Summer season Trip in Homer, Alaska

I don’t even know the place to BEGIN in recapping our epic summer time trip in Homer, Alaska! It was memorable in so some ways.

First, let me handle the query I get requested most…”Why Alaska?” For a similar motive Ryan and I just about journey wherever…for a fish 😂.  Homer, Alaska is the Halibut capital of the world and Ryan has all the time talked about going. Once we began to plan it, we requested our pals Jordan and Kristen in the event that they needed to hitch and to our shock, they stated sure!

So we booked our flights from Norfolk, VA to Anchorage, AK, rented a automobile with Turo, discovered the most superb Airbnb, and made an itinerary!

The start of our Summer season Trip in Homer, Alaska…

Let me begin out by saying, the treck to House is NOT for the faint of coronary heart lol. We arrived in Anchorage round 8 pm their time which was 12 pm our time and THEN we had a FOUR HOUR drive forward of us to our Airbnb. Fortuitously, it solely will get darkish there for a number of hours so we had extra gentle for the drive however when it received darkish, it was very darkish. And discovering this cabin at nighttime wasn’t straightforward.

Fortunately we survived (truthfully, I don’t say that evenly) and we woke as much as probably the most lovely view.

**In case you are planning a visit to Homer, permit me to counsel flying and driving on separate days.**

On our first day, we knew we’d be drained so we slept in, received bagels from the BEST bagel store, after which checked out the city.

We hit up the Salty Dawg Saloon, Salmon Sisters, a brewery, and Wasabi’s Bistro for dinner. On the saloon, everybody places {dollars} on the wall so if you happen to ever make it there, be looking out for ours 😉.

The lady on the brewery stated she may inform we weren’t from Alaska as a result of Alaskans don’t put on white footwear. All of us have been sporting white footwear 😂.

Then it was time for the ACTION…

The subsequent morning was what we got here there for…the fishing journey!

We went with the Coldwater Alaska group as a result of Ryan had heard such nice issues about them within the spearfishing group. All have been true as a result of our information, Brian, put us in all of the motion.

He stated we had the most effective days he’d seen shortly too so far as climate and seas went. We noticed otters, sea lions, puffins, and a pod of ORCAS! The orcas have been breathtaking. There have been no less than 10 of them on the market and we may inform some have been HUGE.

(I extremely counsel watching my “Alaska” spotlight for the complete impact)

Our boat experience to the fishing grounds was most likely about 2/3 hours out however with all of the life we noticed, it glided by quick. And we did make a cool pit cease for a nature pee on an island.

We went out to the place there was kelp as massive as palm bushes underwater. Ryan suited up and Brian set the remainder of us up with fishing rods and bait.

I really hooked the primary halibut of the day! As quickly as I began to reel in my line, that fish RAN! I really received a gnarly bruise from preventing it. It entangled my line within the kelp however happily Ryan dove and located it! He put a shot in it (spearfishing) and we had our first fish of the day! We have been hype.

We ended up bringing residence 7 halibut! We had it filleted and frozen there. Then we shipped a part of it residence and flew with the remaining. It was over 80lbs of fish!

Our subsequent Alaskan journey was to a glacier!

Coldwater really boated us to Grewingk Glacier Lake Path. It’s a 3-mile hike and is rated straightforward however your woman def struggled a bit lol.

This might partly be as a result of I’m out of form and partly as a result of our good friend Jordan was virtually RUNNING to the glacier so he may PROPOSE!

We’ve identified Jordan since faculty so it was SO thrilling and particular to get to witness his proposal to Kristen with probably the most beautful backdrop!

We additionally received to witness one among these glaciers carving which was so cool. The hike to our pick-up location was much more lovely than the hike to the glacier too!

The final journey of our summer time trip in Homer, Alaska…BEARS!

Ever need to get in a tiny aircraft and fly over treacherous mountains to see large animals? Lol it wasn’t on the prime of my bucket listing however I’m glad we did it!

We went with Alaska Bear Adventures they usually have been additionally nice. The folks of Homer have been all GREAT.

Our pilot was a grasp and we lucked out once more with nice climate AND a whale carcass had washed ashore for the primary time since 2016 and the grizzles have been flocking to it!

They supplied us with the flamboyant wader pants you see in these pictures and packed us right into a 6 passenger aircraft for an hour experience to see some furry pals.

The bears have been really fairly shut however they’re so food-driven (the whale) that they hardly paid us any thoughts. The backdrop was superb too. There have been some aggressive mosquitos although however they have been price it for this once-in-a-lifetime expertise. We even received to see them struggle one another!

Wrapping up our journey…

We stayed our final night time on the Homer Inn and Spa which was cool however nowhere close to as superb as our Airbnb. It additionally was a DIY spa? Lol

The journey again residence was just about as tough because it was getting there although positively much less harmful.

We packed a LOT into simply 6 days. I’d return in a heartbeat however I’d construct in additional time to relaxation/journey. I’d even be higher about making dinner reservations forward and NOT e-book it throughout the annual Salmon Pageant (half the city closed down rapidly to rejoice!).

The climate and views have been unendingly superb. The proper escape from humid Virginia!

When you resolve to do a summer time trip in Homer, Alaska (or anytime) I’d love to listen to about it!