In order to more fully experience all Homer has to offer (and it really does have quite a bit to offer), today the Keefe clan and the soon-to-be Keefe girl decided to divide up. Sara and Gail choose to go out on a horseback riding adventure and Mike and Tom chose to go for “the big one” and went out on a halibut fishing tour.
The Fishing Trip: The fishing boat left the harbor at 6 am on a half day trip. Due to really rough seas, the boat didn’t travel as far as originally planned, although the two hours did seem like quite enough given the big, big waves. The captain would have to rev down the boat, the boat would crest the wave then have water crash over the bow as it hit the trough. It was not fun (maybe even less fun than camping in the rain). People were vomiting, wave over the bow, and we couldn’t anchor fast enough. When we started fishing, we put our chunks of fish for meat down the 140 feet to the bottom with the aide of a 5# weight. Within minutes we both caught one, about 4-6 pounds each, but when you are fighting the 5# weight and the waves, that is a big fight. Within 20 minutes we each had another, but again too small to keep. That was it for the catching, other than a cod that Tom caught that was released. Out of the 25 people on the boat, only 25 fish were kept (limit of two per person) with some people not even catching a small one. Tom & Mike were glad to reach land safely. They did see many puffins and sea otters.
The Horseback Adventure: Although fishing sounded fun, Gail and Sara chose a different route, taking a four-hour horse tour. The horse adventure started off a little traumatically. A horse fell in the slippery trailer as the trailer was moving down a steep hill. After a few tense minutes, the cowboy was able to pull the horse out of the crowded trailer with minimal injury. Despite the stressful start, the adventure proved to be fun! The group traveled on horses through waist deep streams and up and down hillsides. We greenhorns also had to opportunity to herd some misplaced cows. It was an adventure, but like Mike and Tom, were glad when it was over. In the early afternoon each car headed to Seward to meet up with the rest of the travelers who were driving down today.
Greg, Mary, Adam and Sara (Born) headed down from Anchorage after picking up some food for a picnic. Not wanting to waste time, they started the fun right away: picnicking at Beluga point & hiking up towards Ptarmigan Lake. They would have made it around the whole way if it wasn’t for such good blueberry picking!
Our lodging for the next two nights are at the Ravenquest Cabins a few miles outside Seward. We have two small cabins here, both of which were made by the owner with hand milled-wood on site. Hmmm…the building regulations may be a bit more lenient here in AK. Both cabins have have beds and a small kitchen on the first level then steep stairs to a loft with more beds. They are rustic & delightful.
In the evening we enjoyed a picnic dinner of rotisserie chicken and celebrated arrivals with red velvet cake. Eight out of the nine guests have now arrived. Joseph should be coming late the night of July 20th.
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