USA 34 - Homer: Keeping it Weird!

They sell bumper stickers in Homer, Alaska, that say "Keep Homer Weird".

I reckon I did my bit!

Homer prides itself, like all Alaska I suppose, for being its own place, going its own pace, and letting everyone be who they are - no pretension, just very real people, doing very real work, in a very real place.

Homer is a small fishing town, in fact the Southern most town, on the Kenai Peninsula. Everyone in Anchorage had told me how much they "luuuurve Homer", so of course I was curious, and went for a sticky beak. I spent 3 nights there as part of my private Southern tour! And now, I tell everyone how much I "luuuuuurve Homer". I wish I'd stayed longer.

Homer is really divided into two main areas - Downtown and The Spit. I stayed Downtown - in the Driftwood Inn, you can see there above, the cute little white building. Now our idea of downtown and Homer's idea of downtown are two separate things! You can see my hotel there in Downtown, and then that third shot is looking towards the end of my street! There is a main street, but it looks pretty much the same as this!!!

The other part of Homer, and possibly the more famous part is called The Spit. It's about 4 miles from Downtown, you follow a road that takes you past all the float planes on a little lake, then over a road that has the ocean on both sides, this road takes you out to the small harbour area, known as The Spit.

Both are great fun. Both have a good bar, restaurants, and cafes. Both have really really friendly people who will chat for hours, and both have the most incredible views across Kachemak Bay to the most beautifully majestic snow and glacier covered mountains. It's wild here, wild and cold. I had my jackets off and was in my t-shirt for about one hour over the whole 3 days...and that was to sunbake in the beer garden at the most famous bar of all, The Salty Dawg!

You can see me above at the Salty Dawg on my second day - I spent the afternoon listening to boating and fishing tales from Eric and Joe, and then a few more thrown in from some of the other locals. The following day I got loads of Halibut talk from Kelly, who unloads and buys Halibut for a fish company, every day, she invited me to go down and watch them unload...which of course I did - pretty cool stuff!

The walls of the Salty Dawg are covered in one dollar bills with messages written on them by people from all over the world. The owners do a culling every year and donate some of them to charity - some get to stay there forever and ever. I left my mark by writing on the new beer garden tables out the back, so when you're there check for mine! This place is a must for any visitor - sit up at the bar and start a convo with the locals...you will learn all sorts of cool stuff, and they're so bloody friendly and happy to answer any of your questions, and of course take the piss out of your accent!

The Spit is not only known for its fishing harbour, but also for its range of cute shops...they are rustically cute - don't start thinking QVB cute, more like Tilba Tilba meets Budgewoi cute. Next to the Salty Dawg you'll find a little shop called Salty Girls. Go in there for some fantastic taffy. Just a warning, though, it's not Alaskan taffy, they actually bring it in from Oregon, but oh myyyyyyyy it was good. The other shop not to miss is Lazy M Leather, which has locally hand made Alaskan hide products - cute and great value.

Of course for the World's Deadliest Catch fans, there is the Time Bandit shop!!! Time Bandit has its home in Homer, and to the great thrill of my nephew and Dad, I happened to be in Homer at the same time as Time Bandit (pics above)!!! I woke them both up at 6.30am with a phone call to tell them I was right next to the famous boat!! I even went over for a chat with the guys, who were all very nice and even posed for the pic above. I have been raised to hero status in the eyes of my 11 year old nephew!! OH YEAH!!!

Speaking of fishing boats...one of the great things to see on the Spit is the fishing charters coming back with their loads of tourists and halibut!!!! Yep, they take out leisure fishermen and fisherwomen every day to catch halibut - then they line up the catch and you can watch them gut and fillet the fish. You can see them there above...halibut have to be one of the world's ugliest fish...white on one side and awfully ugly-brownish on the other. I don't really like to eat them, either. I was telling the aforementioned Kelly that I found halibut to have no flavour...I'd eaten it many many times now and still found no real flavour in the fish, it always seems to rely on seasoning. She told me something very interesting. She said I was dead right, halibut has no flavour, and for that exact reason it's such a popular and high demand fish in the USA...people want fish "without the fishy taste"...hmmmmmmmmmm

Now while I'm on the subject of fish and food, it's time to get down to it. I can't really recommend any outstanding restaurants. I ate at a few, but none really bowled me over. I'd steer clear of the famous Cafe Cups, I mean it was nice, but not amazing, it has a very quirky appearance, and the food was above average, but I wouldn't go out of my way. Likewise with Captain Patties on the Spit, the seafood was good, but not amazing - although the scallops were something very very special...so sweet and juicy and plump, I wish I'd ordered a plate of those instead of my mixed seafood plate, which had very very boring halibut, and salmon that was a little overcooked.

Here's a little aside. I have now eaten salmon about 8 times, and each time it has been, by our standards, overcooked. I think it's their way here. In fact I know it is. In Sydney we tend to keep it very moist and pink inside, with almost a line of raw-ish pinkness...mmmmmm, I'm still sorting this one out, will keep you posted.

Now back to the food front. There's an interesting place called Fat Olives. It's Downtown, in fact 3 mins from my Inn, and was packed every time I walked past. I went in for dinner one night, and had great soup and salad, and for dessert...some crazy crazy Chocolate Macadamia Nut Tart with Caramel Fudge Sauce, pic above, that I took two bites of (omg sooooooooo rich), then took the rest back to the Receptionist! She polished it off for me.

There is one place, though, that you MUST put on your list. I was lucky enough to have it a few minutes from my room...just a nice wander down the road...you can actually see it there in the third picture, the furthest yellow two-storey building, it's called The Two Sisters Bakery. OH MY GOODNESS...you can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner here...it's that bloody good!!! In fact one day, I think I did eat all three meals here. They do amazing pastries, especially the blackberry and cheese danish, they do unbelievably good soups...a range of about 4 to choose from every day, and you can do Half and Half - which is a cup of soup and half a sambo....oh yeah baby!!! I had Sweet Potato Red Curry soup and a turkey sambo - but this was no ordinary turkey sambo, it had fabulous aoli and was packed full of veges too....and their Lemon Bar (bar is "slice" for us aussies)....ohhhhhhhhh it was a party in my mouth...do I need to keep raving???? I think not. The last thing I'll say is that they actually do really good coffee as well, which is a real find...oh and another thing...the staff are fun and sooooo friendly - typical of Homer, and indeed Alaska.

Two of the coolest things I did was walk along The Spit Beach (self portrait pic above), trying not to get blown over, and looking out onto those amazing mountains, it brought tears to my eyes...so deeply beautiful, and yet such a contrast with that evening at Duggan's Pub (opposite my Inn, and very very rustic!!) - a total hoot, chatting with the wonderful barmaid and an extremely quirky young man who was in Homer folk singing with his dad!

And that, dear friends, was Homer. Yes, it was weird, fun, spectacularly beautiful, insanely friendly, and ultimately, very very delicious!

USA 33 - Cooper Landing: Smores and Real Fishermen!

I spent a night at a fishing lodge.

It was bloody ace. I'm thinking of buying some waders!!!

Oh you lads at Drifters Lodge - not only did you teach me to make Smores (thanks Frank), I also ate the best fried chicken I've ever eaten (thanks again, Frank) and was made to feel like part of the family - all this in under 24 hours. THANK YOU.

Cooper Landing was the first stop on my week long tour of the Kenai Peninsula, which is just South of Anchorage. It took about 2 hours in my dodgy little car to get there, but was so warmly greeted by the Drifters Lodge guys, I felt immediately at home.

Bob and Frank run the lodge. I was in a room in the lodge part rather than a self contained cabin. I shared a bathroom and lounge with a few other rooms - it was fantastic, so clean and cosy and very very comfy.

Frank pointed out the sauna that sits on the lake, you can see the pic above, you can also see the view from the sauna - it is AMAZINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG - Frank also happened to mention that some people like to go from sauna to the river (water temp just above freezing) for a dip then jump back in the sauna...and wondered if I was brave enough for that. Hmmmmmm. Don't ever dare Supergal!

After a walk down for hot chocolate and a cup of soup at the Kingfisher Roadhouse (which was absolutely spectacular, everything on the menu looked UNBELIEVABLY GOOD, and no doubt I'll be eating there again when I return for 5 nights at the Lodge next week!), back I went to try out the sauna!!

Swimming cozzie on, I was ready to run the gauntlet. I spent the first 15 mins in the sauna somewhat anxious...all I could think about was that freezing water I was about to wade into. Word had gotten around camp (by my big mouth) that I was going to take the plunge...and little did I know that although I had made sure no-one was around, a few guests were gathering while I was in the sauna...hmmmmmm.

Sweating like a pig, from fear rather than sauna heat I think, I decided it was time. I couldn't put it off any longer...I opened the door, freezing air rushed in...slid on my sandals then very very quickly walked up the stairs to the campfire where the stairs were that went down to the river... and there was my viewing audience....waiting. Down the stairs I went, pretty quickly actually, it was bloody freezing in the air, and I wasn't even in the water yet. At the bottom step, off went the shoes...feet went in then I knew I just had to do it. I waded out up to just above my waist...it wasn't as bad as I thought, although a few swear words were escaping....then I knew I had to dunk myself under otherwise it didn't count. So under I went.

I came up swearing.

Big big swear words.

But god it felt great. I felt bloody alive, that's for sure.

I dunked myself under again, and I'm afraid the second dunk is the worst!! Even more terrible words escaped! My legs started to tingle by this time, I knew it was time to either begin hypothermia or get my butt back into the sauna. I waded back in.

Proudly, I walked up the steps...audience mightily impressed...then very very quickly I managed to get myself back into that sauna! Ahhhhhhhhhh...warmth...I felt like a total LEGEND!

I repeated the dunk three more times that evening, then three more times in the morning to wake myself up! It's funny, cause I sort of got used to it, and by the second dunking the next morning, I didn't need to swear any more!

Now, apart from my wonderfully invigorating sauna/river lunacy, my other great Drifters Lodge adventure was Smores. I learnt to make Smores the real way.

Wonderful Frank had the Graham Crackers and marshmallows and I had walked to the shop for the Hershey's chocolate (apparently you HAVE to use Hersheys!). Frank then instructed me on the art of Smores, helped by the 3 Anchorage attorneys who had turned up at the campfire.

Step 1: Get your Graham Crackers out ready
Step 2: Open the chocolate and break a piece that fits the cracker
Step 3: Toast a marshmallow on the fire to your desired mushiness - I like a bit of charcoal! Apparently, the best marshmallow toasting forks are made from wire coathangers which Frank demonstrated beautifully
Step 4: This is the important step - when the marshmallow is at the desired mushiness, quickly place it on the chocolate which is on the cracker, place the other cracker on top, like a sandwich, then pull the toasting fork out of the marshmallow slowly....the hot marshmallow will melt the chocolate making one big gooey mess
Step 5: EAT IMMEDIATELY

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM....you can see above how it works, and the look on my face as I devour mine!

THANK YOU FRANK - you are a Smores Legend!

I enjoyed my stay so much at Drifters Lodge - see the team above - I've booked in for 5 nights next week...I believe I'm going to go and catch some trout!

Trout fishing, sauna/river dips and Smores....I'm never leaving Alaska!!!

USA 32 - Alaska Envy Shots: Helicopter, Mt McKinley, Ice-Cream and a Hike!

My love affair with Alaska continues.

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but when you're in love time stands still.

But alas, duty calls, and I feel myself getting further and further behind on my blog, and I really want to share this very very special place with you. So, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride!

I am currently on my own tour of the Kenai Peninsula which is just South of Anchorage. I hired a dodgy little car from the local guy and had the MARVELLOUS gals at Salmon Berry Tours in Anchorage put a little program together for me...so I'm off exploring in the wilderness...but I digress, I need to go back before I can go forward.

I left you last time in Denali National Park. The next 36 hours were full of excitement, beauty, great ice-cream and an energetic hike!

The morning after those last pics, I had a wonderful helicopter tour of the Denali National Park. Nick, our German pilot, took us up on top of the world to see the spectacular views of the mountains, and even an amazing glacier crawling down a mountain. You can see the first three pics above are of us soaring high, and the third one is the breathtaking glacier. Nick took us closer so we could see the ice close up and its surreal blue colour...it was an unforgettable experience and a must do if you get here.

After that amazing ride, I took off for a bit of a hike in the local area before catching my bus to McKinley. I just took the local paths to get to the post office. On my way back, I ran across the sign above about being wary of bears and moose. I actually laughed out loud when I saw it...see a bear or moose here??? This close to civilisation???? Must be for the tourists!! Hmmmmm...as I made my way out of the bush (forest), I was met by two women who greeted me with a "well here comes a brave soul", and I laughed. Apparently they had just been on the same path and run into a moose! Now moose here are more deadly than bears. Bears run away most of the time as soon as you talk, but a moose may charge and apparently a kick to the body by a moose is a very bad thing...more people are killed by moose than bears in Alaska every year!!! Go figure. Note to self: take notice of local signs.

That afternoon I was on the bus on my way to McKinley to see the famous Mt McKinley. Mt McKinley is the highest peak in North America, and as I've heard on more than one occasion, it's actually taller than Mount Everest from the base to the tip, it's just that Everest starts much higher up than McKinley. I didn't know that.

So, I rocked in to my rather flash digs at the McKinley Princess Lodge (well, I am a Princess!), and in the lobby area we had floor to ceiling views of the wonderful mountain. I have to admit, at first I was like "mountain schmountain"...and then she came out to show herself, and it was....absolutely spectacular. She took my breath away. I actually stayed up for 3 hours until midnight to watch the sun set (well as much as it sets here in Summer) behind her...and it was a sight to behold. I have two pics above there for you, and they don't do her justice. She looks like a movie set, and being out there on the deck in the cold to watch her open up to her fans was indescribable. I won't even try.

That evening, though, before sitting down to watch Her Majesty, I ducked down to the town of Talkeetna. It's a 45 mins bus ride from the Lodge and is the cutest, quaintest town. Apparently, the show Northern Exposure was first filmed here before the set was made in Seattle. It takes about 10 mins to walk up and down the main street! It's laid back, dogs in the street, families out and about, lots of bars, and a heap of cafes. One wonderful surprise though, you can see above, was Wake and Shake, a little hole-in-the-wall ice-cream parlour. They make their own ice-cream in that wacky looking machine out the front of their stall. It looks like John Deer meets Annie's Ice-Cream! The guy makes it out there every day, the motor churns the ice cream which is made from all local organic ingredients. The ingredients are put into a steel cylinder then wacked in the wooden bowl packed in ice and salt then churned by the motor! COOOOOOL!!! After some discussion with people already eating their ice-cream, I went with strawberry. It was divineeeeeeeeeee....so creamy, not very sweet at all (which is surprising for this counry), you could taste the real strawberries in it...oh my, it was good.

Post-ice-cream it was back to the Lodge for the spectacular viewing of Her Ladyship. Then off to sleep ready for my big day of hiking the next day.

Now everyone here talks about "layers". You have to dress in "layers". Which I did, and in fact I do every day. T-shirt, then my long sleeve cardie, then my polartech jacket I had to buy here, then my gortex jacket, I also had to buy for Alaska. I even had two layers of socks on!!!! And guess what??? I used all my layers!!! Yes, the locals are correct - LAYER, LAYER, LAYER!!!

So the hike was FABULOSO. We had Freddy, the best guide in the world - he knew everything, from what you could and couldn't eat, touch, smell, use as toilet paper...to which animals are where and why. He's an ex-school teacher who spends his nomadic life wandering around the world...a very very cool guy. We hiked about 7 miles up a mountain. We saw a very cool Porcupine (my first - man those suckers are big), we saw a dam built by beavers and their "lodge", and we saw and tasted a heap of edible plants...and of course we saw that amazing scenery you can see above. I can't tell you how often I look around me here and just start to cry. The sheer beauty and majesty of these mountains, every where I go, is just something you have to see in person. Photos just don't deliver the goods. I can see mountains now, from inside the bakery I'm in as I type. They are across the water, with snow, and are breathtaking. Sigh. Sigh again. And a big sigh as I remember what a great group of people I hiked with - Americans and a couple from England, different ages, and so much fun. Eleven of us in total. Thank you guys for a magic day. I bloody loved it.

And so ends my trip to Denali. I got the bus back to Anchorage that evening, and settled back into my hotel...and ready for more Alaskan adventures. Sigh...I'm sooooooo in love....

USA 31 - Alaska Envy Shots: Denali National Park

Yep, more envy shots.

I can't help it.

I saw bears. Wonderful grizzly bears.

We were lucky enough to see a mating pair wandering around on a hillside - but the pic just looks like some specs, so I didn't include it.

We were even luckier to see a Mummy Bear and her two baby bears! Just like Goldilocks, but without Papa Bear...it seems Papa Bear is prone to eating Baby Bears!!! We saw them walking along, Mum in front and the kids playing behind, the most amazing thing of the whole tour was when the blond baby bear the furthest behind stood up on his hind legs to try and see his Mum, then he took a few steps standing up!!!! The guide said she'd never ever seen that in her 10 years as guide!!!! IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FANTASTIC. We ended up watching these guys for a good 10 mins. I had tears in my eyes. I just felt so lucky to see them. You can see them there above.

We also saw a Moose crossing the road, above, and some Caribou.

We saw some boring white sheep called Dall Sheep (named for the guy that studied them) - they are the only totally white sheep in the whole world.

We saw a fabulous fox with the most glorious tail - he's above too, but very small.

We saw birds, but I won't bore you with those pics.

Then on the way out of the Park, we saw another bear - just lying on the dry river bed. There he is above too, all alone. Just too amazing for words really.

And of course there was spectacular scenery.

Big big big sigh.

I'm currently typing this watching the sunset on Mount McKinley, the tallest Mountain in North America. I arrived here this arvol. I'm sitting in the lounge of my hotel, with floor to ceiling views of this incredible mountain with the sun almost setting - it is 11.37pm and still very light outside. No doubt there will be envy shots of it too! I'm off on my hike tomorrow - hmmmm....well I have to do something to counteract these 40 billion kgs I'm putting on!

Enjoy the pics guys - there are more to come!!!

USA 30 - Alaska Envy Shots: Train to Denali

Well folks, it's Lumberjack Supergal...I'm up in Alaska, and I have to say I think I've fallen head over heels in love with this state. To use an American phrase "it's AWESOME". Indeed, I think AWESOME doesn't fully cover it.

I flew into Anchorage from San Francisco, and from the moment I arrived, walked out of the airport, saw the mountains...I was enchanted.

The locals are incredibly friendly and very very funny, the bars are atmospheric and way too much fun, and did I mention the people were friendly????

I have never felt more relaxed in the USA than I have here in Alaska! In fact, I have been here only 4 nights, and I currently don't have a flight out...there's no telling how long I'll stay. My bus driver from Denali to Talkeetna today suggested I apply for a Tour Guide position - they are looking for more - and I could stay till September...very very tempting!!!

Above you see the pics from my train trip a couple of days ago. I stayed two nights in Anchorage then boarded the Alaska Railroad train to Denali - it took 8 hours - I was in the front carriage with a glass domed roof and open air viewing platform at the back. Bloody fantastic.

I met a couple of aussies who had the choice front row seats - they offered it to me while they went downstairs to the dining car for lunch. Hmmmmm....in that 45 mins I managed to spot a baby black bear on the tracks ahead, then saw it running into the bush, then about 10 mins later, a bigger black bear just ambling away from the train. It was magic.

So, enjoy the pics above. I enjoyed taking them.