Mount Resolute, off the Kenai Peninsula, is still considered one of the active volcanos along the 'Rim of Fire'. This is the view from Anchor Point
The local Kasilof Heritage Museum wasn't open for business, but lots of things are just buildings you can walk around outside. It represents the living in the area from when the salmon canning factories were big business here. Volunteers were here to spread wood chips on the trail. This is one of the old buildings, with metal for siding.
The metal would be rolled into cans for the salmon canning factory. These pieces were rejects of extras and the employees took them to make siding shingles for their homes.
Building with wooden sides, used rope for caulk between the boards.
Tiny sheds for storage and the little tree house thing in the background is a food cache, where they'd store food out of the reach of animals.
This old outboard was used on a boat that would go out in the ocean waters.
We have some of these same tools on the wall of our cottage at Higgins Lake.
Tools of the day.
Another view of Mt. Resolute from a cliffside.
The old Greek Orthodox Church on the Kenai Peninsula.
The Greek Orthodox Church is a favorite photo op here.
The picket fencing around individual graves was new to me, but I saw it in several places.
Pretty flowers around the church and graves.
Cliffside view down to the Cook Inlet.
Jason peering over the edge to the beach below from a pulloff point along the highway.
A fireweed on the cliffside. The blooms aren't yet to the top.
The fireweed is getting pretty tall, but still blooming on this cliff.
More views through fireweed.
Looking across the field of fireweed. When it stops blooming, winter will arrive within 6 weeks.
I just really liked this old fencing and the fireweed.
A patriotic carriage along the road.
At Anchor Point, along the Kenai shore, this huge tractor is used to do surf launches and landings with the boats that go out into the ocean
You can see the tracks from the tractor after a launch or landing at Anchor Point.
Boats are given a number when they go out and they relay that number to the tractor driver when they are ready to come in so the tractor knows which boat trailer he should back into the surf. They post the times and tide depths, too.
View from Anchor Point across the water to the volcano, Mt. Drum.
The eagles come to eat the salmon, too.
This one sat on the rocks and wasn't terribly disturbed by photographers.
Looking down the cliff towards Homer.
We were told Homer had the best fish and chips with halibut, so we decided to try them.
The beach near Homer as we are driving in.
The boat harbor at Homer. Lots of fishing done here.
The harbor has a beautiful backdrop.
A floatplane at a dock in Homer.
A fish hook statue at the harbor of Homer.
A bike sign at the harbor in Homer.
Shoes and boots along the boardwalk in Homer.
No sailor worth his salt could pass up the Salty Dawg Saloon here.
The Seafarer's Memorial along the beach at Homer.
The beach here is all smoothed stones, mostly flat.
We found one shaped like a heart, too. Does this mean Jason has a stone cold heart?
Huge lengths of seaweed were scattered on the beach, too. Big bulbous strings with weedy fans.
At the corner in Homer.
We decided on AK Fish Fryers for our fish and chips. Cash only and take out only. He doesn't fry the fish or chips until you place the order. Excellent.
The waterfront shops of Homer are just little colorful cottages strung together
Homer harbor scene.
This ship-shaped building is actually a home.
The wind picked up and the waters got choppy. Bear flightseeing tours took customers across the water to the base of the volcano to see them.
Some of my Ninilchik agates from the beach along Anchor Point. Most turned out not to be the amber-colored agates people here search for, but I did find some.
The tractor helping to land a boat that had both engines quit and had to be towed in to the landing site. The tractor brings along a young guy or gal to get into the water to hook the boat to the trailer. They got a workout with this one.
The tractor pulling the disabled boat out of the surf.
This eagle perched in a nearby tree with a salmon carcass hanging from its talons. He eventually dropped the carcass. A guy on an ATV brought out a trashcan full of salmon carcasses and dumped them along the beach for the eagles and seagulls.
We headed back up to Kenai, the town, to meet up with Jimmy, a new friend who we'd met at a glacier viewpoint days earlier. He said we could stay at his place and if we got there before he did, we could wander his property and say hello to the bunnies.
Jimmy invited us in and gave us beer and dinner. The old Victrola funnel is a light fixture that hangs from the ceiling.
This painted gate section hangs in Jimmy's shop. He got it at an auction.
Jason and Jimmy in his shop in Kenai, Duct or Sheet Metal. He makes things out of sheet metal and has lots of big expensive tools in the shop to fabricate stuff.
Jimmy in his back yard. Lots of stuff here and he is an avid recycler and grower of his own foods. We had one of his kohlrabi for dinner and it was great. I didn't even know what it was when we saw it in his greenhouse.
Some funky, spiked mushrooms we saw on a hike.
A Hawktail mushroom. Don't eat these, but they're pretty to look at.
Met a man at the end of the road on Nikiski Beach in the rain. He told us about how he finds 'spirit rocks', clay concretions that were from the time this shoreline was still under fresh water. Now he finds them along the shore and digs them out. They come in all kinds of fanciful shapes, but usually rounded. We spent the night nearby and came back the next day and he gave me this one that he'd found the previous day. He invited us to come to his house up near Palmer, too
This would've been the side facing up when he found it, with much of the surface below the sand. I'd never heard of such things but he showed us pictures of hundreds that he's found.
We drove back through Kenai and on to Hope.
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