Entertaining Friends and Family

It's January 2015 and I am just finishing the summer posts.  I think some of the adventures were so epic and there are so many great photos that I found the task overwhelming.  Now, I'm ready to document a shortened version knowing the posts are stacking up.

During our trip to the lower 48, Brian was promoted to commander.  He had a short ceremony on the ship when we returned and now he walks with a limp he has so much hardware on one side.

Pinning on the new shoulder boards

We returned just in time to dip net the Kasilof River during the peak sockeye salmon run in mid-July.  In one day, we caught almost 30 fish.  Combined with the lingcod, rockfish, and halibut Brian caught on the boat as well as Kate's halibut, our freezer is filled to capacity.  We took last year's fish, smoked it, and tried our hand at canning.  It was a bit of a process but all went well.   I can't seem to motivate to try canned fish as I prefer thawing and grilling.  No photos as dip-netting is fast and furious.

Shortly after the fish were in the freezer, our first guest arrived.  We had 3 weeks of company starting with Brian's sister who arrived sans husband and children for a week of Alaska adventuring.  We did a lot of the same activities as last summer: tide-pooling, hiking meadows of fireweed, dining at amazing local restaurants, but we also stepped up the adventures with some overnight trips across the bay, glacier hikes, fishing, mussel picking, kayaking, and more.

Since the cabins were booked, we opted to stay in a yurt in Kachemak Bay State Park or what we call "across the bay."  The yurts lack some of the function and aesthetic of the cabins, but it's difficult to nit-pick what could only be described as ideal weather conditions.

Our yurt at Right Beach

Kids "swimming" in the bay

Ramen dinner on the beach

Auntie Jessica goes lumberjack

Cooking dinner on the fire

Kids climbing the rock formations at "Hawaii" beach

Getting ready for bed in the yurt

We used the ship's morale boat to get us across the bay.  Since there was no where to tie up or anchor the boat, Brian dropped us on the beach and tied up in Halibut Cove and then kayaked back to our yurt.  For the first time we brought a frozen fish filet that was perfectly thawed by the time we were ready to grill.  This is a huge departure from the ramen noodles and hot dogs we are accustomed to, although I confess, we did eat those too. We hiked to Grewingk glacier and laid in the sun at glacier lake while the kids built forts.

 View of Halibut Cove Lagoon from Saddle Trail

Picking watermelon berries along the Saddle Trail

Bear scat

Approaching Grewingk Glacier

James pulling ice out of the lake in his skivvies

Fort building

Fireweed and view to Halibut Cove on the return hike

Kate waiting for Brian to bring the boat around

When we left the next morning, we went to China Poot Bay hoping to snag some salmon. It was time consuming and we were unsuccessful, but we did see sea otters, seals, giant sea stars, flounders, and more.  We even picked mussels for dinner.

Boat ride to China Poot Bay

Seal swimming by bald eagle on shore

Mr Otter

Kate showing off a sea star

Sea star mania

Jessica and I picking mussels for dinner

At extreme low tides, these mussels beds are exposed.  The black patches are all mussels.

Seals on the beach

Jessica went across the bay again with Brian and some guys from the ship for a lesson in snagging. They were successful in catching pinks (the least desirable of the 5 species of Alaska salmon), but we grilled some to eat and canned the rest for use in dips later.

Jessica was also here to celebrate James's 5th birthday.  It was costume party with lots of super heroes and a bounce house.  So fun.

Wonder Woman, Clark Kent, Neon Army lacrosse player, Green Lantern, and the Tooth Fairy

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In the few days between visitors, I took the kids to Salmonstock, "a celebration of Alaskan wild salmon and the people who depend on them."  It's 3 days of fish, fun, and music at the Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds.  We opted for a day trip as camping at a music festival with the kids seems daunting without Brian.  

Our little hippies hoopin' it up

During the day it wasn't too crowded and there was a small fry area full of kids activities. Salmonstock hosts artists in residence, several musical stages, amazing food, salmon education vendors, and lots of friends.  It was the sunniest and hottest day I've experienced here and we all went home with a sun burn to prove it.  Kate also participated in an action of art human aerial mosaic all in the name of protecting wild salmon. You can't make this stuff up.  

I actually think Kate is easy to find in her orange sweatshirt and legs wide (about 10 o'clock).  It was scorching hot, but Kate refused to take off her Alaska Grown sweatshirt lest she be mistaken for a tourist. 

In August two of my college roommates also came to visit.  Sonata, Drew, & baby Adelaide get the furthest traveled award for coming to Alaska from Liberia following a two year tour with the State Department.  They were lucky enough to leave just as the first Ebola case was discovered.  We did not venture across the bay for an overnight since we weren't sure how Adelaide would fare and more importantly the ship was out for most of their visit.  A round trip water taxi is $75 per person, so if Brian and the morale boat are not available, we stay in Homer.

We took all our guests on a creatures of the dock tour.

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 We hang upside down and find all sorts of crazy things living under there.

Adelaide does a good job of not falling in while Kate looks for Christmas anemones.

Kids showing off the salad they picked from our garden for dinner

Bishop's Beach

Tidepooling

Kate took to Adelaide and enjoyed mentoring her which was fascinating to me because I had no idea she had any patience or mothering instincts.  James was less sure that a smaller, cute child in our house was a good idea.  Really they were all very cute together and the visit was loads of fun.

This summer the Homer Brewery set up a little outdoor area and invited a variety of food trucks to serve food.  The fresh oysters are pretty popular.  I'm not even an oyster person, but they are small and sweet.

Unfortunately for Adrian, our final visitor, it rained 6 of 7 days that she was here.  That didn't stop us, however, from an overnight yurt adventure including hiking and berry picking in the rain, kayaking in Tutka bay, and picking fresh mussels to grill on the beach.

Raspberries on one hand, bear spray in the other

Blueberries

Adrian paddling back to the yurt

Morning fog in Tutka Bay

Campfire apple berry crisp

Waiting for the tide to come in and float our boat

 After packing up the yurt and heading out in mid morning, we stopped by The Saltry in Halibut Cove for some appetizers and a walk before heading home.

The Saltry

This guy was waiting for us when we tied up in Homer harbor

Adrian was also first to experience Nina and the Samovar Cafe in the Russian village of Nikolaevsk,  It was my first visit into one of the villages as well.  Aside from the church there is nothing else to mark the community.  Nina little restaurant is run mostly on a turf covered porch.  The place is covered in trinkets, some for sale, and features an extensive collection of Russian dresses and traditional Old Believer clothing that you can try on.  We had to work pretty hard to convince Nina we just wanted to eat and didn't want her to photograph us playing dress up on her porch.  The cafe is unique in that there is a menu but a lot of it is not available, and no matter what you want Nina will tell you what you will eat, when you will show up, and she even tells you how good the meal was.

James smiling that the he could have ice cream following the borscht

Adrian's only blue sky,sunny day

It was probably only 65, but James said he was burning up in the car, so he put on a suit and ripped off his shirt Hulk style.  We capped off our run of visitors with a Hobo Jim show.  He's known as the Alaska State Baladeer and is famous for playing his Iditarod song at the race start.  He plays in Homer every week in the summer, but it was our first time to see the show.  The kids had a blast clapping along to his folk style songs about fishing and living the Alaskan life.

Hobo Jim