 miles into Kachemak Bay. Numerous businesses are located on the spit, that plays an important part in Homer's economy. The Boat Harbour is located on The Spit.

In the 1960s, several hippies, known as "spit rats“, traveled from all around to camp on the Homer Spit, many of them becoming successful commercial fisherman over time.

The Spit features the longest road into ocean waters in the entire world, taking up 10 to 15 minutes to cover by car.

Shopping Map

Homer Harbour

Low tide, at the dock on the Spit, to off-load fish.

116 pound halibut, the main source of income

Homer restaurants specialised in halibut gourmand cooking…

The harbour contains both deep and shallow water docks and serves up to 1500 commercial and pleasure boats at its summer peak. The Time Bandit from the Aleutian islands is a frequent visitor.

Live theater on the Homer spit.

Pier One is located on the Spit, and it is a community effort that guarantees fun and a variety of entertainment from dramatic plays to musicals.

•http://pieronetheatre.art.officelive.com/default.aspx

Pier One theater

To the famous Homer Spit Boardwalk

Cute storefronts along the Homer Spit.

The Boardwalk bakery

Jimmy, ivory carver

a Homer ivory carver working to keep Aleut’s art alive

To keep your north

Coal point trading, seafood

Alaskan seafood: The halibut, mild tasting fish, or the wilder taste of salmon.

The Roadhouse

Jewelry, gifts, souvenirs

Cool looking building…

Shops align along the boardwalk

Homer Clayworks

The Spirit of Alaska

Native crafts in a museum where the displays are for sale.

Fish and Chips anywhere

Lazerette, gifts

The new Time Bandit gift shop.

The Spit Sisters Cafe serves locally roasted coffee and espresso

Fresh seafood, fish and chips with a view…

Lazy M, leather

Still on the boardwalk

Flowerpots

A local decoration syle

Gold Mine Gifts Huge gift shop, with snow covered roof.•http://www.alaska.net/~homergm/

Wild Alaskan Berry jams, jellies, honeys, and syrups

The infamousSalty Dawg saloon

The Salty Dawg was of the first cabins built in 1897, soon after Homer became a town.

The distinctive lighthouse tower was added to cover a water storage tank, thus completing one of Homer's more historical and recognizable landmarks.

The cabin first served as the post office, a railroad station, a grocery store, then a coal mining office for twenty years.

http://www.saltydawgsaloon.com/index.html

The Seafarer's Memorial

Land’s End ResortHomer's only seafront hotel with panoramic views of Kachemak Bay, the Kenai Mountains and it's glaciers

Room witha view

The Spit at dusk

Homer’s Wooden Boat Show

Each year in early May the citizens of Homer put on a wooden boat show, known officially as the Kachemak Bay Wooden Boat Festival.

Some Native crafts

Ulu knife

Puffin brooch

Homer in winter

The orthodox church

Around Homer

The Roundhouse of Homer is nestled in a quiet neighborhood across the road from one of the best walking beaches on Kachemak Bay. A cabin for tourist lodging.

9 miles north of Homer, a must-see pottery

The Russian villages:

Nicolaevsk and Ninilchik

Samovar café and gift shop, Nicolaevsk,

25 miles from Homer

Service is unbelievable!

And dessert…

The Transfiguration of Our Lord russian Orthodox Church, Ninilchik

Landscapes, flora and fauna

Lupine and Kachemak Bay

Rriding a wave during a cold winter surf. The snowy Kenai mountain range rises from Kachemak Bay,

Homer beachSit and watch the eagles fight over their salmon catch

Alaska Marine Ferry Tustumena.

Sources:

Photos and text excerpts from

• http://www.trekearth.com• http://www.panoramio.com/• http://www.pbase.com• http://www.flickr.com/• http://picasaweb.google.com• http://www.woophy.com/photo• http://www.alaskarvtrips.com/homer-alaska.html

© Mario Ricca, 2009