Alaska 2012 - Day 9

This ended up being a very very cool day of flying.  At first, the weather was looking pretty bad, and we had 2 potential routes South over Anchorage to Homer.  We checked the Alaska Weather Cams many times, seeing them all grey from clouds, or low ceilings...not knowing exactly how it would stay.  We went to one of the walk-in briefers at Fairbanks, and got to speak face to face with the guys giving us advice, and clearly, things aren't done the same in Alaska as they are in the lower 48.  If we had weather like this down in the 48, they would say "VFR flight not recommended" and you'd never get off the ground.  But up in Alaska, they know the weather, they know the passages, they know the terrain, and they have very quick access to the cams, and they helped us verify a do-able route.  It looked like we may get some areas with tight ceilings, but we'd be able to make the trip.
Again, as we flew along down the mountain valleys, it was an awesome flight.  The ceilings made it scenic, and kept the sun out of our eyes.  We were at 1000' a lot of the time, but sometimes lower.  Heading down past Anchorage things took a nosedive, however.  As we crossed Turnagain Bay headed down the peninsula to Homer, the ceilings immediately came down again and we found ourselves at 300-400' in rain with lowered visibility of maybe 2-5 miles depending on the rain.  Luckily this was all flat lands, and if you had terrain display, it was a non-event to keep ground in sight and stay safe.  Eventually we ended up at 150' or so, following a river that would lead us out towards the coast, where the weather may be a bit better.  Zooming along the river was an awesome experience, and all of the pilots who were with us commented later that it was one of the coolest flights of their lives. In one of the photos below, you see us passing an airport, and then a dump. The dump had THOUSANDS of seagulls in it, and it made a white mountain of garbage.  None of them were up at our altitude, however, so there were no bird strikes.
Getting into the Homer area, you start to see the mountains across the bay.  Those are all FILLED with glaciers, as that is the start of the Harding Ice Field.  Very very pretty!  In fact, homer was about our favorite place to stay on this whole vacation.  It's located on one of the 2 largest "spits" of land, a natural spit, in the middle of the bay.  The airport is on the mainland, however.  The spit is covered with many tourist options, from bear sightseeing flights, to fishing trips.  Resort options are very limited, however, although there is an RV park there.  Dale had also arranged with Homer to get us ground transportation provided by the normal tourist Trolley that serves the SPIT, so we would have transportation from the airport to the hotel.  He also arranged parking at the airport, which was unique. There isn't a lot of parking space for a group, so they NOTAM'd off a taxiway, and brought in large concrete blocks for us to tie down to.  It was fun to watch them bring the blocks in.  Once tied up, we headed out to the spit!
When we arrived at the hotel (actually a set of condos) we were amazed. It was an AWESOME place.  Yes, it was pricey, but we had 3 of the 4 stories in the unit.  The main floor had a huge living and dining area, and a great, open kitchen, along with a queen bedroom with privacy, along with a private bathroom.  The next floor up had a King bed, a twin bed in it's own cubby area, and a huge bathroom with a jacuzzi tub.  What it didn't have, however, is privacy. The rooms had no doors, and the window area was open to the house.  So, if you snored, or made any *other* noises, the house would hear them. :)  The top floor had a couple of bunk beds, and was perfect for the kids.  The house was right on the beach, with an awesome view of the mountains across the bay. At night, I woke up after 11:30pm a couple times, and there was still plenty of sunlight.  Those sleep masks were really paying off here!
We headed a short walk down the spit for dinner at Captain Pattie's, a place that was recommended for us, where they had very very fresh fish. In fact, we watched them clean the fish out front as we walked in!  The halibut I had was absolutely SPECTACULAR!
The kids had a blast in their lofty perch, tormenting Ed with their chain of coat hangers, and we spent some time on the beach skipping stones and watching the seals and sea otters play, and the fishing boats come in and out.

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