Quick Visit to Homer

[Sapphire73]

I realize that everyone recommends spending 2 nights in Homer and that a quick visit is not the ideal. For various reasons (such as the desire of the dear friends with whom we are traveling to stay 3 nights in Cooper Landing to avoid switching hotels a lot), we are unable to do that on this trip but want to make a day long expedition there with about 9-10 hours in Homer and 4 hours driving time (from Cooper Landing to Homer and back). We have scheduled days like this on past vacations and think this is the only way we can get to Homer on this trip. (The day before and after will be low key days to compensate for this marathon....) But again, I recognize that this is far from ideal and I am already planning on another trip to Alaska.

 

I had a previous post asking what boat trips folks recommend in Kachemak Bay. Several people mentioned the trip to Seldovia, and at least one recommended the Gull Island trip which I had seen online.

 

Our son went to Homer last year, camping on the spit and taking a trip over to Seldovia. Homer was his favorite town in Alaska, and I would love to sample a bit of what this area has to offer. (So would two couples traveling with us.) I think we will need to save going to Seldovia for another trip to Alaska and choose a shorter boat trip this time.

 

I am thinking that we could probably do a trip to Gull Island if we get to Homer by mid-morning and had reservations. Is Halibut Cove worth a visit if we don't get to Gull Island? I am thinking of the boat trip to a restaurant for lunch or dinner with time to explore the galleries.) One of the people in our group loves to explore art galleries but perhaps there are enough right in Homer without going to Halibut Cove. I have the Milepost guide and several other guide books to Alaska, but it is hard to picture the reality when one is only reading about it.

 

We'd appreciate any input you have to offer about Homer: favorite restaurant, best place to see wildlife, your favorite boat trip, recommended art gallery, what you like about the Pratt museum, great spot for bird-watching - whatever. Our interests are varied so we are looking for a balance in what we do on our 8 day land tour. Thanks.

 

P.S. As I mentioned in another post, most of us hail from the midwest originally, and think nothing of a longish drive. We just want to make the best use of our time when we are there, with a plan for a rainy day as well as good weather.

[wolfie11]

You don't mention when you are going, but you should be aware that four hours is extremely optomistic for driving the 260 miles round trip to Homer from Cooper Landing. On weekends from the end to June to August this road is packed with campers and boats headed to Kenai for some fishing. If you get behind a couple of these you will be lucky to average 50mph. There can also be significant truck traffic on parts of this route. You will probably want to stop at a few places along the way for snacks or photo ops as well. I would budget at least six hours for the drive.

[Sapphire73]

You don't mention when you are going, but you should be aware that four hours is extremely optomistic for driving the 260 miles round trip to Homer from Cooper Landing. On weekends from the end to June to August this road is packed with campers and boats headed to Kenai for some fishing. If you get behind a couple of these you will be lucky to average 50mph. There can also be significant truck traffic on parts of this route. You will probably want to stop at a few places along the way for snacks or photo ops as well. I would budget at least six hours for the drive.

 

Hmmm... Good points. We purposely planned our time on the Kenai peninsula so that we avoid weekends as much as possible, heading to Denali on Sunday and then coming back south. We will be on the Kenai peninsula Wed through Friday (July 22nd-24th), heading back to Anchorage on Saturday morning.The proposed day trip would be on a Thursday so perhaps we will miss some of the weekend traffic.

 

Sounds like we should plan on leaving at 7 or 8 am if we want to arrive by 11 am in Homer. Thanks for the heads up. (I had noticed that most estimates of driving time said 2 hours without including stops!)

 

We may still bag this idea or adjust it so that we are spending a night in Homer or somewhere else. Part of the problem is that we gave up some flexibility in order to get 2 nights for the price of 1 at the Kenai Princess in Cooper Landing. This is making it easier to extend our trip so that we can get to Denali and spend time in the Kenai area.

 

Thanks for your very helpful input.