We felt like we were able to sleep in a little, but in reality, we were both up at about 6:00 AM on the new Alaska time. However, we were able to get about 7 hours of sleep, so it was not that bad.
We got up and got ready, and made a plan for the morning with Ashley and Bryan. We had purchased a strawberry/cheese Danish from Walmart yesterday for our breakfast this morning. Ashley and Bryan came by to get the car keys, they were going out to find some breakfast, they eventually settled on MacDonalds.
I went downstairs to the lobby and got my coffee from their coffee cart, and brought it back upstairs and we ate. We were planning on going out to purchase all of our grocery items and bring them back to the room to put into our suitcases, at least as much as we could.
We had emptied out all of our extra shoes, jackets and a few other lighter weight items and placed them into the rolling duffel we had purchased at Walmart yesterday. We had originally intended to use it for our groceries, but it was just not really made to carry a lot of weight, it had no internal support and so it was better used to hold our lighter weight, but bulky items like our shoes and jackets.
This gave us both almost the entire one side of our suitcases for food and beverage storage, and it was going to be much easier to handle since these suitcases were designed much more solidly. We had enough in the duffel to give it some rigidity, but it was still fairly light and we were able to actually use the built in wheels.
We all met downstairs to head to the Walmart, and the first order of business was to pick out a cooler. They had a lot of coolers in stock and we settled on a Igloo 40 quart cooler without wheels. We then proceeded to finish our shopping at Walmart and bought most of the things we needed except for fresh meat. For that, we were going to go to the nearby Fred-Meyers grocery store, which seemed to be a higher quality store based on what we saw about it online.
There were also a few items we could not get at Walmart, one of them being diet Canada Dry ginger ale. After checking out at Walmart, and putting all of the cold items into the cooler along with a bag of ice, we headed to the Fred-Meyers store to get our remaining items.
The Fred-Meyer had a lot of items on sale through their reward card. Stephanie did some research and found it out was part of the Kroger stores, so she asked someone in the store if we could use our Kroger reward card for the on sale items. We found out we could, so that helped some with the cost. The store was nice, and seemed to be priced about as good at the Walmart, but who knew. We also did not know if they had coolers, but we did see some while we were wandering through the store to get the rest of what we needed. We bought some nice looking bone in ribeye steaks and actually found some diet Canada Dry ginger ale in cans, which was going to be easier to pack than 2 liter bottles.
With all of the shopping complete, we took everything out to our Tahoe. The only exception was some liquor Bryan wanted to purchase. Unfortunately, the liquor store both here and in the Walmart was in a separate area in the front of the store, and neither was open this early on a Sunday, they opened at noon, and it was only about 9:00 AM. We were glad that we had purchased our wine in Walmart yesterday, it would have been a hassle to get it today, we would need to find another store somewhere on the way to Homer, our driving destination for today.
We headed back to the hotel to get everything packed up. Bryan and Ashley had already brought down their suitcases, and had put them into the Tahoe earlier, so they just packed up their groceries in the parking lot. We headed back up to the room with our groceries to load them into the open halves of our suitcases.
We got everything packed into the suitcases except for a few items Stephanie placed into her backpack, and one paper grocery bag that held all of our bread items, hot dog buns, hamburger buns, loaf bread and a french bread loaf.
Everything Loaded Into The Tahoe
Our rolling suitcases were much better for transporting all of the heavy liquids, but now they weighed about 75 pounds or more each. We did not have to lift them much except to get them into the Tahoe, we mostly needed to roll them. We placed everything on the luggage cart we had used to bring the groceries up to the room and headed back downstairs to the Tahoe to load up. We had to do a little re-arranging, but surprisingly, we got everything into the back of the Tahoe with out too much difficulty.
We were now ready to check out and drive to Homer, Alaska to catch out ferry to Seldovia. It is a pretty simple drive, but about five hours long, not including any sightseeing stops. I was designated as the driver, and we headed out.
First Scenic Overlook
We did not get too far out of Anchorage before we made our first stop for photos. The drive is along the Turnagain Arm, which is a body of water near Anchorage. The water was really muddy from the current, the tidal range here is about 22 feet, and with the wind blowing, the water really churned up the muddy bottom.
We drove about 1.5 hours and made a stop at a place that Ashley and Bryan had stayed at in a cabin on their first trip to Alaska in 2019. There was a pizza restaurant there, but they told us they were still getting all of the ingredients ready for the pizzas, and it would be about 45 minutes before they could cook anything. We did not want to wait that long, so after a personal break stop there, we got back into the car and headed south.
We drove about 50 more miles and stopped at an area called Cooper Landing. There was a restaurant there and we headed inside for some lunch. It was fairly crowded, and there was a sign stating that they were a little shorthanded, but to be seated and please be patient with them on the food orders. Stephanie and I split a French Dip sandwich along with some macaroni and cheese with moose sausage.
The food took a little while to come out, but it was really good, and the two servers were really trying their best to provide quick service, and for the most part, they succeeded. It was a good lunch break, and after restroom breaks, we were back in the car heading to Homer.
Scenic Overlook By A Stream
We passed by several areas where a river was running alongside of the road and we stopped a couple of times for pictures. There were also several areas where there were quite a lot of fishermen fishing for salmon. We thought the salmon season had just started yesterday, and there were literally hundreds of people fishing in several areas of the river we were driving along side of.
As we got closer to Homer, we just happened to see some people along side of the road, and they were there taking pictures of a juvenile moose that was grazing near the trees that were near the road. We did not stop, but it was the first moose we had seen on the trip.
We eventually made it to Homer, and then out to the Homer Spit, which is a narrow strip of land where the harbor and a lot of shops are located. There were hundreds of people there shopping in the small stores. It was a little touristy. We drove to the end of the spit and then headed back to find a parking spot and look at some of the stores. We had about two hours before the ferry left for Seldovia, so we had some time to kill.
Unfortunately, it was now raining fairly hard, so it was not the most pleasant experience. We were able to kill one of the hours walking around the stores in the rain and then decided to head to the ferry termina to see if we could find a parking space. We hoped we could go early and position ourselves to see where the people getting off of the arriving ferry were parked, hoping to get one of the spots closest to the ferry dock. We were able to temporarily park at the end of the lot nearest to the pier, and we just waited for the ferry to arrive. There were a coupe of other trucks cruising through the small parking lot with the same plan as us, but there was not any more space for them to temporarily park to wait for the departing ferry passengers to leave.
The ferry arrived about fifteen minutes later, and we watched one couple head to a spot just past us, so we went and waited right behind then for their space. We were now blocking the roadway but we had no choice. The people seemed in no hurry to leave, and there were a couple of other cars trying to get out of the lot, and we were blocking them in until this car moved, and we parked in their space. Finally, the brake lights lit up, and then the backup lights came on and they were leaving. We pulled into their spot and felt lucky to be that close to the ferry pier since we now needed to fully unload all of our luggage and supplies onto one the of the carts provided by the ferry so we could transport all of the items down to where the ferry was docked.
Did I mention that the tide range is about 22 feet, and it was approaching low tide, so the ramp down to the ferry was really steep and about 75 feet long. We had a lot of weight loaded onto our cart and it was going to be tough to get it down the ramp. Fortunately, there are deck hands willing to help out and they split our load into two trips and they took the carts down the hill for us, and helped to load it all onto the ferry. It was a great help and we appreciated it by giving them a $20 tip, well worth the effort and strain it would have taken to control the carts down the steep and now rain soaked ramp.
The Ferry Dock and Steep Access Ramp in Homer
We boarded the ferry and waited about 30 minutes for it to depart. The ferry departed promptly at 6:30 PM and it was not a bad ride over to Seldovia, the seas were not bad, maybe 2-3 feet. There were not many people on the ferry, so we had a lot of room to spread out. The ferry ride was about 45 minutes long and we finally arrived in Seldovia. Thankfully, the rain had stopped. Next, everyone and everything was unloaded from the ferry and out onto the pier.
Arriving In Seldovia
It was a much farther distance from the ferry to the ramp in Seldovia, and there were limited carts available to get all of our gear to the parking area the top. We decided just to individually wheel most of the luggage to the ramp and then pull them up the ramp. The tide was still going out, so the ramp was even steeper than the one in Homer. It was quite a chore to roll the heavy bags to the top, and we had too many bags to make it all in one trip.
By this time, the ferry boat crew were loading up the only motorized cart on the pier, so our cooler and a couple of our remaining suitcases were loaded onto that cart and they took them to the top of the ramp, much easier than us pulling them up ourselves.
Asta Gallery & Suites Storefront
Our place, The Asta Gallery & Suites, was not far from the marina, and we rolled our suitcases there, only about two blocks. Bryan had a friend already in Seldovia, he owns a cabin nearby, and he met us at the pier to help with the luggage. It was easier to roll our main suitcases than to load them into the back of the truck bed, they were heavy with all of the supplies packed inside. Ashley and Bryan’s place was a little farther from ours, so it was nice for them to have the truck available to transport their gear.
We walked the few minutes to the Asta Suite, and headed to our room, which is the bottom half of of the rear of the building facing the harbor. The owners of the building, which also has a store in the front, live in the upstairs portion. It was unlocked and we headed in with our gear.
Relaxing On Our Partially Covered Deck
We settled in and unpacked. There is a kitchen sink, dishes, microwave and small refrigerator in the unit, but no stove or oven, or freezer.
A short time later, Ashley and Bryan came over with some of of refrigerated items from the cooler they had taken to their room about two blocks away. Their unit has a full kitchen with a full size refrigerator/freezer, so they had taken the cooler there to unload it and store all of the refrigerated items we will need after we leave Seldovia on July 5.
Finally Some Sunshine
Our plan for tonight was to cook hamburgers on the grill along with some bacon wrapped chicken skewers, on the large deck at the Asta Suite. Stephanie and I relaxed a bit with some wine before we started that task, enjoying the view of the harbor. We have a portion of the deck that is covered by the deck on the second story where the owners live, so we could stay out of the occasional light rain showers, and still enjoy the view. However, it was still cool outside.
We eventually did get a brief period of sunshine, which was a nice break from all of the rain we had today. It did not last long, but was still enjoyable.
Our Deck At Asta Suites
We cooked the hamburgers and skewers, and the four of us sat inside at our inside table to eat. It was not long afterward before Ashley and Bryan left to go back to their place. We were all tired, and still adjusting to the four hour time difference
We did not stay up much longer since it was already about 8:30 PM by the time we finished eating. We showered and got ready for bed.
It was about 9:30 PM when we called it a night. We just hope we can sleep in a little longer in the morning as we continue to adjust to the time difference. We don’t have a plan for tomorrow other than to just check out the small town of Seldovia.
Loved the blog. Am heading to find a map on line to see where you are. Mom