Both the kids were in school when the ship pulled in, so I grabbed a cup of coffee and started snapping pictures. It was just after 9am and the sun was still rising. The late sunrise has turned out to be an unanticipated bonus for me as I am not an early riser. I get the watch the sun rise and set behind the mountains everyday. It never gets old.
I realize the days are getting shorter, but sunrise just after 9am and sunset at 6:30pm is not so bad. So, the ship spun around and tied up at the end of the Homer spit. The spit is a very thin, 5 mile strip of land that juts out into Katchemak Bay. The Homer boat harbor is at the end of the spit along with all the deep water docks.
Docked behind Hickory is the oil rig Endeavor. It arrived in Homer in mid-September for a two week stay, but they are still here updating structural components, trying to secure permits to drill in Cook Inlet, and generally making Homer residents hot and bothered. Understandably, drilling for oil is heavily debated around here.
Three days after the Hickory pulled in, my parents arrived. My dad should get some special award for coming to Alaska twice in a three month time span. Not sure if it's the grand kids or the fish that's got him hooked.
Brian's parents spent a half day charter fishing during their visit in September and they packed our freezer with halibut for the winter. It's so tasty and I feel lucky to be in the Halibut Fishing Capital of the World because I don't particularly care for salmon. I keep trying it in all its forms though. Several neighbors and new friends have given us smoked, canned salmon as a welcome gift. One jar was canned with jalapenos and it was my favorite thus far, excepting the salmon bagel sandwich from the Farmers Market (unbelievably delicious).
So my parents we lucky enough to be here for Kenai Peninsula's famous Haunted Hickory. Brian's ship has been turning itself into a haunted house for the community for well over 10 years. I walked through with a group that drove 2 hours to see it. The ship collects canned goods in exchange for a tour and stocks the local food pantry for the winter. This year, there were over 700 people who came through and 2200 lbs of food collected. Kate has been talking haunted hickory for weeks and thoroughly enjoyed the PG tour given during the first hour for kids. James not so much. He bailed after a few minutes. It's near impossible to take photos in a black room with a strobe light, so I tried to take a picture of the pier as people started to line up and the crew was lighting 55 gallon drums to warm and light up the pier.
The sunset was a bit ominous looking that night as well. It was very cloudly so the sky was dark except this small space on the water where the sunset was burning through. This photo was taken with my phone so I couldn't capture the outline of the mountains that we could see in the orange sky.
Halloween was the next day and thankfully the neighbor's tipped us off that our neighborhood is THE place to trick or treat. We had somewhere between 200 and 300 trick or treaters. It was very fun and also a bit hazardous as the streets were crowded with kids and cars as most everyone drove from rural areas.
Carving pumpkins with Grandma
Trick or treating in the snow
This month James has also started doing a half day a week at Yurt Preschool. A yurt is a wooden platform round tent. There is usually a window a the top to let in light and let out smoke from the wood stove. They are pretty popular in Alaska as temporary or permanent dwellings.
This yurt is loosely connected to a woman's house and is used for tumbling classes and preschool. I think it will be a perfect compliment to James's other preschool. One is overly religious and academic for a 3 year old while the other promises to be non-academic, has a trapeze, and marimbas (of course).
The inside of the yurt is crazy good times. James's new schedule also allows me to get to a gym class at least once a week. Once a week is better than nothing.
This month has also been good for celebrity sitings. We saw Atz Kilcher from Alaska: The Last Frontier at the coffee shop. Much to my dismay he did not ride his horse into town and barter for his coffee. For all its ridiculousness, I will continue to watch the show though. Brian and I went also to the world premier of The Alaska Sessions, a local surfing documentary.
We've always enjoyed surf films, but it was even more fun in a packed theatre where the film maker and the cast of characters are all locals. The surf around here is surprisingly good (if you have a very thick wet suit). We haven't tried it yet, but I feel like I might give it a go sometime within the 3 years we are here. I can pretty much guarantee Brian will do it. Cast members included that guy from the Farmers Market that we like to talk to and buy stuff from and a girl from my gym class. Here is a brief description of the film and a link for clips and photos.
Mr. McCune sells his house and buys and old fishing boat to embark on an epic surf
adventure. He and his eclectic crew travel up the isolated Alaskan coastline in the
dead of winter. It’s cold, it’s dark, and these guys aren’t exactly pro-surfers,
but in the words of one crew-member, “when your stoke is hot, you can endure a lot.”
To see more check out www.alaskasessions.com.
We have also started watching a show called Buying Alaska, essentially House Hunters in Alaska. Most of the house searches have taken place in and around Homer. One of the home buyers checked my parents luggage on their outbound flight to Anchorage yesterday and we bought our lawn mower from a featured home. I find the "celebrity" sitings are much more interesting here than they were living outside of LA. Small town for sure.
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