A raven woke us up to a calm morning.  It was almost as if he was saying, “Hurry up, it isn’t windy and isn’t raining and it won’t be that way for long.”  At least that’s what I decided after I chased him away two times and he woke the family up anyway.

We took a very peaceful family walk along the ocean in Homer this morning.  Brooke was fascinated with her footprints in the sand.  She also enjoyed the sponginess of the wet sand.  We collected some clam shells and watched as another family searched under rocks for critters.  Brooke and Cody touched Pacific Ocean for first time.  Brooke touched the Atlantic Ocean when she and I visited my mom in Florida back in 2007, but she doesn’t remember it.   She’ll remember this, it was COLD!  Even as much as she loved water, she wasn’t willing to even put a toe in.

There were stone castles (carnes?) all over the beach.  Brooke was inspired to create her own little stone castle while Scott took down the tent.  The timing was perfect.  Just as soon as the tent was down, so were the raindrops.

The following pics are of things along “The Spit” in Homer.

This is the Salty Dawg Saloon outside and in.  Seeing as we have cuties in tow, Scott ran in and took pics while I manned the cuties napping.

Halibut are the Big Fish they catch out here.  We had a chance to see one swim at the Sea Life Center in Seward a few days later.  It is one of the oddest swimmers I have ever seen.  It looks like it wants to be part sting ray and part fish.  It swims semi-sideways.  Scott was able to sample some local Halibut last night at dinner.  We splurged and ate out at a local restaurant off of the spit.  The wait time at any restaurant on the spit last night was too long for the cuties.  The first restaurant we went to and left Brooke said, “But Daddy we forgot to eat.”

We drove up Skyline Drive and viewed the spit from above.  It looks ridiculously tiny, but still gorgeous.

These photos are from the Alaska Islands and Ocean Center.  Today they had a hands-on lab with knowledgeable staff on hand focusing on marine mammals.  Brooke was in heaven!

We touched baleen or the large comb-like structures that some whales use to filter their microscopic food out of the water.  Brooke even got her first look through a microscope to see some of their food.

Brooke loved looking at all the different shells and she even helped Cody touch the polar bear pelt in the picture on the right.  Their hollow hair is very far from soft and fluffy.  We learned polar bears are considered marine mammals.

Cody was loving “walking” around the center.  He was on his feet for several hours this day.  He is getting in 2-3 steps before he falls.  This is Brooke up on a boulder outside of the center.  She saw another kid do it, and as the saying goes, “Monkey see, monkey do.”

Things we learned today:

- The tide in Homer is high and low twice each day.   The tidal variation is higher in Homer than in most places due to the shape of the Bay.

- The sea otter pelt is very densely packed since the sea otter has very little blubber to keep it warm it relies on its incredibly soft fur.

Scott hiked a trail by  the visitors center and walked along the ocean while Cody napped. Later we saw baby eagles in nest across from the McDonalds.

While cooking up at a pavilion we met a couple who are traveling in a mini van from Michigan.  Even though Wendy and Dennis are grown almost retired adults their family and friends gave them grief about “acting like kids” and traveling.  They have stayed in contact via e-mail and have shared their experiences and given us some ideas too.

Scott was sad to leave the simple pleasure of hot water at the park where we cooked our meals.   :)

I would have liked to have stayed along the beach one more night, but we decided to stay last minute and it was a crowded Saturday night.  We camped at a campground overlooking our favorite park and then we went back North.