Dawn Sunrise in Homer, Alaska
Our first morning in Homer is a flashback to the perfect weather we had there last August, a total change from the previous drizzly day. This is what sunrise looks like in Homer:
Those mountains and glaciers thrill my heart.
AdventureMan was instructed to have a good breakfast; they won’t be back until late afternoon, so we head to Dunken Inn, where we had such a good breakfast last year. We get there just in time – there is no line, and there is a table waiting for us, but five minutes later, there is a line.
AdventureMan has stick-to-your-ribs-while-bear-hunting biscuits and gravy:
And I have the 2 – 2 – 1, which is two eggs, two slices bacon and one blueberry pancake. I don’t even really like pancakes, but these blueberry pancakes are SO good 🙂
We drove around a little until drop off time; AdventureMan spotted a Sandhill Crane and this wonderful local yard art:
When Salmon Jerky and Japanese Crackers are Fine Dining
It’s a small thing, but just goes to show how much faith we put in planning, and how little control we really have. We’ve just settled in to our nice room at the Driftwood Inn, and a little after four, we get a call from the nice lady at Captain Patti’s, the restaurant where we have reservations for dinner.
We have no power, she tells us, and adds that the power is out on the entire Homer spit. They are closing for the night. Hmmm. We will have to find someplace else. We have some ideas, so we get in the car and head out, but it gets worse. The stoplights are out. The stores are all closing because they can’t run their cash registers, or run a credit card. The restaurants aren’t opening for dinner at all. The electricity is not just out on the spit, it is out in Homer, too. We briefly consider driving up to Soldatna to see if we can get a bite to eat there, but AdventureMan checks in the office at the Inn, and is told that the electricity is down on the entire Kenai peninsula. Holy tamole!
No food available, no food for sale. We have a package of Japanese crackers, which we love, and some salmon jerky, which AdventureMan is surprised to find that he likes, too. We have some breakfast cereal if we really need it, and milk in the refrigerator downstairs, so it’s not like we’re going to starve.
AdventureMan gets a call now that his flight will be departing for the bear hunt at 11 the next morning. I guess you can’t gas up planes without electricity these days, either.
The power came back some time close to nine, but by that time, we didn’t care to go out; crackers and jerky had done the trick.
Bear Photos From AdventureMan
When I saw the photo of the bears that looks like they are waltzing, I laughed. They are wrestling, but oh, he caught them at the perfect moment. The second has such serenity, is such a testament to the glorious creative power of God, that I love it, too.
Alaska Bear Adventures and K-Bay Air
The other thing we do immediately upon arrival in Homer is to go down to the Homer Spit and check in to Alaska Bear Adventures, to confirm AdventureMan will be on the next day’s bear trip. He signed up for this months ago, and he is PUMPED!
“Dad’s going bear hunting?” our son texts, and we can ‘hear’ the incredulity in his text.
“With his camera” I text back. AdventureMan is getting his instructions and stepping on the scales. They are going out in small planes, and they need to know what weight they are carrying to balance the loads and plan for enough gas. He is told to be at the K Bay hanger at seven the next morning, and I wander off to make a dinner reservation at one of our favorite restaurants anywhere in the world, Captain Patti’s.
I think I told you earlier, this is my day off. I will do a little laundry and goof around in Homer and have a day to myself. I grew up with bear on the mountain in our back yard. I don’t go looking for bear. I don’t think bear are cute. Have fun, AdventureMan!
Two Sisters in Homer, Alaska
Even taking it easy, we arrived in Homer too early to check in to our hotel, so we headed down the street to a perfect rainy-day hangout, Two Sisters Bakery. We had looked for Two Sisters our last time in Homer and failed to find it for breakfast, so we went right in for a little coffee, tea and sweets.
TripAdvisor usually ranks Two Sisters one or two of all restaurants in Homer. The place was, consequently, jammed. There are goodies on display everywhere, eclairs, croissants, pies, cakes, breakfast rolls . . . I choose a Turtle Bar and a coffee, AdventureMan has soup and tea.
Two Sisters is a very popular place, and a lot of fun.
Even the floor is quirky – I love that it has little waves painted on the floor.
It was the perfect place to pass a delicious half hour waiting for our hotel room.
Rainy Day on the Sterling Highway to Homer
AdventureMan gets it. If it is not pouring rain, it is a good day. Part of this day was a good day, but we also got a lot of rain.
The drive from Seward to Homer, AK, both on the Kenai Peninsula, is not a hard drive, only maybe 2.5 to 3 hours. Almost as soon as you join the Sterling Highway, you are on the Kenai river, and on the Kenai river, things are hopping. Specifically, salmon are hopping.
At a couple sites, there are a lot of people, and when you look down in the river, there are people in hip boots all lined up for hundreds of yards, casting lines. I rather like fishing, but oh, no! Not like that! I’m a salmon fisher who likes to be on a boat, casting my line over the side, and waiting for a fish to bite. Stand in cold, rushing water with mosquitoes biting? (Shudder!) The thought of some amateur’s hook taking out an eye or a piece of cheek? Horrors!
Along the route, we saw many many signs like this:
Firefighters from all over had flown in to fight the Funny River Fire. Alaska doesn’t usually have such a dry spring; a fire this strong and this early is improbable. The fire was also remote, and hard to fight. The fire-fighters are given hero status in this area.
Just before we get to Soldatna, AdventureMan spots a moose and her calf alongside the road. There are a lot of moose signs, and some of them tell how many moose have been hit by cars along this stretch of the road. Sadly, it is in the 200’s. Hitting a moose is like hitting a camel. It totals out a car and it is horrible for the moose.
About halfway to Homer, just outside Soldatna, we took a stretch break at Tom’s Horn and Antler, where we saw lots and lots of moose, deer and elk horns, and lot of stones, many from no-where around Alaska. We found some geode stones from the Atlas mountains in Morocco. At The Two Rusty Ravens, however, I found the one souvenir I bought, a very large copper salmon mold that just fits over the door between my kitchen and dining room. While it is not a Copper River Salmon, it IS a copper salmon, and it makes me smile. AdventureMan gave me a bad time; it is large, but it just fit in my suitcase. 🙂
We had stopped at the Safeway in Seward, where they have a nice Deli with sandwiches and cookies, and we had our lunch with us. You just never know where you will be and if a restaurant is still open, or not yet open for the season. Here is where we had our lunch stop – an oversight with a view of volcanos – when you can see more than 50 feet in front of you.
And here was a sign at the pull off. Most of the signs we saw in Alaska had shotgun holes in them, LOL.
The drive is an easy drive, whether you are coming from Anchorage or from Seward. It barely takes half a day. There are not a lot of passing areas, and there are a lot of big slow RVs, so just take a deep breath and enjoy the experience.
Salmon Bake Restaurant in Seward
“You’ll find the Salmon Bake restaurant just past the turn to Exit Glacier”, the guide said, and we laughed at the Exit Glacier Exit. The Salmon Bake restaurant was near our hotel, and handy after an all-day excursion out to the Seward fjiords.
When AdventureMan asked me what the best meal of the trip was, I had to think – there were several very good meals. But head and shoulders above the rest – and I apologize now that there are no photos – was this meal. Was it because we had spent the day in the great outdoors and were so hungry? Maybe a little. But when the waitress showed up with the big bowl of steaming clams loaded with garlic, I was ecstatic. So simple, so perfectly cooked, and so delicious! Accompany that wine and parsley broth with a boule of sourdough bread and I surrender. Those clams were the best dish I had the entire trip.
The salmon that followed was extraordinary. Mostly, I like salmon served grilled; I don’t like it baked in sauces and I sure don’t like it with cheese. This salmon had a mildly teriyaki glaze, a great grilled flavor and was cooked perfectly, still soft and moist on the inside. It was superb.
We split a blueberry cobbler because the food was so good, and it came out hot with a ball of vanilla ice cream on top – it was perfect.
The interior is all Alaskan rustic. If I had to criticize, I would say that it was annoying having my water served in a Mason jar; I’m not into country and I’ve never liked that jar thing. The food was so exceptional, however, that the criticism is petty and tiny compared to how good the food was.
The Salmon Bake restaurant fills up fast. As we left, there were several groups waiting. Get there early or have reservations; the Salmon Bake Restaurant is only open Mid-May through September.
Ramadan Kareem and Ramadan for Non-Muslims
I wrote this post in 2007, when I was living in Kuwait. It has become an annual tradition to repeat it.
Ramadan will start soon; it means that the very thinnest of crescent moons was sighted by official astronomers, and the lunar month of Ramadan might begin. You might think it odd that people wait, with eager anticipation, for a month of daytime fasting, but the Muslims do – they wait for it eagerly.
A friend explained to me that it is a time of purification, when your prayers and supplications are doubly powerful, and when God takes extra consideration of the good that you do and the intentions of your heart. It is also a time when the devil cannot be present, so if you are tempted, it is coming from your own heart, and you battle against the temptations of your own heart. Forgiveness flows in this month, and blessings, too.
We have similar beliefs – think about it. Our holy people fast when asking a particular boon of God. We try to keep ourselves particularly holy at certain times of the year.
In Muslim countries, the state supports Ramadan, so things are a little different. Schools start later. Offices are open fewer hours. The two most dangerous times of the day are the times when schools dismiss and parents are picking up kids, and just before sunset, as everyone rushes to be home for the breaking of the fast, which occurs as the sun goes down. In olden days, there was a cannon that everyone in the town could hear, that signalled the end of the fast. There may still be a cannon today – in Doha there was, and we could hear it, but if there is a cannon in Kuwait, we are too far away, and can’t hear it.
When the fast is broken, traditionally after the evening prayer, you take two or three dates, and water or special milk drink, a meal which helps restore normal blood sugar levels and takes the edge off the fast. Shortly, you will eat a larger meal, full of special dishes eaten only during Ramadan. Families visit one another, and you will see maids carrying covered dishes to sisters houses and friends houses – everyone makes a lot of food, and shares it with one another. When we lived in Tunisia, we would get a food delivery maybe once a week – it is a holy thing to share, especially with the poor and we always wondered if we were being shared with as neighbors, or shared with as poor people! I always tried to watch what they particularly liked when they would visit me, so I could sent plates to their houses during Ramadan.
Just before the sun comes up, there is another meal, Suhoor, and for that meal, people usually eat something that will stick to your ribs, and drink extra water, because you will not eat again until the sun goes down. People who can, usually go back to bed after the Suhoor meal and morning prayers. People who can, sleep a lot during the day, during Ramadan. Especially as Ramadan moves into the hotter months, the fasting, especially from water, becomes a heavier responsibility.
And because it is a Muslim state, and to avoid burdening our brothers and sisters who are fasting, even non-Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, touching someone of the opposite sex in public, even your own husband (not having sex in the daytime is also a part of fasting), smoking is forbidden, and if you are in a car accident and you might be at fault, the person might say “I am fasting, I am fasting” which means they cannot argue with you because they are trying to maintain a purity of soul. Even chewing gum is an offense. And these offenses are punishable by a heavy fine – nearly $400 – or a stay in the local jail.
Because I am not Muslim, there may be other things of which I am not aware, and my local readers are welcome to help fill in here. As for me, I find it not such a burden; I like that there is a whole month with a focus on God. You get used to NOT drinking or eating in public during the day, it’s not that difficult. The traffic just before (sunset) Ftoor can be deadly, but during Ftoor, traffic lightens dramatically (as all the Muslims are breaking their fast) and you can get places very quickly! Stores have special foods, restaurants have special offerings, and the feeling in the air is a lot like Christmas. People are joyful!
There were many comments on the original post, and, as usual in the history of Here There and Everywhere, the commenters taught us all more about Ramadan than the original post. If you want to read the original post and comments, you can click HERE.
This year, Ramadan in the Northern Hemisphere will be one of the hottest, least comfortable ever. Imagine, having to refrain from all food and drink, from swimming, from smoking, from dawn to dusk for an entire month. People still have to work, although at some work sites, hours are reduced. Driving will be horrible, especially toward dusk when people are starving and eager to break the fast.
May God grant his mercy to all those fasting in 2014, may your fast be blessed. may the All Merciful and All Generous listen to your prayers; may the hours of fasting pass quickly and pleasantly, and may you enjoy the blessings of family closeness and religious insights.
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